What to take to a deserted island

When we were with my husband’s family for his sister’s wedding, we played a homemade version of the Newlywed Game (rated MG for multigenerational). One of the questions was “What three things would your spouse take to a deserted island?”

I had books down, of course, and my husband won a point by getting this right. But tonight, as I stirred up yet another batch of Christmas cookies (chewy chocolate crinkle cookies this time) for yet another classroom party, I started thinking about what three books I would want to take. Maybe it was because the Eighth Day books catalog has a book called The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future by Robert Darnton about the future of the book listed that set my mind to wandering or Mr. Riddle's comment on electronic readers. The Bible is the first choice, obviously – thereby precluding the need for another work of spirituality? And the collected works of Shakespeare is the second obvious choice. Perhaps I’m stretching the rules a little by allowing “collected work” to stand for one book.

So what next: The collected work of Jane Austen? The collected work of Charles Dickens? Dante? Dostoevsky? What would I want to read over and over if I had only one book to read? It would need to be entertaining, thought provoking, and complex enough that it would reveal something new when read and reread repeatedly. Not too melancholy because I would think if you were stuck on an island you’d need something to avert madness. I could read Wendell Berry repeatedly although I'm not sure I'd call him complex in that he tells you straightforwardly what he stands for.  His collected works would remind me of home, but maybe I would need something to keep my mind off home. To disconnect from time and place, perhaps I would bring English Fairy Tales, Canterbury Tales, or Augustine’s Confessions…


I think if a deserted island were in my future, I’d break down and get a Kindle. And a lifetime supply of batteries.