Friday, May 12, 2006

Surfing the Blogosphere

greengurll

I stumbled on this fellow blogger and decided it was an excellent opportunity to fiddle with the "BlogThis!" button. She lists a top 5 books read this month. I'm going to offer a different spin on it. The old, ever popular, if you got stuck on a desert island and could only bring three books, what would they be?

Rule: Series do not count. I've had this argument with my brother. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc are all seperate series, not one, very long novel.

If you like, you may elect to have several groups of three. I'm more interested in why you would choose the three that you did, and how they relate to each other, than the books themselves. Example:

I might choose a scholars book of ancient Hebrew, a copy of the bible in the original Hebrew, and a bartenders guide documenting how to make liquor from only bananas and coconuts. I'll let you all decide for yourselves how they relate.

In another instance, I might just choose my three favorites--Owen Meany, Youth in Revolt, and the Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide (arguably cheating...Just the first if I hear protests).

I've got couple more, but I'll save them for comments.

6 comments:

greengrrl said...

Really glad to hear that i've actually inspired someone to do something.
My top 3 "stuck on a desert island" books would be "The Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela, "K-Pax" by Gene Brewer and maybe some sort of encyclopedia, just so I didnt get bored and had a good point of reference. Theres no connection between them, (or is there), but are books I love. I love reading so I would really find it hard with only 3 books. Anyway cheers for the comment. Good luck with the blog.
Una aka Greengurll

Jen said...

My top 3 books on a desert island would be
-"Tropical Plant Identification" I'm not going to starve or be poisioned

-Some sort of Navy Seal or Boyscout survival guide

-A guide to the tides and marine life that just so happens to be on the area that i'm marooned.

Maybe i'm too practical. No offense Ben, if I were on an island with a Hebrew book that I couldn't read, I'd burn it.

the warrior said...

Ben,

I take it from your choices and the choices of others that there would be vegetation on this island as well as water, so I must tell you as I shake my head, I would take no books for I would be having a blast exploring the island and the concept of isolation.

I am convinced that possibly there are not too many of these islands and am sure that many others, upon leaving, would forget their books behind.

Ben said...

Jen,

The point of having a book I cannot read, and the means to learn how to read it is to kill the amazing amount of time I might have before seeing another person. It's a method to:

1) keep from going crazy
2) decide for myself my theories that the translations of the bible are wretched and see if there is any grain of truth to modern theology.

I'll need the bartender's guide so, with any luck, I'll never need to utter the phrase, "BUT WHY'S THE RUM GONE?!"

Piccu said...

The Dirt for sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.

The Bible for repenting after reading The Dirt.

Moby Dick for the story and the info on killing whales for survival.

Anonymous said...

Lord of the rings- I will argue to the teeth that this is one story, and the fact that it is usually divided in 3 different books makes no difference. youth in revolt has 3 different books in it, sort of (youth in exile, youth in recolt, and i forget the 3rd)...

Harry Potter, Book 7- this idea was so good, i wish it was my own. unfortunately, Ben thougyht of it before i could. it would kill me to not find out the conclusion to this masterpiece. oh, and for the record,I would draw the line on calling the harry potter SERIES one story, unlike LOTR. in the HP books, all the climaxes are in the right places, and you really feel like they are 7 different books. ive never met someone who has read the two towers, and not immediately followed it with return of the king

my 3rd would either be A Brief History of Time, or The Universe in a Nutshell.... probably the latter. both are by Stephen Hawking. this guy teaches you astrophysics like you were a kindergardner. i lot of heavy stuff, that you can really rack your brain on.