 If I have to be on the beach, at least I can have a book with me. Over and over and over and over and over and by myself. If you haven't clicked away from this video, you probably will now. Tis the season for beaches and beach reading and whatnot. It's summer, at least where I live. And so that got me thinking about the age old, like if you were marooned on a desert island, what books would you wish you had with you? Because I don't really like beaches or beach reading. And so to me, a beach read is something that I'm forcibly on a beach. So if I have to be on the beach, at least I can have a book with me. Even more than that, I think people don't tend to, when that question is posed, I don't think people usually mean the full hypothetical. They just mean it's a shorthand of being the only books you'd ever read for the rest of your life again, which would those be. But because I'm me, when I came up with my books, I did it based on not only are these the only books that I'll be able to read for the rest of my life, these are the only books that I'll be able to read for the rest of my life in a scenario in which I am probably alone or nearly alone on an island that is a desert island and will be like predominantly like on the beach, like very little cover, very hot, very sandy. I don't like sand. It's coarse, rough and irritated, it gets everywhere. So the books that I have chosen have been not just the only like the books that I would like pick for like the only books I can read for the rest of my life, but all the other things about that scenario that I'm like, well, if I was in this scenario, then this is what I would want to have with me also. And last caveat before I tell you the books that I would have on my desert island is that there is a difference between a book that you think is really, really great. And you might say it's like your favorite book or among your favorite books or one of the best books of all time. There's a difference between that and a book that you would see yourself reading over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. I usually learn to make the comparison between like, you know, like a three Michelin star meal, which is like insane for the senses versus like box mac and cheese. So like, obviously the Michelin star meal is like the best food you've ever had in your life. But would you want to eat that every single day, day in, day out? Like, or would you probably eat mac and cheese every day? Because mac and cheese, it may not be the greatest culinary cuisine, but you would like be okay having it every day. So the books I've chosen, the only books I'll read for the rest of my life as I live on a desert island by myself and read these over and over again on a beach that I do not wish to be on. Without further ado, here are those books. First and foremost, I have Radiance by Grace Draven. I've already read this book like four or five times. I think it's four, it might be five. If it's not five, it will probably shortly be five. I always describe this book as like, or like the reason that I like reading it so much is that I like hanging out with Brish and Anil Dico. Brish and Anil Dico, who are the main characters. This is a romance, but like if you watch my channel at all, you know that I'm like not a big fan of romance. So like the fact that my desert island books include romance, alarm bells, but like I love this because it's like the exception to like every rule. Like if all romance novels were like this, then I would read a lot of romance, I think. Because there's very little drama between these two. There's not like miscommunication and melodrama and blah, blah, blah. Like they are very reasonable people who are like forced into marrying each other for political reasons. Cause he's like of like this like monstrous-looking nocturnal race from the neighboring country. And she's the human being. And it's like politically expedient for like peace contracts, whatever, to like have him and her get married. And they're like, y'all aren't even the same species. No one expects you to procreate. We just need you to like be married for like peace. And the two of them were like, all right, well we're gonna have to like cohabitate. So like let's be good roommates to each other. And then they fall in love. Cause like in addition to like getting along as friends, they're like, you know what? Now that I'm used to looking at you being weird looking to me because it's also very funny. Because in addition to seeing from her perspective where she's like, wow, you have like gray skin and fangs and stuff. And that's like, wow, that's, wow, not ideal. We see from his perspective, how horrifying she looks to him. Because from the perspective of his own species, the way humans look is super weird. And he's like, I don't like how like your teeth look. I don't like how your eyes look. It's very weird to me. So they're both equally like weirded out and grossed out by each other. But they like each other as people. And they kind of begin to see the beauty aesthetically too of each other as they spend more time together. And I just like, they're funny. They're fun. They're reasonable. They're just like, I like spending time with the