Desert Island Books

Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power – the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring – the ring that rules them all – which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as the Ring is entrusted to his care. He must leave his home and make a perilous journey across the realms of Middle-earth to the Crack of Doom, deep inside the territories of the Dark Lord. There he must destroy the Ring forever and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

Anna says: "A classic of fantasy literature for a reason, Lord of the Rings (all three books combined into one volume, of course…) would keep me occupied for a good amount of time. Tolkien’s world building is so intricate and detailed I could re-read it several times and still learn something new."

Night Watch - Terry Pratchett

Set in Ankh-Morpork one of the most thoroughly imagined cities in fantasy, Night Watch is the story of Sam Vimes, running hero of the Guards sequence, who finds himself cast back in time to the Ankh-Morpork of his youth. With a psychopath from his own time rising in the vile ranks of the Cable Street Unmentionables complicating things, Vimes has to ensure that history takes its course so that he will have the right future to go back to, and to keep his younger self alive. 

Anna says: "Whilst I would love to take all the Discworld novels with me, if I had to choose one it would be Night Watch. People dismiss the Discworld stories as silly fantasy but they are so much more than that. The characters are lovingly realised, whilst much of the humour comes from Pratchett’s clever use of language and insightful satire. Night Watch would be my go to comfort read!"

 

The Wolf - Nate Blakeslee

The wolf stands at the forefront of the debate about our impact on the natural world. In one of the most celebrated successes of modern conservation, it has been reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park.

What unfolds is a riveting multi-generational saga, at the centre of which is O-Six, a charismatic alpha female beloved by park rangers and amateur spotters alike. As elk numbers decline and the wolf population rises, those committed to restoring an iconic landscape clash with those fighting for a vanishing way of life; hunters stalk the park fringes and O-Six’s rivals seek to bring an end to her dominance of the stunningly beautiful Lamar Valley.

Anna says: "In The Wolf, Nate Blakelee tells the story of the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in the United States, whilst also following the life of one particular wolf (‘O6’) and discussing the tensions between those who wish to protect the wolves and those who don’t. Even though I knew some of this history, Blakeslee writes in such an engaging way I raced through the book. He also does very well to present all points of view in a balanced way."

 

Meadowland - John Lewis-Stempel

Meadowland gives an unique and intimate account of an English meadow’s life from January to December, together with its biography. In exquisite prose, John Lewis-Stempel records the passage of the seasons from cowslips in spring to the hay-cutting of summer and grazing in autumn, and includes the biographies of the animals that inhabit the grass and the soil beneath: the badger clan, the fox family, the rabbit warren,the skylark brood and the curlew pair, among others. Their births, lives, and deaths are stories that thread through the book from first page to last.

Anna says, "The book that first got me into nature writing (I now have a whole bookshelf dedicated to the genre). Lewis-Stempel writes in a beautiful, poetic way about the natural world, whilst never overly romanticising it. Reading his works you can really picture the natural world that he describes."

Femina - Janina Ramirez

The middle ages are seen as a bloodthirsty time of Vikings, saints and kings: a patriarchal society that oppressed and excluded women. But what if that was not the whole picture?

Dig deeper into history and you will find many influential women who have been erased from our collective past - their names struck out of historical records with one word annotated beside them - FEMINA.

This groundbreaking reappraisal of medieval feminity reveals how women have been written out of history, and more importantly, why that matters for us today.

Anna says, "This is my book that I have not yet read! I love learning something new and Femina has been on my ‘to-read’ pile for a while. ".

The collected poems - Robert Frost

 

No poet is more emblematically American than Robert Frost. Hailed as ‘the most eminent, the most distinguished Anglo-American poet’ by T.S. Eliot, he is the only writer in history to have been awarded four Pulitzer Prizes. In iconic poems like ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’, simple images summon the rural landscape of New England, and Frost unfailingly moves the reader with his profound grasp of the human condition.

Anna says: "I have always loved the poems of Robert Frost and being on a desert island would give me the chance to brush up on my close reading skills. Reading these poems takes you to another time and place, whilst still speaking to common emotions and experiences."  

 

Luxury item and record

Anna says: "A reading cushion – if all I can do is read on the island then I want to be comfortable whilst doing so.

Record – a compilation of my favourite upbeat songs, probably with several songs from my teenage years interspersed with Taylor Swift!"