Desert Island reading
I was marooned alone on a desert island. While walking disconsolately along the beach I discovered a bottle. When I rubbed it a genie emerged and offered me a wish to have any five books that were ever published.
I thought about this for a while. It would have been easy to select some rip-roaring mystery tales, or something to amuse me in those dark hours, but I wanted to treasure the written word and be stimulated through the idle days. This was my wish:
1) The Bible: I’m not stridently religious, but I sometimes seek comfort in the ritual of Mass during times of strain. I haven’t read the Bible from cover to cover, so quiet days in solitude present a good opportunity. It has the advantage of being a long book.
2) The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: I’m not cheating, because this book is a genuine compilation that sits gathering dust on my shelf. I’ve only read three Shakespeare plays and two of those were at school. I selected this because I should read more of the bard. It’s a long book and will pass the time.
3) Lord of the Rings: You can see the pattern here. I’m thinking cleverly and choosing long books. This is a classic that will entertain me. I haven’t read it since I was a teenager.
4) The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: I regret that I have a limited knowledge of ancient history. This is another long book that will teach me well.
5) German/English dictionary: I studied German at high school. I had gift for pronunciation and a grasp of grammar, but my lack of application was revealed in the weakness of my vocabulary. Several years on a desert island should fix that.
I’m not one to read books more than once, so I haven’t selected anything that I’ve read completely before, except Lord of the Rings.
I would use the time in isolation to broaden my horizons and hopefully stay sane waiting for a ship to appear.
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
