solitary confinement

[WICKES]

Imagine you were going to be locked in solitary confinement for 18 months. You are not allowed any company, musical instruments or TV but you can take ONE book with you. It can be absolutely anything- a work of literature, of philosophy, art history etc etc. It can be something you've read or always wanted to read. What would the book be and why? Remember- 18 months, so you don't want a 100 page P G Wodehouse novel! I'm afraid you can only have one Shakespeare play, not the complete works.

I'd take Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy or maybe good copy of Hamlet, Henry IV or the Tempest, with plenty of footnotes and a good, long introduction by a respected academic.

I also thought about Milton's Paradise Lost, Middlemarch or Montaigne's essays.

[Dark Muse]

Only one book?

This is tough.

I will have to say, sense I want to read it, but probably will not get around to reading it, otherwise, sense I am too busy reading other things. And well 18 months in Solitary will give me time to contemplate over it as I read.

The Bhagavad-Gita

[John Goodman]

Can we cheat and take things like 'William Shakespeare: The Complete Works'? It's technically one book but a lot of plays.

[AimusSage]

I don't think it matters what I bring along, I'll go crazy in just a few days and won't be able to read anyway.

[WICKES]

Only one book?

The Bhagavad-Gita

That's an interesting one, I hadn't thought of that. It is quite short though- don't know if it would sustain you for 18 months. Still it is a work of depth and power (so I hear) so maybe if you sort of lived with it and immersed yourself in it you might have some kind of mystical breakthrough!

Personally I'd rather have Aldous Huxley's Perennial Philosophy

[Dinglingzi]

one book for 18 months in the case that there's no tv and entertainment???????
are you kidding me????
okay~i ll choose Ulyness,because i just got a chance to know that it is a book to be read with full patience~that might make me feel : oh~my boring life with nothing to do is just perfect~

[JBI]

Read Chekhov's The Bet. That pretty much sums the concept up.

[WICKES]

Read Chekhov's The Bet. That pretty much sums the concept up.

I have (a few days ago!). He was in solitary for 15 years though- I'm only locking you up for 18 months.

[armenian]

id take a playboy

[Equality72521]

I would take...hmmm....The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, because it's forever and ever pages long lol. or The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, I have the first 3 in one giant book so that's what I would do....Or a Tale of Two Cities....I have one with super long footnotes and a super long intro

[Kafka's Crow]

I have The Remembrance of Things Past in two huge volumes. Finishing one volume in 18 months would be a huge achievement so I will take one volume along. Will invest the rest of my life in reading Volume II!

[integrity]

id take a playboy

Good one! LOL

I'd choose Roots by Alex Haley-- the most inspiring and meaningful book I have ever read. Since I would no doubt be innocent and incarcerated under false pretenses ;) , I would want a book that continually provided me with hope while under the most dismal of circumstances.

Then again, maybe I would choose The Count of Monte Cristo :lol:.

[Etienne]

The chess games of Alexander Alekhine, I believe.

[WICKES]

I have The Remembrance of Things Past in two huge volumes.

That's a good one. I'd take the first volume in French- at the end of 18 months I'd not only have read one of the great works of the 20th century but I'd have sharpened up my schoolboy French too!


Another one I'd think about is Hermann Hesse's Glass Bead Game (or Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain)

Think of this as an opportunity. Which one work is worth truly immersing yourself in?

[kasie]

No,no, don't take The Magic Mountain - alone with that for eighteen months will drive you well past the point of no return. :D

This is a bit like Desert Island Discs on the radio: ten records (and a record player, in those days), one book and one luxury, but a rider was always added that you already had the Bible and the Complete Works of Shakespeare. I always thought I would ask for a big fat Anthology of Poetry.

[Whifflingpin]

"okay~i ll choose Ulyness,because i just got a chance to know that it is a book to be read with full patience"

My choice might be Ulysses too - I've found it so unreadable until now that I think the only way I'll read it is if I'm locked up for eighteen months with nothing else to read.

[aabbcc]

Rambam, Guide for the Perplexed. Lengthy.

[cipherdecoy]

Probably a big, fat book like War and Peace or Don Quixote.

[Loike]

I'd take the Bible, The Brothers Karamazov or Ulysses. The first two because they're long enough to sustain me for eighteen months and the last because I don't think I could ever read it unless I was locked up with absolutely nothing else to occupy me. xx

[Melmoth]

id take a playboy

Haaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaa....:lol:
Good one, armenian...

Seriously, apart from what armenian suggests, I would take one of these:

Milton's Paradise Lost
Dante's Divine Comedy
The Bible

The three of them are good fiction...

[DecemberSun]

Haaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaa....:lol:
Good one, armenian...

Seriously, apart from what armenian suggests, I would take one of these:

Milton's Paradise Lost
Dante's Divine Comedy
The Bible

The three of them are good fiction...

I'd take either The divine comedy or The bible as well. I might consider Les Miserables too.

[DecemberSun]

Oh oh, or A la recherche du temps perdu. That would definitely keep me occupied.

[Leo The Lion]

The Bible is an excellent choice!

But, if I wasn't going to choose the Bible
then I would bring The Canterbury Tales.

[Lioness_Heart]

I'd take War and Peace, because I've been reading it for ages but just haven't had the time to read and savour a decent amount at a time. 18 months should be enough to read and appreciate.

Alternatively, it might be Harry Potter 7 for pure escapism... although that might only work for the first week... or day (depending on reading speed)...

[Pensive]

Lord of the Rings. It's one of those books whose songs I can read again and again and again.

[DecemberSun]

Lord of the Rings. It's one of those books whose songs I can read again and again and again.

Great choice.

[DapperDrake]

The lord of the rings is a good choice, trouble is I've already read it about 6 times, at least :s
I would just chose the biggest book in my book case, i.e. the full version of les mis..., still, 18 months? I would need more than one book :)

Would a poetry compilation be allowed?

[EricP]

I've tried reading Boswell's "Life of Johnson" a few times, but I've never had the patience to get very far into it. I'm sure I could finish it if I were in "the hole" for a year and a half.

[Leabhar]

Les Miserables or War and Peace, but I read War and Peace in way less than 18 months. That is too long for one book.

[Lioness_Heart]

Or how about a nice long dictionary? 18 months should be enough to memorise, say, a page a day? And with my newly extended vocabulary, I could make up lots of new stories to pass the time, with as many archaic and esoteric words as possible.