2 books and a beach towel
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Illustration by Stefan Hard |
Toolbox
Published: June 1, 2008
We’re sending your local librarian or bookseller off alone to a deserted island this summer. But with the airlines tightening the rules on luggage, each person is allowed to take only two books: one old favorite to reread, and one not yet read. Here’s what they plan to pack (along with a vivid imagination and our thanks).
Sandy Scott
Bookseller
The Galaxy Bookshop
Hardwick
One book to reread - I would take the three-in-one volume of "Anne of Green Gables," "Anne of Avonlea" and "Anne of the Island" (this might be cheating slightly, but it IS all in one book - ISBN 0553333062). These are great stories, and ones that I would read over and over.
One book I haven't yet read - "Steampunk" (an anthology), edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. Steampunk is a term I just learned the meaning of (a sub-genre of sci-fi that mixes high-tech fantasy into Victorian settings). It sounds like good escapist literature, perfect for the times when you really want to get off that desert island.
June Osowski
Youth librarian
Rutland Free Library
To read again and again, I would take "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame. I love the descriptions of the natural world, and the gentle humor. The story is timeless.
To read for the first time, I would take along "Beauty" by Robin McKinley. It is a book my daughter has loved and recommended, and that is reason enough to take it.
Karen Lane
Director
Aldrich Public Library
Barre
With only two books allowed, I'm choosing a pair with lots and lots of pages to read and reread.
To while away the long island days, I'll take a copy of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" in the new translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky that everybody thinks is terrific. I've never read "War and Peace," and this edition runs to 1,296 pages. It will probably take me all summer long!
When I get bogged down in Napoleonic Russia, my favorite humorist, P.G. Wodehouse, will cheer me right up. I'll take a copy of "The Best of Wodehouse," published last fall by Everyman's Library. So I can laugh my way through 840 pages of the funniest prose in the English language.
Stan Hynds
Book buyer
Northshire Bookstore
Manchester Center
The book I have read: "A Short History of a Small Place," by T.R. Pearson. I read it for the first time 20 years ago. After all this time, it still ranks as the most fun I ever had reading a book. Pearson has a style and storytelling ability all his own.
The book I haven't read: "Les Miserables," by Victor Hugo. There is a new translation coming out in hardcover this summer. If I get bogged down, it'll make a nice doorstop. Any doors on this island?
Lucinda Walker
Director
Norwich Public Library
To reread: "Harriet the Spy" by Louise Fitzhugh. This has been a favorite book of mine since I was 9 years old. I love Harriet's directness and spunk. Fitzhugh beautifully portrays the difficult and poignant lessons children experience as they learn to navigate the adult world around them. The passage describing Harriet's farewell to her nanny Ole Golly still brings me to tears.
To read: The plays of William Shakespeare. Having just seen a terrific production of "As You Like It," I am inspired to read all of Shakespeare's plays. If I were stuck on a desert island I'd crave stories that were comedic, tragic and historic, and who better than Shakespeare?
Sue MacMartin
Director
Brown Public Library
Northfield
To reread: "The Good Earth" by Pearl Buck. I read this book when I was in my teens. My incentive to read it again comes from reading another book, "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See. Both books are historical fiction set in China, and I'm curious to see how they compare.
To read: "Forward From Here: Leaving Middle Age - and Other Unexpected Adventures" by Reeve Lindbergh. In this book Lindbergh reflects on her life to date and contemplates what might lie ahead. It's a timely read for me as I turn 60 this summer ....
Dennis and Marsene Pryor
Owners
Annie's Book Stop
Rutland
From Dennis:
"Malabar Farm" by Louis Bromfield is the book I have previously read that I could read over and over again. Louis Bromfield was ahead of his time in his stewardship of the land using organic methods in the 1940s. The book details his crusade to revitalize the land with organic farming method.
"Blood Trail" by C.J. Box is No. 1 on my "to-read" list this summer. C.J. Box has the ability to empower his characters with regular human traits and emotions that readers can identify with easily. His books utilize spectacular Western locales with events that challenge the mystery reader.
From Marsene:
The novel that has remained at the top of my "favorite" list for 37 years is the award-winning "Dune" by Frank Herbert. This was my first foray into science fiction and is a book that lends itself to being reread as it is the proverbial multilayered novel. The plots and characters are intricate, as are the political, financial, military and all other social structures. Read this book - but skip the movie and the sequels, as in my mind they never measured up to the original!
"A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah is a book I have wanted to read for quite a while. It is a memoir of a 12-year-old boy in Sierra Leone who is caught up in one of the most brutal and violent civil wars during the 1990s. It is a story of the human spirit's ability to endure and survive. I also have a personal connection as I have close friends who barely made it out alive of Sierra Leone during this period.
Claire Benedict
Co-owner
Bear Pond Books and Rivendell Books
Montpelier
For a book to reread, I would definitely choose "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth. This is a beautifully lush, layered novel that you can sink your teeth into and read for a good long time. It is the story of modern-day India family life complete with weddings, festivals, street riots, business deals, arranged marriages and all the ensuing drama - all a part of finding a daughter "a suitable boy."
For a new read, I would bring the biography "Edith Wharton" by Hermione Lee. As a Wharton fan, this is a book I've been waiting for the right time to read. Lee is a highly respected biographer and Wharton is a fascinating subject - a tough woman living in a genteel world whose life was as interesting as the women she wrote about.
Stephanie Chase
Director
Stowe Public Library
To reread: "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. No matter what reading mood you are in, this novel - the first in a not-yet-complete series of five - has something for you. It's thick - good if you want your book to last you a while. The story, about an English woman who travels back in time to 1740s Scotland, combines elements of magic and fantasy, historical fiction, military fiction, herbalism and romance. Learn about healing in the 18th century, kilts, the Jacobite Revolution, handsome Scotsmen ... a beach book and a fantastic history book all wrapped up in one.
To read: "People of the Book: A Novel" by Geraldine Brooks. I have long been a fan of Geraldine Brooks' work, especially her first novel about the plague in England, "Year of Wonders." This, her latest novel, follows the discovery of the Sarajevo Haggadah in Australia. In two paths, we follow the story of the book - how it was made, and lost and found - and the story of Hanna, the rare book dealer who is studying the work. Everyone I know who has read this book has recommended it wholeheartedly, calling it one of, if not the, best books they've read. With reviews like that, who cares if you're on a desert island?
Lynne and Bill Reed
Owners
Misty Valley Books
Chester
We agreed on two books: One that we've read, Wallace Stegner's "Crossing to Safety," and one to read, the new translation (by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky) of "War & Peace" by Leo Tolstoy.
Erik Barnum
Sales floor manager
Northshire Bookstore
Manchester Center
The book I have read: "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. Simply put, a perfect novel. Neither a missing word nor an extraneous one. Lee wields her pen like a scalpel, slicing layers of insight and humanity until nothing but truth remains.
The book I haven't read but would like to: "Story of Civilization" by Will and Ariel Durant (11 volumes). What the heck, I'll be on the island for a while.
Jerry Carbone
Director
Brooks Memorial Library
Brattleboro
The book I have read but would take with me: "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova. A literary Dracula tale in a historical context. Reads like a well-written history with a real sense of exotic place, especially in Romania, Istanbul and the Middle East. Vivid characters. You won't be able to put it down.
The book I want to read: "Zugzwang" by Ronan Bennett. I am thinking more of World War I these days. I heard about this book at the most recent Vermont Library Association conference. It's a literary thriller set in 1914 St. Petersburg amidst an international chess tournament and a series of unsolved murders. Zugzwang describes a chess position in which the player sits in utter helplessness, and every move puts him in a worse situation.
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