By Alison Andrews

December 18, 2006

 

A man was once asked which book he would choose to take with him to a desert island. Without hesitation he replied, “A manual of practical shipbuilding.” Well, yeah, that’s a good answer. However, with my lack of manual dexterity, I fear that choice would still be useless.

 

Of course, this question is just another way of asking about one’s all-time favorite books. Like Rob Fleming in Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, I have a tendency to make endless, ultimately useless lists of my favorites (only mine are mostly literary rather than musical). Since none of the lackluster novels I’ve picked up lately seemed worthy of reviewing, I thought I’d share The Top Five Books I’d Want on a Desert Island.

 
1. The Bible

I promise I’m not trying to sound super-spiritual by choosing the Bible. (I wish I could say I remember to read it every single day.) Yet if I were shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, what better source of consolation and strength would there be? There would be no problem reading through it in a year (something I’ve never managed to do while trapped in civilization).

 

Plus, I like that it contains every type of literature: law, history, poetry, narrative, and letters. There are some incredibly interesting stories in those pages. Of course, there’s the question of which version to take. My brother, the seminary student, suggests The Message Remix. I like that idea, since I’ve only read bits and pieces of that version. I could start by buying a copy even if I’m not likely to be on an island any time soon.

 
2. The Complete Works of Shakespeare

Okay, here is where you can label me a complete dork. Go ahead—I don’t blame you. But I actually would choose Bill to accompany me. When you don’t know how long it will be till you’re rescued, you’d need a lot to read (or at least I would.) If I were in the mood for a romantic comedy, I’d have several to choose from. The tragedies would make me feel that my situation wasn’t as bad as I’d feared--at least no one would be trying to behead me.

 

I wouldn’t worry about the level of reading difficulty, either. Elizabethan English can be hard to understand when read silently, but becomes much more understandable when read aloud or, even better, acted out. (They are plays, after all.) I’m sure I would act out the plays on my private beach, taking all the parts, unless some of the palm trees wanted to join in. What an interesting sight that would be!

 
3. The Great Gatsby

I’m sure I’ve mentioned Gatsby before in a column, but I can’t leave out my favorite book of all time. I reread it every couple of years and never get tired of it. The story of Jay Gatsby’s attempt to win the woman he loves by amassing a fortune is an amazing novel that only grows stronger under repeated scrutiny. I was asked, “Why not just get the complete works of F. Scott Fitzgerald?” Although I like Fitzgerald’s short stories, I can live without his tales of flappers in the Jazz Age. Gatsby is timeless—a book for the ages.

 
4. The Weekend Wodehouse

Another compilation of works because I couldn’t make this list if I were limited to single books; I think my brain would explode. P.G. Wodehouse’s tales of high jinks among the English upper classes never fail to cheer me up. Bertie Wooster and Jeeves are the kind of characters who become old friends. What’s more, Wodehouse was incapable of writing a sloppy sentence. Encountering one of his zingers is one of the great joys of being a book lover. To take one example: “Mrs. Pringle's aspect was that of one who had gotten bad news round about the year 1900 and never really got over it.”  Or this: “She was the first to speak. She was one of those women who are always the first to speak.” Oh, I could go on, but you really should read Wodehouse for a good time.

 
5. Pride and Prejudice

The last spot on the list is always the most difficult to fill. I almost chose Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride because I reread it every so often and it’s one of her funniest books. Then there was the option of Flannery O’Connor’s Complete Stories. When it comes down to it, though, one could do much worse than to spend time in the company of Jane Austen and her most delightful creation, Elizabeth Bennet. I feel that Jane would help me to stay civilized, which would surely be a challenge during my time on the island. As an artist, Austen is self-disciplined like no other, which contributes to the enjoyment of readers through the centuries. A writer’s self-indulgence leads to boredom in the reader, and there was little or none of that in Miss Austen, who possessed an ironic wit that makes her one of the best novelists who ever wrote.

 

After my time away on the island, of course, I’d be dying to check out Amazon.com for the latest book releases. A bookworm cannot live on classics alone.

 
 ninetyandnine.com
 
© 2006, Alison Andrews
 

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Alison Andrews lives near Ft. Worth, Texas, with her husband and children. She would like to thank the person who invented preschool.