Six Books to Bring to a Desert Island
Which six books would you bring to a desert island, to
fill your days and nights, to help you pass the time until
your deliverance back to the infinite linguistic resources
of civilization?
Here were my choices, made in the moment of packing a box to
send to the sandy waste of Forentera, where I was going to spend
a month without the prospect of any other books. My choices were
made somewhat spontaneously and on impulse, yet with some quickly
decided weighting of various considerations: length, richness,
variety, inspiration.
Conclusion: I had no regrets. This collection served me
well. I survived, and came back positively altered for the
experience.
--Now
Two from the spiritual/self-help
shelf:
Breathing:
Expanding your Power and Energy
(1990), by Michael Sky
From
Onions to Pearls: A Journal of Awakening and Deliverance
(1996), by Satyam Nadeen
The philosophy I've been waiting for--presented in clear,
personal terms and with humble humor. Bottom line: "Consciousness
is all there is, and you are not the doer."
Three densely written
novels by master prose stylists:
Doctor
Faustus:
The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, as
Told by a Friend (1947), by Thomas Mann
The Nobel Prize winner gives us the culmination of European
culture and history, in the last great novel of its age.
Germany's demise is masterfully wedded with the devil's
bargain made by the fictional composer. This heady intellectual
prose is not for everyone. Read it as a tour de force of
literary genius about the nature of musical genius and historical
pride.
A
Soldier of the Great War
(1991), by Mark Helprin
An epic showcasing Helprin's range and beauty in prose style,
while also a riveting story of one man's heroic endurance.
The plot stretches belief at times, but we care so much
for the character that we keep cheering him on.
Going
Native (1994),
by Stephen Wright
A surrealistic roller coaster which at the same time
shows life just as it is: but you never knew it was so richly
detailed and twisted until you see it through Wright's unforgiving
prose. An original building of story through a cast of totally
different characters given a chapter apiece, through which
the main character moves like a deadly ghost. His chapter
comes at last.
A collection of short
fiction:
Stories
from the New Europe
(The Graywolf Annual, Number Nine, 1992), edited by Scott
Walker
Surprising literary discoveries from the newest countries--and
some of the oldest cultures--of Europe. Regional flavor
combines with authorial innovations in this tasty stew.
...and five books
I found there
other current favorites