two of them. So if I'm gonna be on my desert island by myself, I would like to have Brish and El Dico with me on that island and the three of us could hang out together. Next is a book that is kind of the reason I'm doing this video in the first place where like gave me the idea because as I was reading this book, the people I was reading it with, we said frequently that it was just like the kind of thing that you could read like 20 times and still find new things in it and still find new ways of interpreting it. And so we were like, yeah, if you were like on a desert island, this would be like a good contender for the book to have because like eternal rereads would still glean new perspectives. And that is Book of the New Sun. That's why I said book because Book of the New Sun is like four books. This is a bind up of the first two. There is an omnibus like bind up that has all four in it. So on my desert island scenario, I would have that bind up to count as a book. Did recently do a Book of the New Sun, like should you read a video if you wanna check that out? Book of the New Sun is pretty notorious for being really complex, multi-layered, multifaceted, not like an easy read, you know, on a desert island, you got nothing but time. It's got so much meat to it and so many possible ways of interpreting it and so many like lagers and lenses through which to view it that when you've got nothing but time, you could spend your whole rest of your life on that desert island, just rereading Book of the New Sun to get every little bit out of it. Now, if there is an opposite to the Book of the New Sun, it is probably my next book and that is Carry On by Ray Morale. At first it was like hard to decide which of the Simon Snow books I would choose. I almost picked Wayward Sun, even though I don't think it's the best one because it is the funniest one. And that's kind of the main reason for choosing Carry On for this list of books is that on this desert island where I will be spending forever alone and miserable, I need a book to cheer me up. There's a couple on this list that are here for that reason. Simon Snow, the humor in it, the characters in it, the escapism of it, the like light fluffiness of it. This would just be like my comfort read. This would be my like soft and fuzzy, magic whimsy, a bit of romance, a bit of humor like just to like, yeah, it's just like candy. So that's why I would have this with me is because like in the list of books that I have with me on this desert island, they can't all be like really thought-provoking tomes because there will be days where I would just like want to be not thinking and just kind of like wanna have a good time. And so Carry On would be the book for that for me. Next is a book that is on this list for multiple reasons, many, many reasons. And that is Peter Pan by J.M. Berry. First and foremost, this is one of my all-time favorite books. It made my like top 10 books of all-time list. I've read it several times. So for that reason alone, you know, having an all-time favorite, great reason to have it on the list. Also, I think that I would like to imagine that my desert island is Neverland. So having Peter Pan with me, you know, that I could like escape into a fantasy where like, well, I am marooned on this island, but like maybe this island I can imagine is Neverland. And then just beyond the horizon is the Dolly Roger. And that like any second now, Peter will tap me on the shoulder and we'll be off on an adventure. So that's the reason. Here's where it's like, I'm literally thinking of the hypothetical of the desert island. I'm not just thinking about books that I'll read for the rest of my life. Then also the like escapism thing of like the same reason with like carry-on and radiance where like I just enjoy the story and it is fun and escapist. So it would be like a fun read, although it is a little more serious than the other two. And then kind of like Book of the New Sun, but not like so much. Book of the New Sun is like really complicated. Peter Pan's not that complicated, but there is so much beauty and so much just like to unpack with the word choice that J.M. Berry uses throughout the book. Every time I pick it up, I'm just constantly mesmerized by just the pros in Peter Pan. And when I just flip it open to a random page, because I'll be like talking to somebody and talking to them into reading Peter Pan. So I'll just like flip to a random page and be skimming it. I'm like, ah, gold, perfect, amazing, 10 out of 10. All of these like pick a random page and just read it out loud and you'll be impressed. So I think just like since reading books quickly for TBRs and things like that, you don't necessarily always have the time to just kind of like savor a book. And on the desert island where I have nothing but time to just sit there savoring the pros of J.M. Berry and savoring the little like fantasy of Neverland. Peter Pan's gotta be on the list. Next step is to stand in for a sort of any number of books. And that is The Blade Itself by Jo Appa Cromby. I don't necessarily think that The Blade Itself of All of First Law is the one that I'd wanna have with me. Although I think I would want it to be one of the