Liz Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Reading Galactic Space Hamster's recent thread reminded me of another morbid question which myself and friends were thinking about recently. If you knew you were going to die and you could only read one more book before you kicked the bucket, which one would it be? Would you re-read an old favourite? Would you read that book which you've been meaning to read all your life but never got around to it? What would be your last read and why? Over to you...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 I'd choose the Encyclopaedia Britannica - every volume of it! Heck, it'd take a long time and I'd learn a lot of new stuff to boot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 'Little Big Man' by Thomas Berger x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mia Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 If I had an unread Terry Pratchett, it would be that. Otherwise, it would be my lovely hardback copy of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which a friend very kindly sent me from the USA, no doubt at considerable cost. I feel guilty that I still haven't read it, despite wanting to. I suffer from painful wrists, and the size and weight of this book has put me off, but if I was dying anyway then my wrists wouldn't really matter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - this would be a re-read and a final opportunity to immerse myself in his poetic and evocative descriptions and his understanding of human nature through the love triangle around which the plot exists. I think I would choose a familiar love over something new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 My last book would be a re-read. I would re-read Tuesdays with Morrie. I have read this book once before and I loved it. It provides a good outlook on life and death. Plus it is short so I could have time to do other things before I died Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 I would re-read The Lord of the Rings, most definitely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 The complete works of William Shakespeare (and the York Notes!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 I think I would have to go with a re-read of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It's such a beautiful story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 LOL everyone wants a re-read. They are taking the safe road. No one wants to be disapointed before death Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laramie Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Exactly!! I would either read Black Beauty - Anna Sewell, or the Pellinor Series - Alison Croggon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 LOL everyone wants a re-read. They are taking the safe road. No one wants to be disapointed before death Some are picking particularly long tomes .... Encyclopaedia Britanica, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, The Lord of the Rings. Think they're trying to put off the evil moment as long as possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 If i had to pick a re-read it might be The chronicles of Narnia or The man who was Thursday by G K Chesterton. If I had to read a book I hadn't read before I would probably go for Harry Potter and the deathly hallows (seeing as I'm reading the half blood prince at the moment.) It would be a shame not to see how it all pans out. If I had to go for something new (not part of a series I'm part way through then I might go for a shakespeare play that I hadn't read. Perhaps Othello or King Lear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I'd like to finally get my head around Joyce's Ullyses, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icecream Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 It is strange. When I have thought about this I always thought it would be someting I have always wanted to read and not done, like catching up on Tolkien's works. When I saw Kell's post I thought it would have to be the Grove Music Dictionary, but the only option for me a this point in life would be to have the one book that has never let me down and is always a part of my life, my bible, that is, if it is still going by then. It is in a bit of a state from everything I have put it through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galactic Space Hamster Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 WOW, no way could I choose!!! I have enough trouble trying to choose what I am going to read next as it is. In the dictionary under "caprecious" is a picture of me. WAY too hard to choose. Don't know what I would do. Otherwise, it would be my lovely hardback copy of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which a friend very kindly sent me from the USA, no doubt at considerable cost. I feel guilty that I still haven't read it, despite wanting to. I suffer from painful wrists, and the size and weight of this book has put me off, but if I was dying anyway then my wrists wouldn't really matter! PLEASE read it!!! Life is too short, you could be dead tomrrow! It's several kinds of wonderful! Read it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mia Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 PLEASE read it!!! Life is too short, you could be dead tomrrow! Thanks for that cheery thought. But you're right, I've heard good things about it and I really must get around to it (after I finish the three books I'm currently reading ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galactic Space Hamster Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 It is a positive thought in an odd sort of way I often think about death. The one inevitable fact is that we are all dying. We treat death like a faery tale in a maybe land far away and distant. Maybe it's waiting for us when we are old, but then again maybe it's a car crash next Wednesday, maybe it's a heart attack, or a murder, or one of a million stupid impossible things that kill people every day. Ah, but it only happens to other people we see on the news or read about sadly in papers, but that isn't true. When you accept death is real and it's breathing down your neck and the clock is tick ticking... I think that's more positive and you try to life life as best you can rather than not thinking about death at all. You see what I mean? One of my fave quotes is "life every day as if it's your last - because some day it will be" SO... READ the the book! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 LOL everyone wants a re-read. They are taking the safe road. No one wants to be disapointed before death You're right there, Adam. I have this very romantic (totally unrealistic) vision of my death. I'm in my bed, with lovely clean white bedding and the sun streaming in through the sash window - only a familiar Hardy could complete the scene! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 but the only option for me a this point in life would be to have the one book that has never let me down and is always a part of my life, my bible, that is, if it is still going by then. It is in a bit of a state from everything I have put it through. I really like this answer. I think that is the one book you should glance at before death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oblomov Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 For me, it would be unquestionably The Consort by Anthony Hextall-Smith. It starts out light a lightweight comedy and gradually gets darker and darker but somehow maintains a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere at the same time. Very appropriate for the futility of the occasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proserpina Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Possibly Harry Potter (please don't ask me to choose one, if I had to probably The Deathly Hallows) I think I would like to be absorbed in a complete fantasy world and read something fairly simple and that I know would absorb me, save me worrying about things I couldn't control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Would have to be the last in a series that I had read the rest of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angerball Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 I've been thinking about this one since the thread was posted, and I still can't decide. I would definitely go with a re-read though, to avoid disappointment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KW Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 It wouldn't be fiction. Scripture, for sure, as I'd want to prepare myself for what was coming, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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