Desert Island Books - Karen Bush

A book I love so much that I not only have a precious battered paper version but digital and audio editions too. (Incidentally, Neville Jason narrates it brilliantly)
Listening to Desert Island Discs recently, I thought about what my own choices would be. And as I’ve mentioned in one of my previous blogs, my desert island book would definitely be TH White’s Once and Future King.

Except that nowadays, the advent of e readers means that you don’t have to stop at just one book. Instead of a single volume, before the ship sank, I’d snatch up my Kindle instead – preloaded, naturally, with a selection of 3000 books, and complete with a cover incorporating a light so I could read at night. Maybe I might finally get around to tackling War and Peace, as well as working my way through some of the backlog of reading that has built up. The desert island experience might actually turn out to be rather pleasant.

For my luxury I was considering asking for Ray Mears, as his survival expertise would be ideal. But supposing food was scarce? He might decide that his survival was more important than mine and kill and eat me … Just as importantly, how would I be able to read all those books on my Kindle when the battery eventually ran down?
So my luxury would obviously need to be some kind of gadget running off solar power which would provide an energy source I could plug my e-reader into whenever it needed a top-up. After all, I could always download a few Ray Mears books onto my Kindle.

What essential desert island books would you download onto your e-reader?
 
Something to help take your mind off wondering when you will be rescued from your desert island.
Available HERE for a paltry 96p!
And since 50% of all royalties will be donated to
as you bask in the sun and listen to the soft susurration of waves on the beach, you will be helping a good cause at the same time ...
 
 

Comments

Dan Holloway said…
Ray Mears, perfect!
The book I could read and read and never get tired of would have to be Milan Kundera's Immortality
Susan Price said…
Cunning! Could you wangle a dongle along with your solar-power gadget? Then you could download new books to your kindle - and call for help when you'd had enough of the desert island.
Jan Needle said…
i think about the luxury more than the books. for my birthday tea yesterday, viv made me christmas pudding ice cream (' the two things you love most in the world'). so i ain't going to no desert island unless i get a constant supply of both, and the lady to mingle them. who'd need rescuing?
Lydia Bennet said…
you need to ask for a 'solar powered kindle' and then you still have your luxury... spose I'd take all the fave books I often re-read, so Barbara Pym's entire oeuvre top of the list. EF Benson's Lucia books + tom holt's two ditto. Swallows and Amazons, the full series. cold comfort farm. Jane Austen's novels. Anthols of fave poets/poems. You get shakespeare anyway... these spring first to mind but my mind tends to go blank when asked 'list' questions so no doubt there are others I've missed out.
madwippitt said…
Oh, that's a great idea Lydia! Maybe you should patent the idea of a solar powered ereader quickly before someone else does!

glitter noir said…
That image keeps coming back to haunt me--like something from The Twilight Zone: a passionate reader on a desert island, with a Kindle loaded with 3000 books...and then the battery dies. Horrible!
Enid Richemont said…
Poetry, poetry, poetry for me - I never tire of it. And I'll be the first customer for a solar-powered Kindle.
Once and Future King is one of my all-time favourites!

Oh, and I LOVE idea of solar powered Kindle... the perfect "beach Kindle" maybe, sand and waterproof too? Then I wouldn;t be limited to just one or two books, but a whole Kindleful.



madwippitt said…
Glad someone else shares my passion for Once and Future King ... well TH White really!

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