What books would you take to a desert island if you could take at most, say, ten?
This thread is open to nominations till Christmas, till Saturday December 25th 2010 at 05.00 GMT (midnight New York time).
That will be followed by a poll and then a post on the top ten winners.
Then, on the first of each month, I will do a post on each of the winners, from #10 all the way up to #1. That means I will have to read the ones I have not read yet! How wonderful!
You can list up to ten books. The 30 books listed most will make the poll. In cases of ties, books that are listed earlier in the comments will be favoured.
What counts as a book: anything sold as a single book on amazon.com, not counting reference books or books not in English. Books translated into English are fine.
Also, please, no books on shipbuilding, coconut cuisine, etc. Assume that you have been exiled there for five years and that your material needs are not at issue. “The Idiot’s Guide to Desert Island Living” will be provided.
Mein Kampf
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Does Bible count? (Just asking…)
Another question: should we list our fav books, or those that we see as suitable for a desert island stay? Because some of my favourites (such as “Animal Farm”, for example) might be way too depressing to read on a desert island.
Ok, my nominations:
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Iliad and Odyssey by Homer (whoever he, or they, were)
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Jazz by Toni Morrison
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
There are books in Serbian I’d love to take, but you said those don’t count.
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I need to come up with my list but these would definitely be on the list
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
Illiad and The Odessy by Homer
The Quran
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just this one
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The Mahabharata–It’s about a month long on CD, it’s interesting, and it’ll keep you occupied!
The Chosen and The Promise by Chaim Potok
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
A World of Ideas by Lee A. Jacobus
Ishmael and My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
The Torah and Talmud
Any book full of Greek myths
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No books on watercraft building!
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The Bible counts. So does any book that has an English translation.
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Right, no books about living on the island or getting off of it.
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Because something tells me I would lose my Kindle in the shipwreck or airplane accident, I can’t include a few novels that I really love as well. So I am submitting this list:
Siddartha – Hermann Hesse
The Fall – Albert Camus
The Temple of My Familiar – Alice Walker
Cane – Jean Toomer
A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway
Dear G-Spot – Zane
Delta of Venus – Anais Nin
Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
The Kama Sutra – Vatsyayana
No Exit – Jean-Paul Sartre
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The Hobbit (There & Back Again) by J.R.R. Tolkein
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein
The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Any book on Greek, Roman, or Egyptian mythology
Any book on astrology and astronomy
Any book detailing self-care/self-surgery
I think that covers it…sort of.
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the Qur’an, Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation AND Drs. Khan and Al-Hilali translation. The one by Ali for its beauty, the one by Khan and Al-Hilali for its clarity and scholarship.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Bible, New American translation
Christ in Concrete by Pietro di Donato.
Il Gatopardo (the Leopard) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.
The Song of Ice and Fire series by george r.r. martin, which since it is unfinished, contains 4 books of a projected 7.
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Allen Mandelbaum translator.
A Primer of Eccesiastical Latin by John F. Collins
The Confessions by St. Augustine
The Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, for which the Joseph A. Buttigieg translation comes in three volumes.
However since I doubt any of these will make it to the top 30, I’ll throw my vote in with the Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien
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That reminds me… I’d definitely bring Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” (and “Contact” since we’re here).
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this one then
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The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder
Webster’s Dictionary
Encyclopedia Britannica
The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
The Prophet, Khalil Gibran
Tell My Horse, Zora Neale Hurston
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Gershom Scholem
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oh I thought of something else, a huge empty notebook.
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As stated in the post, no reference books – dictionaries, encyclopedias, telephone books, etc.
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I would want to read what I haven’t read.
The unabridged version of The Brothers Karamazov
and The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoevsky
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
I would recommend Resurrection by those who haven’t read Tolstoy.
All of August Wilson’s plays.
Finally read the letters between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; The Adams-Jefferson letters edited by Lester J. Cappon
The Philadelphia Negro by W.E.B. DuBois
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Wow – I knew I’d forget some!
The Divine Comedy by Dante
War and Peace by Tolstoy
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
On The Road by Jack Kerouac
I think I’m well over the 10-book limit, LOL
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Does manga count?
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Darnit, very well then.
Take out Webster’s and the Encyclopedia and put in:
The Silmarillion, Tolkien
Battle Royale, Koshoun Takami
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by JRR Tolkien:
1.Lord of the Rings
2. Hobbit
3. Silmarillion
Makes my imagination work up nicely.
by Frank Herbet:
4. The Dune
Makes my mind wander off.
by Väinö Linna:
5. The Unknown soldier
6. Here under the Northern Star
To remind me of who I am and were from I came.
by Mika Waltari:
7. Sinuhe the Egyptian
A good novel.
by David Rohl:
8. The Legend
9. A test of Time
10. From Eden to Exile.
About religions historical origins and facts of the the Creation, Paradise and everything else in the foundations of judaism, christianity and islam.