first, one of the books in the original trilogy. And then of those three would be hard to choose. Any one of them would do really. But it may be The Blade Itself. This is again where like the just because it's not, just because something is the best one doesn't mean it's one you wanna read over and over and over again. So like what I found with having reread all the First Law books multiple times is that even though I think that the newest trilogy is like from a technical perspective, like the best thing that he has written to date and that each book got subsequently better, that like a little hatred was perfection, but it was somehow outdone by a Trouble with Peace, which was then outdone by Wisdom of Crowds. But Wisdom of Crowds isn't like the mac and cheese that I would wanna reread over and over and over and over again. And the original trilogy more is like, it has problems, it's got pasting issues, there's things with characters that I know Appa Cromby himself wishes he had done differently and done better. There's just like a such a like a comfort to the original trilogy, my favorite characters, the most iconic moments. I've read these the most, but I just like I'm never tired of them. Yeah, the blade itself or before they're hanged with the last Armuda Kings, any one of those three would do. I'd be quite happy with it being the blade itself because I will never be sick of First Law. Also, I would need the catharsis of Glock just internal monologue while I'm living marooned on a desert. Next is a book that if you haven't clicked away from this video, you probably will now because not only do I like this book, I've chosen it for my Desert Island list and that is Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind, which is the second book and the sort of truth series. Now, in rereading the sort of truth series, I realized sort of came to the a-ha epiphany that when I say that I like the sort of truth series, that's mostly I mean that I like the Stone of Tears. I like some of the other books as well. I don't like hate every other book, but this is by far my favorite. And not just it's the best of a bunch of bad books. I love Stone of Tears. It is the purest escapism that I've almost ever felt in my life and not just in the sense of like, oh, this is what I would ideally like to happen. That's not really what I mean. I mean this physically being transported to this fantasy place and feeling like I've been, I've gone through the pages into a fantasy place. So none of the other sort of truth books do that for me the way the Stone of Tears does. And yeah, basically I just really like Stone of Tears. And he just like shot his wad on Stone of Tears. The first book is like very clunky and very much a first book. And subsequent books have like lots of problems. Stone of Tears, I'm not gonna say is perfection, but Stone of Tears is just like so miles and away better than all the other sort of truth books. And I just enjoy my time with it so very much that yeah, it's gonna be on my desert island because being like a reading a book that is like such pure escape where I'm completely transported. Of course I need that on my desert island. So Stone of Tears. Next is a book that will do something similar for me as Stone of Tears, but in a very different way for very different reason. And that is Jade City by fondly. This is more of like such a page turner. And I acknowledge that it's slightly less of a page turner when you've already read it. And you're not like, oh my God, what is going to happen? But she still writes in a really like propulsive way where even if you do know what's going to happen, the tension of the situation isn't really diminished by you knowing what's about to happen. So Jade City does transport you. I think it does kind of, I did kind of like feel like I was transported to Jan Lun and Tikka Khan when I was reading Jade City and all of the Green Bone books. But I just feel like the, I can't really like put into words but like the propulsive action, high stakes tension, emotions running high. Like, oh, it's just so like palpable and visceral. I was just talking to a friend about it who's like finally reading the Green Bone books for the first time and then she's still making her way through Jade City. And she and I were both like, yeah, like we can sit here and be like intellectual about books like all day every day and be like, yeah, it's really complex how they show this sort of like really like messy grayness of these like morality of blah, blah, blah. But then we read Jade City and we're like ready to die for no peak and we're like going to go kill their enemy. So it was just like no chill, no critical thinking, just all in for no peak. And I feel like I would need that alone on my desert island. Next is a book that's here for a very similar reason to First Law and Radiance and that is The Wolf by Leo Carreaux which I have read seven times and I will probably read an eighth time. And that's like pretty much the whole reason that it's on this list. Like I don't really think of reading a book about like the north of what in this alternate universe is not called in like Britain, but like Brittany and the, if you've never heard me talk