If I were stranded on a desert island I’d want to have five enormously long books, all worth reading, so gripping that I’d stop worrying about whether I’d be rescued, books that would cheer me up if I felt depressed about being stranded and that I’d want to read again and again. I’ve often thought […]
Desert Island Books: Sara Sheridan
These choices probably depend on the island. I’m being positive and imagining somewhere temperate with regular rainfall, plentiful fruit and vegetables and places it’s possible to catch fish. In this scenario, my worst problem is loneliness. But if it’s a polar island (a frozen desert) or a traditional desert island – all baking sun and […]
Desert Island Books: Matthew Harffy
When asked what five books I would take with me if I was stranded on a desert island, my first reaction was just to name my five favourite books, or at least the first five good books I could think of. But then I got thinking (often a bad idea, I find) about all the […]
Desert Island Books: Harry Sidebottom
Harry Sidebottom picks his top five historical novels for castaways. Alfred Duggan, Family Favourites (1960) As a boy I got into historical fiction through the novels of Alfred Duggan, as well as those of Graham Shelby, George Shipway, R. F. Tapsell, and Wallace Breem. I have chosen Duggan’s Family Favourites, not only because it is a […]
Desert Island Books: Lloyd Shepherd
The brief is this: which five books would you take with you on a desert island? Five seems unnecessarily cruel, when the radio wallahs decreed eight songs, but a book takes up more space in your head than a song (he claims, controversially), so I suppose this is fair. How to choose? I need things […]