There are certain authors that strike a chord with me. Their works have probably formed my world view as much as anything, other than my faith. Strangely, only three from this list are Americans. Is that because I am drawn to things other than what I already know? Perhaps that sort of sedentary wanderlust has informed my taste in literature, but regardless, I would be perfectly happy with works from any of these authors on my desert island.
Graham Greene
Ernest Hemingway
Jack London
Joseph Conrad
C. S. Lewis
Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
J.R.R. Tolkein
Naguib Mafouz
Milan Kundera
Paul Theroux
I like the mix or old and new in this list. Me, I’m stuck in the past, so maybe I’ll have to try some of the newer ones here.
|
Title |
Author |
| 1 |
All the Pretty Horses |
Cormac McCarthy |
| 2 |
The Handmaid’s Tale |
Margaret Atwood |
| 3 |
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
Oscar Wilde |
| 4 |
Snow Falling on Cedars |
David Guterson |
| 5 |
El Laberinto de la Soledad |
Octavio Paz |
| 6 |
Wuthering Heights |
Emily Brontë |
| 7 |
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |
J.K. Rowling |
| 8 |
Catcher in the Rye |
J.D. Salinger |
| 9 |
Pride and Prejudice |
Jane Austen |
| 10 |
The Man of Mode |
George Etherege |
Here is a list of the ten books I’ve read most recently. Nothing new here – literally. I think 1912 is the latest original publication date for any of these. Guess I’m living in the past, but I believe the better books, the more enduring stories were written then. When I’ve made it through all those stories, I’ll move on to something more recent.
| Title |
Author |
| Tarzan of the Apes |
Edgar Rice Burroughs |
| Frankenstein |
Mary Shelley |
| The Time Machine |
H.G. Wells |
| Madame Bovary |
Gustave Flaubert |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame |
Victor Hugo |
| The Scarlet Plague |
Jack London |
| Ivanhoe |
Sir Walter Scott |
| Uncle Tom’s Cabin |
Harriet Beecher Stowe |
| Treasure Island |
Robert Louis Stevenson |
| Silas Marner |
George Eliot |
This is our first list of books with non-fiction titles – we’re branching out.
| Title |
Author |
| Tai-Pan |
James Clavell |
| Freakonomics |
Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner |
| The Smartest Guys in the Room |
Bethany McLean & Peter Elkind |
| The Sunne in Splendour |
Sharon Kay Penman |
| The Lord of the Rings |
J.R.R. Tolkein |
| Tom Sawyer |
Mark Twain |
| The Grail Quest Series |
Bernard Cornwell |
| Nicholas and Alexandria |
Robert K. Massie |
| The Devil in the White City |
Eric Larson |
| Barbarians at the Gate |
Bryan Burrough & John Heylar |
Mimi cheated. She didn’t rank the books – they’re in alphabetical order by title – and she gave me twelve. We’ll let it slide this time, Mimi.
| No. |
Title |
Author |
|
The Chronicles of Narnia |
C.S. Lewis |
|
Citizen Soldiers |
Stephen Ambrose |
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo |
Steig Larsson |
|
The Living Bible |
|
|
Lord of the Rings |
J.R.R. Tolkein |
|
Memoirs of a Geisha |
Arthur Golden |
|
Never Let Me Go |
Kazuo Ishiguro |
|
The Poetry of Robert Frost |
Robert Lee Frost |
|
A Soldier of the Great War |
Mark Helprin |
|
The Stand |
Stephen King |
|
The Sunne in Splendor |
Sharon Kay Penman |
|
The Thorn Birds |
Colleen McCollough |
Here are some Desert Island Books:
No.
|
Title
|
Author
|
| 01 |
The Bible |
|
| 02 |
The Heart of the Matter |
Graham Greene |
| 03 |
The Sun Also Rises |
Ernest Hemingway |
| 04 |
Samson Agonistes |
John Milton |
| 05 |
Martin Eden |
Jack London |
| 06 |
The Beggar |
Naguib Mahfouz |
| 07 |
100 Years of Solitude |
Gabriel Garcia Marquez |
| 08 |
Dune |
Frank Herbert |
| 09 |
Mere Christianity |
C.S. Lewis |
| 10 |
The Lord of the Rings |
J.R.R. Tolkien |