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Cheikh Anta Diop:
King Leopold’s Ghost:
Invisible Man:
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1984
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
The Divine Comedy
The Hobbit
The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe
A book of famous paintings
A Bible
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Gandhi Reader
A book of famous poems
I would also take my family’s photo album, but I guess that doesn’t count:)
Peace
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The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler
The Parable of the Talents by Octavia E Butler
Lust Caution and other stories by Aileen Chang
Wild Seed by Octavia E Butler
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mashima
Keep the Asphidistra Flying by George Orwell
The Seal Wife by Katherine Harrison
Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata
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Darn we have some well read folks here. Yall making me proud 🙂
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Are we talking strictly fiction here? I don’t read much fiction to be honest so some of my selections will probably push the boundaries…
“The Autobiography of Malcolm X”
“Musashi” – Eiji Yoshikawa
“A Fine Balance” – Rohinton Mistry
“Ishmael” -Daniel Quinn
“Freakonomics” – Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
“Blink” – Malcolm Gladwell
“Animal Farm” – George Orwell
“Guns, Germs & Steel” – Jared Diamond
“Food in History” – Reay Tannahill
“The Game” – Neil Strauss
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Hello Vagabond… err… Abagond – Ok. bad joke –
The books I would take would be:
1. Da Jesus Book – I recently discovered this. Its a Bible in Hawaiian Creole/Pidgin English.
~~~> “Jesus Christ, he fo everybody. He not jus fo da peopo dat talk English.”
2. Another Bible – in case I don’t understand the Pidgin English one.
3. The Norton Anthology of Poetry by Ferguson and others
4. New and Selected Poems: Volume One by Mary Oliver
5. The Sun Also Rises – by E. Hemingway – Since I need to finish reading this.
6. The Plague by A. Camus – Since I also need to finish reading this. (So far… its an ugh.)
7. The Call by Os Guinness – but then why would I need to know what my calling is out on a desert island? Perhaps it would be ~~> read the other books.
8. Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by E. Craig
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I second the recommendations for: A Song of Ice and Fire-A Game of thrones and Resurrection by Tolstoy. Other recommendations: the culture of make belive by Derrick jensen, Red Orchestra-Annie Nelson, Page from a Tennesee Journal, Francine Thomas Howard. More to come …
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Ok in no particular order
1. The Illustrious Quran
2. Illiad by Homer
3. The Odessy by Homer
4. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
5. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
6. Dracula by Bram Stoker
7. World Without End by Ken Follet – haven’t read it but i know it will be good 🙂
8. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
9. The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Alex Haley
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
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My reply did not get posted so I will try again:
a song of ice and fire-a game of thrones,
page from a tennesee notebook by francine thomas,
red orchestra by annie nelson,
the changelings by jo sinclair,
tropical secrets by margarita engle,
resurrection by tolstoy,
empire of illusion by chris hedges,
the culture of make belive by derrick jensen,
the lost garden by helen humphreys,
the letters of vincent van gogh,
bright sided by barbara ehrenreich.
There are so many wonderful recs on this list. I dont expect mine to show up more than once though.
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Honorable Mention:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Beloved by Toni Morrison
There are too many to name, as you can see I’m a big fan of the classics.
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Another Honorable Mention would be
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and,
A Lesson Before Dying
Both by Earnest J. Gaines
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@ calculator:
If Amazon sells it and it is in English (translation), then manga counts.
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I think none of these will reach the top 10 but here are a few I would take, in no particular order:
1. Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Major Works
2. The Johns Hopkins Complete Home Guide to Symptoms & Remedies
3. The Lord by Romano Guardini
4. The Works of Epictetus: Consisting of His Discourses, in Four Books, the Enchiridion, and Fragments (1866)
5. Training Tenor Voices by Richard Miller
6. and 7. The biggest most colorful two volume set of World Art History
Maybe I will add more later…
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There are a number of books people have listed that I would like to read, but have not yet read so I won’t put those as I have no idea if I would personally like them. Here’s my list of some books I would take (in no particular order):
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Out by Natsuo Kirino
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Ella,
Oh great, another Ian McEwan fan! And you’d also take Jane Eyre? Nice!
Oh, and I’d second One Hundred Years of Solitude but I already nominated 10 books (but if it counts, I do second this one).
I think LotR and Pillars of the Earth are definitely getting into the poll!
