Neither identical to my ten favorites nor my twenty desert island picks (see my blog sidebar), here's my stack for classroom or couch to spark debate among a downsized, Twittered, yet savvy symposium; I'm responding to "Liberal Rapture: Nine Books."My tomes follow below, after "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," "Fried Green Tomatoes," and "The Celestine Prophecy" were nominated by earlier commenters. These choices aside-- please-- LB does attract an irascible crowd, but arguably smarter than the average bear. Call me a snob. After all, "Tamerlane," the author of the initial post, asked LB readers for "contributions to civilization." Sorry, but I learned to count all the way to ten using all my fingers.
Me: "Contributions to civilization doesn't usually equal bestsellers remaindered two years hence! For the long haul to pass on, teach, and argue over via dead males/females (white men predominate, but that's what I've read most of), nine keepers. Do you crave nourishment, or fast-food?"
1. The Bible with a decent commentary.
2. Shakespeare with lots of the same.
3. Communist Manifesto.
4. Iliad & Odyssey made readable.
5. The Qur'an with notes and context.
6. The Second Sex (Simone de Beauvoir).
7. John Muir, Nature Writings (Library of America).
8. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe).
9. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald).
10. Ulysses (Joyce).
Cartoon: I may add there's a real book title worth packing: "How to Survive on a Desert Island." That or an ornithological guide?
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