Top Ten Tuesday

November 13: Top Ten Books  I'd Want On A Deserted Island

1) Lord Of The Flies - William Golding. Hey, you could kind of use it as an instruction manual...or a what not to do...

2) Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk. I'm desperate to re-read this at the minute but I've a pile of new things to read and I'm barely getting through those, so it's going to have to wait a while. I'd want it on an Island because maybe I got there via a plane crash, which is a running commentary throughout this book, seems like it'd fit in well, plus I always class this as a kind of hopeful story.

3) Batman Series - Frank Miller. These graphic novels always leave me feeling really inspired and "fired up", that motivation may do me good on a deserted island.

4) Ulysses - James Joyce. Purely because I own it and have never gotten round to reading it. I've read so so much about this book and  think I've put it off because of all the hype.

5) Fevre Dream - George R.R. Martin. ABookwormBelle just wrote a review on this and now I'm dying to read it! 

6) Some Stephen King - I'm always a bit wary of delving into horror as I've said before, and so many people rave about King, maybe somewhere well away from society would be the place to start...

7) Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen. Just because I probably couldn't go the rest of my life without this book, although the romance may make me a little maudlin...ah well.

8) The Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling. To keep my childlike sense of wonder...plus, I could fashion a wand from any trees on my deserted island...Lumos my nights away!

9) Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer. To boost my adventurous spirit! 

10) No surprise here! (I think I mention this every week...) - A Song Of Ice & Fire series - George R.R. Martin. Again, I couldn't not read these books ever again, plus reading the whole series would really pass the time - though imagine if you were deserted before the final books are published - you might never know how things end! Now that's something I don't want to think about...

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is run by The Broke and the Bookish. This weeks question is;

Top Ten Books That Make You Think (About The World, People, Life, etc.) 

I think this is quite a difficult question to narrow down into 10 as in my opinion that what most books do; they make us think and they change opinions, so I've tried to narrow it down into books that had (to me) a really strong message that made an impact. (In no particular order).

1) Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk. "The things you own, end up owning you". Just how materialistic are we?

2) Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer. There really is nothing stopping us from just picking up one day and going out to find beauty or purpose or meaning in the world, it does't have to be novelised.

3) 127 Hours - Aron Ralston. See above. The instinct to survive can make you do incredible things.

4) Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk. The way you look does not define who you are.

5) Fiesta - Earnest Hemingway. Love is not a fairytale, but "Isn't it pretty to think so."

6) 1984 - George Orwell. We are all under others control.

7) A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess. Violence is everywhere. It is senseless and consuming.

8) The Road - Cormac McCarthy. Love will always exist, even in the absence of all else. It can be a strength and a weakness, but what would we rather have? A loved one to share in despair? Or the ability to survive longer, alone.

9) Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Coupland. "God is Nowhere. God is Now Here."

10) Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy. Women's rights have really come such a long way in the 120 or so years that this book was published.


What books changed the way you think?