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In no particular order:
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
What Doesn’t Kill You by Virginia Deberry and Donna Grant
Erasure by Percival Everett
Let the Circle be Unbroken by Mildred Taylor
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Living Water by Obery Hendricks
Abraham’s Well by Sharon Ewell Foster
Native Son by Richard Wright
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Fire in the Streets by Viorst and Peoples History of the US by Zinn
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Yep. Looks like Pillars will definitely be on the list 🙂
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So I’m assuming graphic novels count?
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yes.
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One suggestion:
Could you please let us vote for more than one book? (But no more than, say, five?) I think it’s the best way to go. One vote is not enough here, I think.
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In case it wasn’t clear, I was referring to the poll.
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The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler
The Parable of the Talents by Octavia E Butler
Lust Caution and other stories by Aileen Chang
Incognegro by Mat Johnson
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mashima
Keep the Asphidistra Flying by George Orwell
The Seal Wife by Katherine Harrison
Persepolis by Marjane Setrapi
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I read Lolita. the translation wasn’t so bad either.
*chic noir stomps feet and flails arms in excitment*
Ella you loved Purple Habiscus too????
*ella sheilds self from the overly excited chic noir and looks to abagond and mira to help *
Girl that book made me cry a few times as I read it. The father, what a ghastly man. Darn shame. That’s what extremes in religion can do to you. It can make you the very thing you wish to avoid becoming.
Did you see that link I posted to one of Chimamanda’s short stories?
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@llama- I have bright sided on my amazon list. I’ve read nickel and dimed loved it.
@ y- I think I read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens in high school. I liked it.
@lifelearner Native Son by Richard Wright
I’ve read a few of Wrights books. My favorite was black boy.
well it looks like Malcolm X will make the list too.
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Do survival guides on how to live on a desert island count?
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No.
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Oops. I didn’t notice that last paragraph.
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What?! No manga nominees yet? Well, here’s one of my favorites. It’s real, and it’s way different from the usual monotonous garbage published manga:
Bitter Virgin by Kei Kusunoki
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Mira said:
“One suggestion:
Could you please let us vote for more than one book? (But no more than, say, five?) I think it’s the best way to go. One vote is not enough here, I think.”
I will allow multiple voting. The trouble, though, is that as far as I know there is no way to limit it to five or whatever.
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abagond once you’re done with this list will/can you do a similar one for albums?
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Abagond,
True, that might be a problem. But maybe you could find a poll script that allows it?
I understand it’s easiest to let people have only one vote. However, I am not sure if it would work here, so I guess we need more votes.
Oh, and I hope that it’s still possible to prevent people from voting again and again fro their fav books… I mean, you can vote for as many books as you want, but each book can get only one vote from you.
Is it possible to do this? (With IP logging or something?)
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@calculator:
Battle Royale (one of my nominations) was made into a manga, if that helps =)
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I would nominate any Toni Morrison books I haven’t read yet; I already finished “Beloved”, Sula” and “the Bluest Eye”.
“Solead Brother”, a book I have yet to finish.
“The Little Prince” by Antoine De Saint-Expuery.
“A Taste of Power: a Black Woman’s Story” by Elaine Brown.
“Room Full of Mirrors: a Biography of Jimi Hendrix”.
A good biography on Jack Johnson.
“Farenheight 451” by Ray Bradbury
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zek j evets
Yeah, I vote for Battle Royale too.
Battle Royale, from what I’ve read, sounds good. I love the psychological/thriller/horror genre; it’s my favorite. Doubt is also another good one. Anyone know some more?
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Yes! Do a post for Desert Island Albums. The Best of Nina Simone would be at the top of my list.
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the bible
picture book of island fruits
how to build a house for dummies
how to make fire for dummies
how to turn sea water into fresh water for dummies
a book on all animals
a journal
a atlas
how to catch fish for dummies
how to build a boat for dummies
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Jeez, cut out half my list with the “Non-English” stuff. Okay, anyway, this is my list:
1. Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse
2. Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murikami
3. Ten Great Mysteries – Edgar Allen Poe
4. The Trial – Franz Kafka
5. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexander Dumas
6. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
7. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
8. Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
9. Another Country – James Baldwin
10. For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
Ten books isn’t nearly enough, you know…
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@ Mira
I need to read more though. I haven’t been reading as much lately (in fact I’ve been writing instead), but have plenty of ideas from this thread!
I first read Jane Eyre for an English class. It was quite funny because all the female students loved it and all the male students hated it!
There are some more from your list I would have added too. Either that, or I am interested in reading them and haven’t done so yet.
