I have to admit I already posted this on my own forum but I thought it might be interesting to see what people here thought too. Appoligies if you're a member of both
Say you're going to be trapped on a desert island for a long time and you can take the complete works of 3 authors what would you take? Would you want quality or quantity? Authors that you've read most of their books or new books to read?
The authors I would take are:
J.K Rowling - (Including books 6 + 7 ) They might be quick to read but the later ones are quite long and I know I will enjoy reading them again and again.
Jane Austen - Her books are brilliant, they're not too quick to read and again I'd enjoy re-reading them
I'm not certain about my 3rd choice - maybe Charles Dickens - for the sheer length of many of his books and the fact that they take me forever to get through. Plus I'd be more eductated when I came off the Island The only bad thing about this is the only very enjoyable one I've read was The Christmas Carol and that's really short.
Instead of Charles Dickens I could take a fantasy author - you know the kind who have long series of books each of which is over 1000 pages. Robert Jorden might work seeing as I've given up on reading his lastest books as I can't be bothered going back to re-read his earlier ones to remind me what's going on. The only drawback with him is all his books in the Wheel of Time Series after 5 seem to have no plot and aren't going anywhere.
Perhaps I could take Terry Brook's books, he's written loads and they are all quite long. Though while his Running with the deamon books are good I' think I might get bored with his Shannara ones - each book is a slightly different version of LotR.
And that leaves me with Tolkien. Perhaps I should take his books. On a desert Island I might find even the Sillmarillion interesting. I might also re disover the excitment I felt when I first read LotR instead of giving up after the Two Towers like I did the last time I read them. Plus I could back to the internet and be able to have good discussions on forums about them instead of avoiding the boards where you're actually meant to talk about LotR on LotR forums
Hmm.. I think I might go with Tolkien for my 3rd choice though I'm sure later I'll think of someone else.