DESERT ISLAND READS
A small group of books that fit into a space 10” x8”x3.5” and weighs less than three pounds will keep me going……
SAS survival handbook: for any climate, in any situation by John Wiseman
613.69 WIS -
I would like a reference book to consult when I had some basic questions from building a fire to handling first aid and to re-read when I needed reminders.
The illustrated guide to edible wild plants by Department of the Army
581.632 ILL - Any book with illustrations of edible wild plants is a must for me. I enjoy eating too much to not be able to experiment.
Essential visual history of the world by National Geographic
902.02 NAT - Only 500 pages for the world’s history? I anticipate that I will not have the concentration to spend on long works like Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. I am thinking that this book is small, full of visuals and would allow me to review the world’s historic events. I could play solo Trivial Pursuit with the facts I learned.
Weaving in the Peruvian highlands :dreaming patterns, weaving memories by Nilda Callanaupa Alvarez
746.14 ALV - Here‘s a way to review cloth-making and learn about the weavers who can make beautiful items with simple equipment. A luscious visual exploration of weaving. This will feed my spirit as it shows me the way to create clothing as needed. The book even includes picture illustrations of plants to use for dying material.
Living alone & loving it : a guide to relishing the solo life by Barbara Feldon
646.7008 FEL - This book is a “delightful read and practical step-by-step guide to creating your own happiness.” [back cover] I will need some cheering if I am on my own even if it is my idea of paradise.
The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell
811.54/K62bo - There are books that you read once. This amazingly beautiful and chilling book-length poem about mortality, beauty, parenthood and horror is not one of them.
No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
842.914 Sa77 - This existentialist play is the source of one of Sartre's most famous quotations, "Hell is other people."
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Fic Atwood - If you were trapped on a desert island and read this feminist, distopian, science/speculative fiction novel, you'd stay there.
Complicity by Iain Banks
Fic Banks - Believe it or not, the second person narrator, the violence and substance abuse and the overall grimness of this tale are grasping for a better world.
Hot, Flat, and Crowded : Why We Need a Green Revolution-- and How it Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman
363.70525 Fri - If this notable non-fiction author has it right, if we don't do something soon you won't need books for a desert island because they'll all be underwater.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Sci Fi Adams - The first book (of 5) in the Hitchhikers Guide trilogy. Do you know where your towel is? This is the story of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect. Together they begin a journey through the galaxy aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, with the words don’t panic written on the front.
Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard
Fic Howard - What would make the perfect man? That's the deliciously racy topic that Jaine Bright and her three girlfriends are pondering one night. However, what began as a joke among friends turns deadly serious when one of the four women is murdered...
The Riverside Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
822.33 J18 - You may argue that choosing a collection of Shakespeare's plays and poems is cheating, but it IS contained in a single volume.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Fic Heller - Catch-22 is like no other novel. It is one of the funniest books ever written, a keystone work in American literature, and even added a new term to the dictionary. At the heart of Catch-22 resides the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his skin from the horrible chances of war.
The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
Fic Waugh - A book best described as “black humor.” Mr. Joyboy, an embalmer, and Aimee Thanatogenos, crematorium cosmetician, find their romance complicated by the appearance of a young English poet.
The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life by Pam Grout
910.202 Gro - Grout shares her knowledge of “voluntourism” and provides exciting opportunities for people with varied skill sets to help others around the globe.
The ends of the earth: an anthology of the finest writing on the Arctic and the Antarctic
508.98 End - Both entertaining and educational. For those who are afraid of a desert island, take a moment to explore the equally challenging polar points of the Earth.
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Fic Kingsolver - Kingsolver’s first novel, set in the Arizona desert, weaves a tale of abandonment, surprise, and hope.
Voyages to Utopia: from monastery to commune, the search for the perfect society in modern times by William Maxwell McCord
335.9 McC - McCord travels the globe and visits a wide variety of communal living environments, sharing the ups and downs in each setting.
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
973.099 Vow - Follow Vowell, as she humorously and informatively takes you on a journey, exploring presidential assassinations, such as the link between Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, and the way society uses them to its advantage in the aftermath.
Best Plays of the Modern American Theatre: Second Series by John Gassner
808.82 G21BM - Includes plays by famous writers, such as Tennessee Williams and William Saroyan, along with the bizarre, humorous play “Arsenic and Old Lace.”
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Fic Stockett - Set in Jackson, MS, during the 1960s, Miss Skeeter is daringly writing a book that will tell the stories of the African American women who work for, and take care of, white families. Written in a way that draws you into the lives of the characters, it’s a story of the relationships between these women at this point in our nation’s history.
The Invention of Curried Sausage by Uwe Timm
Fic Timm - A gem of a book, this is the story of one man’s quest to discover the true origin of curried sausage, revealing a period in one Hamburg woman’s life during World War II and the love affair she had with a German deserter.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Fic Gruen - Jacob Jankowski recalls his time with a circus, during the great Depression. Taking us through good times and bad, we learn of how this veterinary student became the caretaker for the circus animals and bonded with two circus stars, of different species, who share the same disturbed man in their lives.
