My 3 Desert Island Books!

I was tagged to do this by Melfka who had decided that this was a good idea. She was half asleep at the time, so I will forgive her. I will even go so far as to thank her.

As I contemplated my desert island books my first thought was to cheat. Pick a book that has a series in it, it’ll last longer. My thoughts drifted to Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide series, I have all the books in a hardback volume. I love the series,surely this would suffice? But I’ve seen the TV series, listened to the radio show, and read the books a few times now. I could probably remember most of it, and what I can’t I could make up and fill in the gaps. It would probably be more entertaining that way.

I too thought about The Lord of the Rings, again I have all the books in one volume. I don’t much like the Aragorn, or for the most part, the elves. They are annoyingly perfect. However there is a lot of book there and it’s great imagination fuel. I could create my own spin off worlds in my head, and every time I read the book it’s a different story. I appreciate it from different angles, and yes, get annoyed by new things too.

The third book is a survival guide, it has everything from which foods to eat, and how to catch it in various climes, to how to dig your own pooping place. A must for a desert Island, no?

Then I halted. The first two are my go to books when someone says “pick a book that stays with you” and the third is a cop out answer.

What then would I pick if these options were to be removed and I stuck to the single book challenge?

Three books that I have that I treasure without realising because I have always fallen back on my default answers.

The first without a shadow of doubt would have to be a Pratchett. There’s no getting past that. He is my all time favourite author. But which one? There’s a whole world of books created by him. The Witches used to be my favourite. I also like the Sam Vimes series, but I would read them as a series. Then there’s the stand alone’s- Maurice and His Educated Rodents, Nation, and many others. And of course any of his other books can be read as one off’s.

The Stand Alone that I picked rather surprised me. Monstrous Regiment. I would have thought the Last Hero would have had a look in with its beautiful imagery. But I’ve only read the Monstrous Regiment once, and it’s stuck in the back of my brain. I think about the story every now and then at odd little moments, and often for no reason.

The second would probably be The Alchemists Cat. It’s from my favourite author as a child. It’s the first book of his I read and I was hooked with a capital H. It’s dark, it’s dangerous. It does not patronise or gloss over the gory details. It’s a book that I would say defined my literary tastes. And quite possibly me. My copy is rather battered. It came to me second hand and I have moved with it a lot.

The last is a more recent discovery. Neverwhere by Niel Gaiman. It came to me as I was struggling to find a book that engaged me. Then it picked my up by my lapels and took my on a journey. That book left me feeling like I’d been places and seen things. It made my brain happy.

What three books do you treasure above all others? Feel free to take up the challenge if you so wish, and/ or comment below.