Desert Island Books by G. G. Kellner

 

Hello and welcome back to Desert Island Books on the blog. I am thrilled to have G. G. Kellner joining us this month.

You may remember that I reviewed Gayle's book, Hope: A History of the Future, a couple of weeks ago. If you would like to read my review you can do so by clicking here. You can also find some interesting information all about Gayle herself.

The newly released book Hope, A History of the Future imagines a peaceful, just, verdant future world that could arise. It is a novel based on scientific projections and historical precedence. 

Gayle, how do you think you would manage life on a desert island?

It’s not often that being a nerdy introvert is handy, but I think I’d love being on a desert island with eight of my favourite books! I actually live on an island in real life and love it. Of course, I’m not here entirely alone. This is a fun question for me too because some of the characters in my book Hope, A History of the Future get stranded on a deserted island! 

If the imaginary island had a good swimming hole, a hammock in the shade, and a few fruit trees I’d settle in happily with my books for quite a while. My nerdy side is about to be exposed. 

The History of the World by J.M. Roberts &Odd Arne Westad

At 1260 pages with five dozen maps History of the World is large enough to double as a pup-tent. I am currently rereading this for the second time (it took me a year and half the first time.) It is a fascinating account of what we know of the beginnings of humankind from prehistory 600,000 years ago to the present. It is organised in such a way that the reader is taken on a spiralling path around and around the world stopping at each continent and civilisation as the authors wind up and around the globe chronologically moving forward in time. The first-time I read this book it knit together history for me like a patchwork quilt. I began to comprehend how historical events and civilisations are deeply intertwined. At four inches thick it will also make a good weapon or a decent pillow. 

Encyclopedias Brittanica

First you must know, I have trouble with insomnia sometimes. I love reading old encyclopedias just before bed or if I wake in the night. The internet has pretty well made encyclopedias obsolete but there is no better way for me to pass an hour or two than filling my head with nearly useless and certainly out of date information like the population of Nebraska in 1950 (1,327,000; I wouldn’t have guessed that high). Or I can wonder around the topography of Italy, climbing the hills of Tuscany in my mind. I especially like the set of encyclopedias I inherited from my grandmother. I can find out the major exports of long forgotten countries and the names of little remembered now dead presidents. Nothing seems quite as serious through the filter of time. And when I’m done reading them all I can make them into the deck of a raft. 

A Dictionary

Yeah, a big one. One that can double as a footstool. My current toe stubber is The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language third edition by Houghton Mifflin. I really like it because it has little pictures. Like the one I’m looking at right now of two flamenco dancers intertwined mid-step. On the opposite page is a long-legged flamingo bird (before I looked, I thought these were the same words!) When I’m not learning new words, I can stand on top of it and look far out to sea or reach that perfectly ripe avocado. If a fellow castaway was to wash up, we would be able to play Scrabble with a reliable word referee.  

Love & Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality by Edward Frenkel

I was over 50 years old when I learned that I loved math. I like it so much, if I live long enough, I may be tempted to get a degree in mathematics someday. So, if I was stuck on a desert island I’d wake up and read this book in the morning right after a refreshing swim. The inner workings and mysteries of math and the world around us is so much more interesting than most teachers in school ever let you know.  

Hope: A History of the Future & A Blank Book

Books five and six would have to be a copy of my own book Hope, A History of the Future and a blank book. I could probably spend years reworking parts that I currently think could be better and if nothing else it would make a good fire starter. In the blank book, I could write the sequel to Hope, A History of the Future. I’d have to choose my words carefully. With no word processors, I’d likely be writing it with a homemade charcoal pencil like the character Mia in my story.  

Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

I haven’t read this in years, but it is on the top of my “read again” list. I remember being mesmerised by his descriptions of nature and the small things which I’m guessing by month four or five on a desert island would begin to take on a whole new significance. 

Thirst by Mary Oliver

I could easily just bring poetry books and forget everything else! So, for my last selection I would have to bring a book from one of my favourite poets Mary Oliver. I think I’d bring Thirst. It seems a fitting title for a companion book on a desert island. How many things one can thirst for besides water? Quite a few I bet! In this book is one of my all-time favourite poems, The Uses of Sorrow, which I included (with special permission from Mary Oliver’s estate) in Hope, A History of the Future. It is very short. Like a kaon, it could be something to think about whilst sitting in the sand day after day,

“A friend once gave me a box full of darkness 

It took me years to understand 

that this too was a gift” -Mary Oliver 

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Now that I've made this list I don’t think one lifetime is enough for me on a desert island! I’m going to go find my swimming suit and start building a raft. 

I love the way that many of your choices have a practical element too.  Thank you, Gayle, for sharing your choices.

If you are an author and would be interested in taking part, then please get in touch by emailing me at leftontheshelf1@gmail.com.

Desert Island Books with Author, Genevieve Jenner

 

Hello and welcome back to Desert Island Books on the blog. It is my absolute pleasure to have Genevieve Jenner joining us this month.

You may remember that I reviewed Genevieve's book of short stories last month. If you would like to read my review of this lovely anthology, Chocolate Cake for Imaginary Lives, you can do so by clicking here. It's a fabulously quirky collection which foodies will enjoy. This is her debut publication, and she is one to watch.