@ chic noir
LOL Yes, and I loved the book. Though it made me cry too! It’s truly terrible how some people can use religion to excuse such cruelty. At the same time, I think that is something a good writer can do to a reader: pull them in and provoke strong emotions in them.
The link you mentioned: did you post it in the open thread?
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@chicnoir
I really think you’ll enjoy Bright-Sided. It seems right up Abagond’s alley.
Abagond, I really hope you’ll check out some of the other recs even if they don’t win. I think you’d love Margarita Engle’s book. I’ll admit it’s children’s literature, but I think you’d like it because it’s a story that you don’t really hear much about. It’s about Jewish refugees that have fled to Cuba. I recommended it because you seem to like history that nobody really talks about. It’s a novel written in verse though. I hope you don’t mind.
And honestly, for EVERYONE on this blog, I can’t push Derrick Jensen’s The Culture of Make Believe hard enough.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Jensen
A Language Older Than Words uses the lens of domestic violence to look at the larger violence of western culture. The Culture of Make Believe begins by exploring racism and misogyny and moves to examine how this culture’s economic system leads inevitably to hatred and atrocity.
I’d really love to know what everyone thinks about this book, especially Abagond and Ankhesen Mie too if she’s reading.
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My read list, in alphabetical order:
A Season in the Congo, by Aimé Césaire
Ambiguous Adventure, by Cheikh Hamidou Kane
Black Skin, White Masks, by Frantz Fanon
Discourse on Colonialism, by Aimé Césaire
Doguicimi, by Paul Hazoumé
General History Of Africa by Joseph Ki-Zerbo
Leopold Sedar Senghor: The Collected Poetry by L.S. Senghor
The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality, by Cheikh Anta Diop
The Tragedy of King Christophe, by Aimé Césaire
Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals by Ahmadou Kourouma
Some of those may not have made it into my top 10 should Abagond have allowed books which have not been translated into English.
Also, I read all of them in the original French version so I can’t tell for sure if the English versions do justice to the writers’ talent. Aimé Césaire, L.S. Senghor, C.H. Kane and Ahmadou Kourouma all have very peculiar writing styles (and sometimes vocabulary) which probably are a challenge to translate.
I included C.A. Diop’s The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality in my list because I couldn’t find any standalone english translation of Black Nations & Culture which is Diop’s book that I actually read and would bring with me on that darn desert island. (The African Origin of Civilization… is a compilation of some parts of BN&C plus other works by Diop.
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Nominations close in 14 hours (at 05:00 GMT or midnight New York time).
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^^^Oh boy I need to write my list quick quick.
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1. “Life of Pi” – Yann Martel
2. “Song of Solomon” – Toni Morrison
3. “The Catcher in the Rye” – J.D. Salinger
4. Abeng – Michelle Cliff
5. White Teeth – Zadie Smith
6. The Long Song – Andrea Levy
7. Small Island – Andrea Levy
8. Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
9. Wherever You Go There You Are – Jon Kabat Zinn
10. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
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My top 10, my tastes are all over the place folks so this will be intresting. Note the books I list are first and foremost to keep me sane, and trigger a wide range of emotions in me.
*chic noir smashes symbols*
1. A.L.T. by Andre Leon Tally- Andre is one hell of a writer. This is a memoir about his grandmother and former Vogue Editor and Chief Diana Vreeland. I was angry when I finished this book because I enjoyed Andre’s writing style so very much.
2. On the Road by Jac Kerouac-I love to travel and will go low budget if need be. The idea of driving around the country is appealing to me. I also like how carefree Jac was and to a lesser extent his friend manho Dean M were.
3. Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood- A blk American girl traveling in Paris living hand to mouth.
4. Purple Hibiscus by chimanda ngozi adichie
5. That Thing Around Your Neck by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie- Short stories
6. something from the very first African author I read
Buchi Emecheta- Buchi is an excellent writer. maybe not as strong as Chimanda but still very good. The issue some of you may have with Buchi’s books is most of her female characters are victims.
7. The Selby by Tod Selby- this is another beauty book except it takes a look at people’s positions.
8. Dharma Bumms by Jac Kerouac This is travel and the spiritual aspects as well as living well with very little material goods(jaffery).
9. The Sartoralist- Scott ScHuman- I need beauty and fashion in my life.
10. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield- I need something “me” focused spiritual.
Honorable mentions:
Stuff White People Like or the Whiter Shades of Pale- to remind me of all the things I’m missing.
Something by Iyana Vanzant for spiritual guidance.
Dishwasher Pete by Pete Jordan
Junky by William burroughs- that’ll keep me away from those wild mushrooms growing on the island.