about this book, like I guess you're new to my channel but this is an alternate history fantasy that imagines what if other humanoid species had survived the Ice Age to form language and culture. So in this like middle ages era of Europe instead of it just being people there's also other humanoids. So we predominantly follow the Neanderthalesque humanoids who have developed language and culture and they're called the Anakim. So we predominantly follow the Anakim and it's like war and politics and conspiracy and all this like in the sort of like Scotland, Northern England kind of area. So that's not a particularly like beachy read and it's not even that it's like super escapist or anything. I just love this book so much and I've read it so many times that honestly picking it up anytime I'm going through it I'm just, it just feels so familiar and comforting for that reason. And I just love it so much that it's like having a security blanket. So you would have to be with me. Plus also the main character or arguably the main character Roper does have to overcome a great deal of adversity. So like I feel like that would be like somewhat inspirational and motivational, maybe, maybe. Next is a book that would be there for like lifting my spirits. When I read this book and I posted a review for it I think I said in the thumbnail slash in the video that I was like, if you're in a reading slump, read this book. If you're in a writing slump, read this book. If you're in a life slump, read this book. So I feel like if I'm on a loan on a desert island it's kind of rock bottom. Like I think we could regard that as a slump of some kind. And according to me, the cure for any slump in the world no matter the kind of slump is The View from the Cheap Seeds by Neil Gaiman. This has a lot of variety in it. So keep me interested because it's a collect, it's collected to selected nonfiction. There's like a lot of different things that he's talking about. So like it would be a bunch of different topics and a bunch of different things to keep me engaged while I'm forever on a desert island. But also it is so uplifting and it's not like a saccharine kind of uplifting where it's like everything will be okay. Isn't that great? Cause like it's Neil Gaiman but it's a very like down to earth like just always kind of seeing the beauty in things and always kind of seeing the humanity in things and the value in things. And there's just like so much heart in Neil Gaiman's perspective on everything all of the time that you can't help but feel uplifted by it. And so I feel like again on my island alone I would like to have Neil with me to uplift me a bit. For my last book, my 10th book cause I decided to do a list of 10 I was like for my 10th book I on my desert island I would like to have with me something that I have not read before to like have that thing there that's like maybe saving it for a rainy day and maybe I won't actually read it but just knowing that there is a thing with me that I have never read before would be like pleasing in and of itself. And so I was like, but like what would I pick? Like that's a lot of pressure to put on a book to be like good enough to where like the sheer fact that I haven't read it before would be like nice to have but then also would be good enough probably where once I do read it I'd be glad to have it and be like this is worthy of being on my desert island list now that I have read it cause I would read this many, many times and I was like, I don't know and then I came to the perfect solution and that is the complete works of William Shakespeare I have not actually read every single play of Shakespeare's I've known most of them but not all of them and so I know I love Shakespeare and I would be delighted to have Shakespeare with me not to mention there's some relatable plays like The Tempest so similar to Peter Pan and being like maybe this is Neverland like reading The Tempest would feel like would hit different while I'm on my island but again there is stuff in here that would be new to me so I'd be like I have my Shakespeare I can read Shakespeare happily but also there are some things in here that would be wholly new to me and that also by itself would be like nice to have and know be like oh well on a day if I just feel like I need to read something new that I've never read before I can, I have some stuff in here that I've never read before and those are the books that I would take with me to my Desert Island marooning exile let me know in the comments down below what your Desert Island books would be if any of my Desert Island books would also be on your list if you think my list is crazy and you hate my list how you think of the question of Desert Island books what that means to you like do you do what I do and do the full hypothetical of like I am on a physical island by myself so I need to take that into account when I'm picking what books I want in that scenario or if you're like no it's just books that I would read forever for the rest of my life whatever you wanna let me know I post videos on Saturdays other random times as well like Saturdays so like and subscribe to my Patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you