It would seem that the “10 Weeks of Books” meme over at The Egotist’s Club has ended all to soon, since here we are at the final entry already! 😦
So, the last prompt of the meme is:
“Books that I would bring if the world was going to be destroyed by aliens/cylons and we had to restart civilization as we know it. (ie: the basis of human knowledge and thought and civilization).”
I think I’m going to have to impose some limitations on myself to answer this one. 1) I’m only going to list my top ten. 2) I’m only going to use books from my personal library – if cylons were attacking, I doubt I’d hit up the local library for additional books.
- The Bible – Beyond being the basis for my personal faith, the Bible has had a huge effect on Western civilization as we know it. It’s influence is immeasurable, as is its value.
- Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen – Who didn’t see this one coming?
- Paradise Lost by John Milton – Milton’s Satan is iconic. He serves as one of the first official “anti-heroes” and has influenced how villains are portrayed in literature (y’know, like having motivations and stuff like that). Not to mention Paradise Lost is a great example of epic poetry (it’s a toss-up between this one and Dante’s Divine Comedy, actually, but since I don’t own any Dante, Milton wins by default).
- Hans Christian Anderson’s Faerie Tales – Not only do a lot of the old faerie tales serve as cautionary tales for children, they provide great inspiration for modern stories – so, in terms of rebuilding the world, these stories will help provide a strong base for creating new ones.
- Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien – My copy is a single volume compilation of the whole trilogy – ha! It’s a great example of a Hero’s Journey and the linguistic genius just can’t be destroyed (I’d cry). Not to mention, it’s just awesome in general.
- A cookbook of some sort – preferably one with a recipe or two for bread. Seriously, people, bread is a staple and it’s not something that you can just throw together – I want to eat in my post-apocalyptic world, thank you!
- Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens – It’s a difficult read, but hopefully the social commentary on the mistreatment of children in the school system and the examples of unscrupulous family members and employers will help us avoid making those same errors as we rebuild.
- Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain – Because I suppose we have to have some American authors in there and he’s one of the best we’ve got!
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – It shows a loving family whose members try to think of others before themselves. It shows trials and successes, joys and troubles, and just paints a picture of a simple, but rewarding life.
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman – in the midst of all this heavy reading, we’ve got to have something fun to read!
So that’s my survivor list. Somehow, I think the cylons will be able to get me early on, since I’ll be weighed down by all these books! Or maybe I’ll just start downloading all of them to my Kindle – then I can get away faster! But when it runs out of power, then all the books are inaccessible again. Hm. Conundrums.
Also, if the world ends by zombies instead of cylons, I’d replace Huck Finn with Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide.
5 responses to “Week 10 – Apocalypse Library”
jamesroom964x
June 19th, 2012 at 21:44
Cool list. I’d definitely have Paradise Lost on there as well. Satan is one of my all time favorite characters in literature. I’d also put the Faery Queen and the Stranger on there, to round out both ends of the religious spectrum.
Golden Bookwyrm
June 19th, 2012 at 21:48
There are so many books that I’d want to bring – Spencer’s “The Faerie Queene” is definitely on the extended list! I wasn’t too fond of “The Stranger”, but that’s just personal preference.
Ideally, I’d want to have a much greater array of political and religious works in there. My personal library is very deficient in that area.
David
July 13th, 2012 at 00:35
Ah, Hans Christian Andersen! Great choice — I like his fairy stories much better than the ones the Grimm brothers collected. And I’d thought about Twain — glad you mentioned him. I wouldn’t have him as the only fiction author, but he deserves to be on an extended list.
And I’m reading Neverwhere right now! It’s my first full-length Gaiman — I kept disliking his short stories, so I figured I should move on to the formats he’s better at. And I’m really loving it so far. Only about 60 pages or so from the end, and you can be sure I’ll review it when I’m done!
Golden Bookwyrm
July 13th, 2012 at 13:47
I grew up with both Anderson and Grimm, but somehow, Anderson’s faerie tales were always so much more engrossing – probably because of the awesome illustrations!
“Neverwhere” was my first exposure to Neil Gaiman, so it’s my favorite of his works. I’m glad you’re enjoying it! Richard is a wonderful protagonist and the Marquis de Carabas = Awesome! And, I agree – Gaiman’s full-length novels are far superior to his short stories, simply because he has time to build suspense and weave in plot twists, IMHO.
David
July 14th, 2012 at 00:05
I just finished it; I’ll give you a sneak preview of my eventual review by saying that I really enjoyed it, but for any more you’ll just have to wait and find out! +)