Happy Tuesday everyone! It is the second day the week. I hope everyone is doing well and is safe. Oh well, Tuesday also means one thing, a Top Ten Tuesday update! Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and is currently being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s given topic is Books I’d Want With Me While Stranded on a Deserted Island.
Upon learning this week’s subject, the first books that came to my mind are survival guides. Unfortunately, I haven’t been reading much nonfiction books. Because of this, my picks are book that will keep me sane in the deserted island, books that will take my mind off of the misery I am in, and book that will entertain me. Without more ado, here are my selections.
The Favorite Reads
1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I do have a lot of favorite reads in mind so I had to do a random pick. This is quite an eclectic mix but One Hundred Years of Solitude, Midnight’s Children and Anxious People are among my more recent favorite reads. The first book introduced me to the wonders of South American literature and of magical realism. The Rushdie masterpiece, once named as the Booker of Bookers was an impressive feat I can’t help but be mesmerized. I don’t deny that I am a fan of Khaled Hosseini’s prose. I am most in awe of his debut novel, The Kite Runner for it vividly captured the complexities of father and son relationships. He also made me fall in love with Kabul and Afghanistan.
The Entertaining Ones
4. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
5. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
I have listed Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities because it is a book I long to reread. It has been over a decade since I read it but it still remains high on my favorite reads; both Tom Wolfe books I’ve read are among my favorite reads. Moreover, it is quite lengthy so it will occupy my mind. Fredrik Backman won me over last year with his entertaining but insightful works, A Man Called Over and Anxious People. I don’t mind having either books in a deserted island.
The Thick Ones
6. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
7. Ulysses by James Joyce
8. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
There is a possibility of me getting stranded on the island for an extended period of time that is why I am picking thick books. I have considered listing the entire Harry Potter Series. I did complete the entire series in a month during university days and they have all captivated me, making me experience the magic of Hogwarts and of friendship. With seven books in the series, I know it is going to be a great way to while away the time. I have added James Joyce’s Ulysses because I have still to read it (LOL). I did try reading the book in 2017 but I failed horribly for it barely made sense. Perhaps it will make sense if I can focus on it, alone in a deserted island. Lastly, I have Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Among the thick books I have, this was one of the lesser challenging ones, an antithesis to Ulysses.
Thick books are not only great companies when I have so much time on my hand. They also can come in handy when there are no more wood to keep me warm at night. Just kidding. I would never dream of burning my books. But who knows right?
The Hopeful Ones
9. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
10. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Last two on the list are books dealing about isolation. The list would not be complete with Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Widely believed to be the first English novel, it is about a man who got stranded in a deserted island (or not really) after he got shipwrecked during a storm. Brimming with hope, the novel follows how Robinson Crusoe kept his faith and learned to survive in the wilderness. And there of course we have Yann Martel’s Booker Prize-winning work, Life of Pi which, I believe, most of us have encountered because of its film adaptation. How does one survive in a boat, with a wild tiger as company? Apart from dealing with survivalism, both books also explore religion and faith in varying degrees.
The Pine-Scented Chronicles 