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Concept Association Football
Dec. 14th, 2008 07:30 pmI've not been doing all that much reading lately. Instead I have been watching a bunch of old TV shows - the consequence of buying myself a new media player. After working through the complete Daria, I started watching Absolute Power. In one episode the PR types were discussing the focus groups for the Prime Minister's Desert Island Disks appearance. You know the show - where some celebrity picks the music that they would take with them if they were stranded on a desert island. I started musing on that for myself which naturally led to thinking about Desert Island books. If I could take just 5 books with me to some isolated spot, what would they be?
But then the interesting bit started. As I started to think about the books, I realised that the books I would take would not be novels - it would be short story collections. There might be an element of practicality there - a large collection of short stories is much more likely to keep me amused for many re-readings than a novel, even the best of novels. But really it is more about what I would most want to read.
Not just any collections either - but specifically single author ones. What little reading I have been doing recently has been themed anthologies or best-of compilations. I.e. multi-author. I have just finished Extraordinary Engines edited by Nick Gevers and it is a good steampunk themed collection although less than the sum of its parts. But it isn't what I would take away. Nor are the big Dozois best-of collections despite their word count. Rather, I would take collections like George R R Martin's Dreamsongs - collections across a career. There are similar ones by the likes of Ellison and Varley that I would take too.
It is an interesting exercise. It really focusses the mind on what is important to you - literary speaking that is.
Of course if I was really going to be stranded on a desert island, top of my list of books to take would be ones with titles like How to survive on a desert island.
But then the interesting bit started. As I started to think about the books, I realised that the books I would take would not be novels - it would be short story collections. There might be an element of practicality there - a large collection of short stories is much more likely to keep me amused for many re-readings than a novel, even the best of novels. But really it is more about what I would most want to read.
Not just any collections either - but specifically single author ones. What little reading I have been doing recently has been themed anthologies or best-of compilations. I.e. multi-author. I have just finished Extraordinary Engines edited by Nick Gevers and it is a good steampunk themed collection although less than the sum of its parts. But it isn't what I would take away. Nor are the big Dozois best-of collections despite their word count. Rather, I would take collections like George R R Martin's Dreamsongs - collections across a career. There are similar ones by the likes of Ellison and Varley that I would take too.
It is an interesting exercise. It really focusses the mind on what is important to you - literary speaking that is.
Of course if I was really going to be stranded on a desert island, top of my list of books to take would be ones with titles like How to survive on a desert island.