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs Now I will have time to figure out the euphemisms
*chic noir takes bowl*
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Victoria, I thought The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger was overtated. lol My mother fussed at me when I told her I didn’t care for it much.
Another book that I didn’t care much for was the Bell Jar by Silvia Plath.
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
Debated adding this but I wasn’t sure how many times I would like to reread this.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
read this in middle school. Another book that gets to much hype IMO.
I should’ve added something by Alice Walker.
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@chic noir
I don’t care much at all for the plot or story of The Catcher in the Rye, but I’m really big on characters. Holden Caulfield seems to be a character who doesn’t develop, which goes against the “rule” of just about every book. I quite enjoyed that. Plus, I laugh out loud many times throughout the book.
I wanted to add “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara, but it’s a short story. Hazel/Squeaky is a character I relate to. She also doesn’t seem to develop much. I really get into characters, though.
I actually have I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings here at home, but given my heavy courseload in the past 2 years, I have not been able to read it. I chose a couple of books I have not yet read by authors I love.
I also have a collected poem of Silvia Plath, but I find her to be an acquired taste so she didn’t make the cut.
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I hated a number of books that I read in school, only to find that 15-20 years later, I enjoy them very much.
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Victoria
Can you clarify what you mean when you write doesn’t develop
I hated a number of books that I read in school, only to find that 15-20 years later, I enjoy them very much.
*chic noir holds up hands*
Ok Ok maybe I should reread I know why the cage bird sings.
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White Teeth – Zadie Smith
I liked White Teeth, started out slow but picked up in the middle and sort of lost steam in the end. I read On Beauty as well, Smith isn’t bad.
*shrugs shoulders*
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I read “On Beauty” as well and I thought it was good. Not bad at all. I know “White Teeth” was on Time’s “All Time 100 Novels”. I’ll read it one of these days.
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one of the bloggers I link to loves zadie smith. She recently put her all time favorite book list. If I can find it, I will link it here.
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Ok. Here is my list in no particular order composed of books suggested by people posting here as well as some of my own.
Some of these books I would be interested in reading, others I have already read and would take with no hesitation. In fact those are the ones that I would say could withstand repeated reading.
Heres the list:
King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Derrick Jensen’s The Culture of Make Believe
That Thing Around Your Neck by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie- Short stories
Dharma Bumms by Jac Kerouac
The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality, by Cheikh Anta Diop
The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Alex Haley
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul by Jane Roberts and Robert F. Butts
The Shift: A Time of Change is the reader’s definitive and comprehensive guide to the shift in consciousness. By David Tate
Bashar: Blueprint for Change : A Message from Our Future.
Darryl Anka
There are probably many more I could add to this list but 10 seems a reasonable number to start with!!!
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@chic noir
What I mean about Holden Caulfield is that he ends up very much the same way he begins. He’s pretty messed up from the onset, and he stays that way all the way through, doesn’t have any real change or growth, I mean, in my opinion anyway. I’m sure that others would debate, but I didn’t get a sense that he was different by the end in any way.
I have “On Beauty,” I’ll have to actually read it while I’m on break now. 🙂
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‘Ishmael’ by Daniel Quinn (a man meets an ape who teaches/tells him about the origins and purpose of human existence)
The Harry Potter seven (counts as 1?)
Life of Pi
Zombie Survival Guide
Mind-Altering and Poisonous Plants of the World
The world Book Encyclopedia
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NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED!
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I disagree, Victoria–Holden HAS changed by the end.
He’s reaching out to people, appreciating human connection with adults, instead of fetishizing just the precious, uncorrupted children.
By novel’s end, the therapy that writing the story itself is seems to have started working.
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When will we get the poll? (For some reason I thought it would be opened today).
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It will be up later today (New York time). I am about to go through and count up the nominations and secondings.
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chic noir said:
“abagond once you’re done with this list will/can you do a similar one for albums? “
Okay, though maybe songs instead of albums.
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Mira:
I can make it so that any one person can only vote for a particular book once.
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Okay, though maybe songs instead of albums.
I agree, I agree! (Though albums could work as well)
I can make it so that any one person can only vote for a particular book once.
I think it’s the best thing, yes. Allow us to vote for more than one book, put prevent unfair voting over and over again for the same novel (so one person can’t decide a winning book).
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[…] Abagond’s post on Desert Island Books prompted me to create a list of books I plan to read sometime in the near future.I usually get ahead of myself and buy books that I don’t end up reading until a year(or longer) after I bought them. Reading is one of my favorite pastimes and I figured having a list of books I want to read will give me something to work towards. […]
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