Musing just now on what would be our choice of book if we were to be the 'castaway' on Desert Island Discs (the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare are provided, you'll remember), Mr. C. said he'd most likely take some poetry, either Larkin or Auden, or if going for novels then perhaps Trollope.
To see how popular those choices are among the castaways in the archive, I found you can search the programme's website (see the yellow box on the right there) by ticking 'Books and authors' and entering a name of a book or a writer and up will come all those who have chosen them - endless hours of fun!
I searched for Nancy Mitford as I am a fan, and interestingly she comes up only twice, but chosen by just one person, as Susan Hill went for The Pursuit of Love when she was the guest in 1974 and 1996. I was amused at the book choice of Nancy's sister Deborah when she was on with her husband some years ago (click here and scroll down to the bottom and you'll see Debo's book listed first).
What would I choose for my desert island reading? I don't know - I'd have to give it a lot more thought. How about you?
That's an easy one for me. Alistair Cooke's Reporting America (The Life of the Nation 1946-2004) - published in paperback by Penguin in 2010. It's the most comprehensive collection of his Letters From America that I've found, and contains a few which have never appeared in print. Two reasons: I'm fascinated by the subject, and no-one wrote more fluently. I look forward to hearing your own selection Cornflower :)
Posted by: Michael Faulkner | 15 May 2011 at 11:02 PM
Lovely link! I'd no idea you could do this. I entered Middlemarch and found it picked by seven castaways, including P D James and Stephen Hawking.
I see more fun ahead with this, thank you!
Posted by: Barbara | 16 May 2011 at 07:50 AM
Mike, you're the perfect person for this post as you actually live on a desert island (albeit with access to the wider world)!
Posted by: Cornflower | 16 May 2011 at 08:14 AM
It is fun - a real time-waster!
Posted by: Cornflower | 16 May 2011 at 08:15 AM
My 1st idea was 'The Coconut Lovers Cookbook' by Bruce Fife as being a useful aide.
Eventually I decided on 'The Lord of the Rings' by JRR Tolkien. He created an amazing world from which he drew his saga, so there is plenty of material there to pass the time!
I see 15 cataways have already chosen it and I anticipate it being well-thumbed by the time I am marooned...
Posted by: Sandy | 16 May 2011 at 08:53 AM
For its sheer length I'd go for Henri Louis de la Grange's life of Mahler. The book is so incredibly detailed that I could draw a rough sketch map of Europe in the sand and enact almost each day of Mahler's life to while away the years. What fun!
Posted by: B R Wombat | 16 May 2011 at 10:01 AM
If, as an atheist, I might be allowed the Feynman Lectures on Physics instead of the Bible, then my choice would be Proust's In Search of Lost Time in the 1992 revision (by D J Enright) of the translation by Scott Moncrieff and Kilmartin. If I'm banished to the island sometime after 2018 then I could have all volumes of the latest translation under the editorship of Christopher Prendergast.
So far I have only managed to read (twice) volume one but I am pretty certain that this book would be my choice.
Posted by: Dark Puss | 16 May 2011 at 11:40 AM
I was tempted by Tolkein too, but I have read it too often!
Posted by: Dark Puss | 16 May 2011 at 11:41 AM
I've just wasted 55 seconds to discover that Harry Kroto chose Quantum Electro Dynamics Physics by Feynman as his DIB!
Posted by: Dark Puss | 16 May 2011 at 11:43 AM
Middlemarch is tempting, but I'd choose Being Alive, Staying Alive or Being Human - the best anthologies known to man (and woman). Or failing one of those I Capture the Castle, or the complete Borrowers for solace on bad days.
Posted by: oxslip | 16 May 2011 at 11:45 AM
Just a clarification on my "rejection" of the Bible. It contains some wonderful literature and was (and is) obviously massively influential on literature in many parts of the world. However I'm requesting the opportunity to swap one highly influential book for another. I guess it's cheating, but then I'd have a real dilemma chosing between Proust and Feynman!
Posted by: Dark Puss | 16 May 2011 at 11:49 AM
I'm in charge, so no cheating allowed. You'll have to choose, DP!