Mountain Man: A Novel of Male and Female in the Early American West by Vardis Fisher
Fic Fisher - One of the inspirations for the movie “Jeremiah Johnson”, this story of the pre-Civil War West is based on a real-life mountain man and pioneer woman. While detailing the hardships and
conflicts of that time and place, the author vividly describes the beauty of the mountain west
and the free spirits who lived there.
Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen
Fic Hiaasen - One of my favorites by this author (whom some have described as the Edward Abbey of South Florida). Into a major hurricane comes a honeymooning groom who wants to videotape the storm, a corrupt building inspector, con artists wanting to capitalize on the aftermath, a former governor turned eco-warrior and other assorted wacky Hiaasen characters. This is hilariously funny, but with serious environmental concerns.
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
J Fic Konigsburg - Twelve-year-old Claudia run away to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, younger brother in tow because he’s the one with the savings. After a while, it’s not all she thought it would be.
But then discovers a beautiful statue—and a mystery to go with it.
Of Wolves and Men by Barry Holstun Lopez
599.733 Lop - A National Book Award finalist, this classic about wolves covers the history, mythology,
literature and science of this canine predator and its relationship with man.
A River Runs Through It, and Other Stories by Norman Maclean
Fic Maclean - These autobiographical stories evoke the Montana and Idaho of the author’s youth. The title story of family and fly fishing is well-known because of the movie. The other two stories tell of
his work as a logger, and as a laborer for the U.S. Forest Service. The events and colorful
characters in “USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky” are reminiscent of
Mark Twain.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Fic Mitchell - Scarlett O’Hara is one of my favorite literary characters. She is a spitfire Southern belle willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants in the ruins of the Old South.
Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson
Fic Wilson - Tom and Betsy Rath share a struggle to find contentment in their hectic and material culture. A timeless book many Americans can relate to. This book is one of my favorites.
Naked by David Sedaris
818.5402 Se27 - You need laughs on a desert island. Sedaris serves up funny stories of his dysfunctional family and offbeat life.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Fic Hugo - I don’t know how long I will be on this island so you need a hefty book. Escaped convict Jean Valjean searches for grace and redemption while police constable Javert relentlessly hunts him down.
Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
977.761 Kal - An Iowa family survives and thrives with little money during Depression times. This book will come in handy for survival skills.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fic Dostoevsky - A powerful psychological study, a terrifying murder mystery, a fascinating detective thriller infused with philosophical, religious and social commentary; this book has it all. Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in a garret in the gloomy slums of St. Petersburg, carries out a grotesque scheme and plunges into a hell of persecution, madness and terror.
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Fic Mitchell - A sweeping and romantic story about the American Civil War. Scarlett O'Hara, a headstrong Southern belle who survives the hardships of the war, goes on to establish a successful business by capitalizing on the struggle to rebuild the South. Through it all she never stops loving the very married Ashley Wilkes. After a series of marriages and failed relationships, she has a change of heart and determines to win back Rhett Butler, her last husband and soul mate.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
J Fic O'Dell - Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life. Won the Newbery Award in 1960.
Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker
641.5973 Rom - Since its original publication in 1931, the Joy of Cooking been a staple in any good culinary collection. Not only does this reference book delivery an exhaustive collection of delicious recipes, it demystifies kitchen secrets by providing straightforward information about everything pertaining to food and entertaining.
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
814.54 Se27 - David Sedaris, a This American Life contributor, brings us a collection of 27 humorous essays separated into two parts. The first half of the books consists of vignettes about his family and the tortures of growing up. The second half covers the frustrations of Sedaris’ real-life move to France without knowing French. Sedaris’ deadpan delivery and quick wit guarantee a prompt lightening of spirit.
Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts by Martha Stewart
745.5 Mar - When you’ve got time on your hands, what could be more fun than making something? This book will help you try out a whole host of crafts to entertain and inspire you.
National Geographic Image Collection by National Geographic Magazine
779 Nat - Tour the world vicariously with this stunning collection of photographs from the archives of National Geographic. 450 images depict nature, society, adventure and more.
In Wildness is the Preservation of the World by Eliot Porter
779.3 P833 - Meditations on nature - Photographs by Eliot Porter accompanied by the writings of Henry David Thoreau take you through the seasons of the year.
The Family of Man by Edward Steichen
779.2 Steichen - A classic - Images gathered by Steichen from photographers around the world for a 1955 Museum of Modern Art exhibition reveal the humanity that unites us.
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
580 Pol - Apple, tulip, marijuana and potato: Who knew that they manipulate us instead of the other way around? And Johnny Appleseed wasn’t who we thought he was, either.
Being Peace by Thick Nhat Hanh
On order - Collection of teachings by noted Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist .
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Fiction Austen - Classic story of manners, romance, and human nature at the turn of the Nineteenth Century in England.
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Fiction Mitchell - Civil War epic that follows the lives and fortunes of a variety of engaging individuals in the American South.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Mystery Christie - A who-done-it that features a complex plot in an exotic setting.
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Fiction Kingsolver - Told from several points of view, the story follows an evangelical Baptist minister's family to the Congo in the late 1950s, entwining their fate with that of the country.
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