Wednesday 28 January 2009

We're Off! (to our Desert Island.)

O.K. We are ready to sail to our Desert Island. There will be fourteen of us - 7 British, 1 Canadian, 4 American, and 2 New Zealanders. Not a bad mix. Average age? Well given the advanced age of one or two of us - let's just say that we would most probably die out on that island! (But you never know.)
There will be a lovely cave where we can make our home, with plenty of little offshoots where we can get some privacy. One little offshoot can house our library. I was going to suggest taking a good, strong bookcase with us but reading through the list of Castaways I think we should have enough ingenuity to construct our own.
So, as I promised, here is a list of the books we should have in our library:-
A Webster's Complete Dictionary.
One other good dictionary.
A massive tome of Great Art of the World.
Two Bibles - a St James's Version and a Gideon.
Some complete works: Shakespeare/ Ellis Peter's Cadfael, Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles, All of Agatha Christie and Daphne Du Maurier, All the works of Tom Robbins and John Irving,
We will be alright for poetry - Palgrave's Golden Treasury' Edwin Morgan's Complete Works, Complete Works of Walter del la Mare.' Poem for the Day ed. Albery.
For short stories we have 100 Stories by O Henry.
Steinbeck's Travels with Charley.
All Creatures Great and Small.
Joanne Harris's Chocolat.
Lord of the Rings.
KS Robinson Mars Trilogy.
Jack Whyte's Skystone Series.
For children (should any arrive!) The Wind in the Willows.
Miffy,The Secret Garden, Moomintroll books,
Brideshead Revisited.
Nga Uruora's Geoff Park, Michael King's Being Pakeha Now, Maurice Gee The Plumb Trilogy, Silent Spring and Thom Hartman's The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight.
Gone with the Wind
The Diary of Ann Frank.
Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island.
Villette.
The Littlest One, His Book.
And finally The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (as Jinksy so aptly puts it - "in case we forget that the answer to everything is 42!)
So there you are Denise (non blogger who wants to come along), Crafty Green Poet, Rachel Fox, Fiction is Stranger than Fact, Blueberries Art and Life, Raph's Ramblings, Snipettes, Napple Notes, Ragged Old Blogger, Poet in Residence, Woman in a Window, Thousand Flower Farm, Abe Lincoln and me.
Now - we can each take one luxury. Denise (who has gone off to Luxor today - lucky thing) has already chosen hers - a pile of notebooks and pencils (she draws, so should be able to capture our life there). So, the rest of you: What are you going to choose for your luxury? I'll wait to choose mine until the rest are in and then I will add them all to the bottom of this blog. Should any other blogger want to suggest luxuries they will be most gratefully accepted by us - after all we are going to need any help we can get. Bon voyage!!

16 comments:

Jinksy said...

In view of possibly already advanced years, please may we have a special miracle cure salve for creaking joints - else how will we climb the coconut trees?

Robin Mac said...

I haven't left a list of books, but I am loving the list you have printed and when I visit the local library tomorrow I shall be asking about some of them. I look forward to seeing what your luxuries are going to be.

Rachel Fox said...

I never did get round to picking my books...never mind...I always did like libraries and it looks like the one already chosen will keep me going for a bit.
So...the luxury? What will it be...the man, the child, the laptop...if I could play an instrument I'd take that but I can't really so I think I'd like a wind-up radio please (maybe with headphones so as not to disturb others when they want peace).
x

Caroline Gill said...

A small paintbox for doing watercolours. I would mix the colours with sea water, in an upturned shell. My 'paper' would be coconut palm or rocks or dried seaweed, I suppose. I know I am too late, but I would love to squeeze in an Edward Thomas or John Buchan volume, too.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Phew! I'm in time! (Thanks for your Comment alerting me to our imminent departure ...)

For my luxury I would, of course, have to take my beloved telescope! Those wondrous skies unpolluted by street lighting would be marvellous.

(You haven't listed a Camelopardalian in your list of nationalities of Castaways!)

HelenMWalters said...

Am I allowed to take my laptop? And will we have WiFi?

Woman in a Window said...

I was thinking of my camera, how many fun shots there would be with a rowdy group of women left to their own devices, and then I realized it's digital and it wouldn't do me much good. So, I must say limitless coffee. It would keep me just that bit civilized while the rest of me fell to the monkeys.

So, I'll supply breakfast. Someone else better be packing the gummy bears!

Elizabeth said...

I think Nivea.
It is soothing for almost anything... and the blue tin is sort of iconic.
Did I miss Bartlett's Familiar Quotations?
My father was a POW and I have the list of things he read - and reread -in captivity.
Reading is such a different experience when one has to savour every word.
May I come with you?

thousandflower said...

Okay, I want a box of beautiful yarn. All sorts, wools, silks, cotton, ribbon yarns, and of course several sets of knitting needles. We yarn addicts can't even enjoy a desert island without taking out our knitting. But please, somebody bring chocolate.

Gwil W said...

Well, we've doneourselves proud with books.
As a luxury I'd like to bring a solar powered or wind-up multi-frequency radio so that we can tune-in to stations broadcasting from all over the world, and also listen to passing ships and aeroplanes etc.
Might just come in handy!

Gwil W said...

Rachel Fox has a radio. Sounds a bit limited though. I was thinking more on the lines of of those enormous Russian radios that seem to receive every radio station known to man and maybe a solar cell to power it?

Leenie said...

I just like your book list...some of my faves and many I need to try. Bon Voyage.

Red Clover said...

Shoot! You left without me. I was indecisive. But I will swab the decks, and bring a book by Lloyd Alexander for delightful reading, some poetry by Emily Dickenson, whom I adore...Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury (it's fantastic) and maybe some poetry by W.S. Merwin? That still leaves me one more..

BT said...

Such excitement, I must have missed the previous chat about this adventure and I am very jealous. Yes, chocolate would be a must for me. And toilet paper. Tons of it!!
The word verification is bunsup, maybe that should be bumsup!

Mistlethrush said...

I'd like to take my binoculars, please.

ArtPropelled said...

I've enjoyed reading these fun posts, thanks Weaver. The books would be a very important part of this little trip. I've just finished Joanne Harris's Lollipop Shoes, sequel to Chocolat. Not sure I would take it to the Desert Island though I did enjoy it.