Posted by: Cornflower | 16 May 2011 at 11:52 AM
I'd be quite happy with Trollope, especially if I could have a mammoth complete works!
And I completely agree with DarkPuss that one ought to be able to swap the Bible for something else. Surely all the works of the Universe are in his book of physics?
Not that I'd understand it!
Posted by: m | 16 May 2011 at 01:50 PM
I see I have some support from "m"!
However as you are in charge then Proust is my choice, but I request the rare "Schrodinger" edition of the Bible which re-instated the extra chapters on quantum mechanics .
Posted by: Dark Puss | 16 May 2011 at 02:06 PM
I thought about Jane Eyre...then Small Gods, Good Omens, or Nation (how could I go to a desert island without Terry Pratchett?), then a Suitable Boy, but I theeenk I've settled on Persuasion. My favourite lit couple ever would make great company.
Posted by: Jodie | 16 May 2011 at 02:32 PM
Are you actually Schrodinger's Cat, Dark Puss?
Posted by: Cornflower | 16 May 2011 at 02:46 PM
Quite often I feel half-dead if that's what you mean!
Posted by: Dark Puss | 16 May 2011 at 02:53 PM
I've gone for Anna Karenina and I seem to be with a very good bunch of people. I'm looking foward to the chat on the island!
Posted by: Claire | 16 May 2011 at 04:04 PM
Everything everyone chooses seems so erudite! If I re on a desert island I'd want real comfort and childhood books might provide that. Perhaps Enid Blyton's Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm which is set in the dappled countryside of the late 1940s, where fields were ploughed using horses, and everyone came in for high tea at 6 o'clock. I think that is the sort of book I should really like on a desert island. Of course, it wouldn't last long ... much depends on how long we must stay there! So, if camping out for a long time, then it would be the Lyttelton Hart-Davis Letters, all six volumes.
Posted by: Margaret Powling | 16 May 2011 at 04:07 PM
Umm - this chat you plan to have... I have some bad news for you about desert islands ...
:-)
Posted by: Sandy | 16 May 2011 at 04:16 PM
Perhaps Claire should choose something by Daniel Defoe?
;-)
Posted by: Dark Puss | 16 May 2011 at 05:09 PM
Jane Austen for me. I could read her anywhere and would find her wit and wisdom a great comfort on a desert island. Of course, I'd have to have a hammock and a nice bottle of rose as well. Bliss. I hope I would be allowed to take all her books but if asked to choose I'd go for Mansfield Park. Fanny Price's quiet fortitude and endurance would hopefully be a comfort and the thought of Mrs Norris would make me glad to be well away from her.
Posted by: Georgina | 16 May 2011 at 05:12 PM
I was amazed to see that no one on the actual programme had ever chosen I Capture the Castle!
Posted by: B R Wombat | 16 May 2011 at 07:15 PM
I'd have any Jane Austen novel and preferably the complete works. Great link. Graham Norton chose Mansfield Park! Who knew?!
Posted by: Nicola | 16 May 2011 at 08:17 PM
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, as I 'save up' my Desert Island Discs as podcasts and listen to them in the car. I decided on Somerset Maugham, either The Collected Works (don't know if that exists, or would be too big to count if it did) or Short Stories. I see some notable people have chosen likewise, including Eammon Andrews and Bill Bailey.
Posted by: cindyf | 17 May 2011 at 05:54 PM
Complete Trollope for me for reasons of length and because (MY BAD!) I have only read The Warden and am longing to read the rest. So days and days of fun on something I don't know...a treat.
Posted by: adele geras | 17 May 2011 at 06:37 PM
I have thought a lot about my choices if I am ever asked on Desert Island Discs! Mostly I would be bartering my records for as many more books as I could get! And I would be tempted to ask for more books for my luxury, too.
But if you're really going to make me choose only one, it would be Middlemarch.
Posted by: Ros | 18 May 2011 at 06:20 PM
I would find it hard to decide as so many books fit certain moods. The Rector's Daughter by F M Mayor I think would be my final choice as not only is it beautifully written it would bring back memories of who and where I was when I first read it.
Posted by: Marybel | 19 May 2011 at 08:27 AM