Q   How do you think you would cope on a desert island, Genevieve?

If I am to be on an island through extraordinary circumstances, I would try and make the best of things. But I am sure of a few things. I would be able to eat and I would have a tantrum or breakdown at least once a week about the whole situation. It would be made easier by having some friends about. Even if they reside on the pages of these books. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I was given this book by my Grandma when I was 12 and it was the first book I had read that captured so many things that felt familiar to my own place in the world. Francie may have existed a century prior to me, but we were both the oldest girl in Catholic families with a charming but disappointing father, and a hard-working mother. To see before me the familiar constant battle to hold tight to one’s dignity amid poverty was revolutionary. The rituals in a poor house-hold to find pleasure, and how books and literacy are a significant path to interior freedom made me feel more at ease in a world that often felt lonely. The vivid descriptions of ordinary life remain something I aspire to in my own writing. 

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Not only does it have one of the best opening lines for a novel, even the last few lines of the book are beautiful. It is such a love letter to England (as the author was in America during the war at the time she wrote it) that Smith so dearly missed. England is my adopted home, and I understand so well the visceral love one can have for the countryside. It is a magical romantic book where people don’t always get what they want, nor do they understand what they desire. It is a book that shows how denial of our feelings can only go so far before the truth will light everything on fire. 

Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis

Provocative, mischievous, sophisticated, sharp in its view around bigots and snobs, and so terribly funny. It was written in the very conservative 1950s, and proved to be a hit, because I suspect we all desire chaos and reinvention. Dennis doesn’t allow anyone to be perfect or pure, for everyone has their prejudices but the important thing is Mame is interested in other people and taking up new and fascinating things. American curiosity is a gift, even if it can get a person into trouble now and then. This has been one of my favourites since I was eight years old (our bookshelves were very free growing up) and it taught me how to get up every single day, and make every moment yours. One needs that on a desert island. 

Mariana by Monica Dickens

I fell in love with this book immediately. The most English book with the most ordinary main character. She isn’t perfect. She isn’t beautiful. She isn’t terribly talented at anything. At times she is truly bad at things she tries her hands at, but she is still interesting and has opinions. You watch as she grows up and begins to know pieces of herself better and better. This is a book many girls should read because it provides the perfect example of someone realising that someone isn’t right for them and being brave enough to say, “No thank you.” Just because someone is dazzling, charismatic, or available, doesn’t mean they are the one to love. 

Anybody Can Do Anything by Betty MacDonald

When I miss the Pacific Northwest, where I grew up, I read this book. It reminds me of places that stay deep within my heart, and of my family. This series of essays about life in Seattle during the Great Depression, shows so much heart. A million different jobs, no money, questionable dates, a lot of creativity, and the constant worry could be subdued a bit by having such an entertaining extended family. This book taught me a lot about telling stories. 

The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker

Can a book help to raise you? This certainly did. Parker’s poems were acuminous regarding fragile hearts that broke so easily but making sure no one saw how much it hurt. Always be clever because love is painful. Her short stories are filled with tension of the most domestic nature and disenchantment that appears and disappears like a rabbit in a hat with people’s magical thinking. Everyone remembers how clever and witty she was (especially in her reviews), but there was so much tenderness and vulnerability in her work. 

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

If one is going to be on a desert island for a while, one should have someone who knows what it is to be somewhere for a very long time and have unusual adventures. Orlando sees many ages, and finds themselves with different identities across the centuries, but some things remain constant:  poetry, an instinctive tie to home, and an awareness of oneself. This book allows for the impossible to do more than exist. It flourishes.

The Oxford Book of English Verse - Ed. by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Crouch

I suppose I must let the men say a few things (there are a few women poets in this collection but they are like comets). I love poetry. My heart has been awakened and turned upside down by poets. When I need a bit of different scenery I will turn to this great gift of many voices across the centuries. I will let a few romance me when I feel lonely, and maybe let them go to bed with me. The rest must amuse me, or inspire meditation. When I feel low, I can find a few lines to make me find hope once again. 

Thank you so much, Genevieve, for telling us about the eight books that you would take to a desert island. There are some very interesting titles there.

If you are an author and would be interested in taking part, then please get in touch by emailing me at leftontheshelf1@gmail.com.

Something Exciting is Happening on Left on the Shelf

 

I am incredibly excited to tell you about a new, and regular feature which will be appearing on the blog.

Desert Island Books will highlight various authors, imagining they are stranded on a desert island. However, unusually, they can plan for this and take just eight books with them. They have no idea how long they will be there. They may be rescued tomorrow, or in a decade, or never, so choosing the correct books is vital as they may need to be read over and over.

I am delighted to tell you that my first author to be stranded is Anne Goodwin and her time on the island will begin tomorrow, so I really hope you will visit the blog to see which books she has chosen.

Regular readers of the blog will know that I am a big fan of Anne's and I am honoured that she is the first of my guests to wash up on the island. I read and reviewed her book, Sugar and Snails, in November 2015 and more recently as part of a blog tour. You can read my review by clicking here. 

Additionally, my review of her fabulous latest novel, Matilida Windsor is Coming Home can be read by clicking here.

Are you an author who would like to take a trip to the island and feature on the blog? If so, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at: leftontheshelf1@gmail.com.

(header photo courtesy of Unsplash)