You Are What You Read

Consider this:

You've been exiled to a desert island but before you leave, you may choose 24 books to take with you. Which titles would make your all-star list? Would you choose to take your favorites, kind of as a sure thing, instead of striking out and choosing 24 unread ones? Would you stick to novels only or would you delve into non-fiction? Poetry? Would any of you choose a volume of poetry?

Would you choose the thickest, fattest reads you could find, in hopes of prolonging your reading experience (or, perhaps, in hopes of having more pages to use as kindling if the plot sucks?).

I found this pic, titled "Desert Island Books: My 24", on Flickr and the first thing I did when I saw it was to scan each title to see if I agreed with any of the choices. At first, I thought, "You've gotta be kidding me: of all the titles in the world, this guy chose these? Ugh, thank God I'm not stranded on an island with him 'cause based on these titles alone, I think he would drive me insane".

It's true, as an English teacher, I do judge people by their covers, literally - but not in the same terms that cliche no doubt brings to most minds. If I happened upon you seated by the side of the road, a battered copy of Catch 22 clutched between your grubby little fingertips, I might give you a ride and would be interested in hearing about your interest in Heller.

But if you told me that he was, hands down, your favorite writer, I don't think I would date you, nor do I think one would ever find us seated side by side gossiping while getting matching pedicures. And if you were reading A Clockwork Orange, well, there's no way in hell you're getting in my car.

But that doesn't make you a bad person, (unless you live your life emulating Alex's) it just makes us different in terms of preference and I've found that one's reading list is a good litmus test for my friendships.

My closest friends are ones whose personal collections are akin to a literary smorgasbord: they might be found reading Ulysses in between commercials just as easily as one might catch them in the middle of Anthony Kiedas' autobiography, Scar Tissue.

Just as I could easily be found laughing hysterically over this or completely absorbed in one of my favorite novels - the only one I share with the creator of the Desert Island collection pictured above...

Can you guess which one it is?

I'm going to put together my Desert Island list for a post later in the week; I would love to see yours and don't worry... since it's virtually impossible to get a pedicure online, we'll be able to remain friends!