12 Books to Have With You When Planning on Being Stranded on a Deserted Island by Holly Kerr
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A few weeks ago I saw a picture of an author’s 10 favorite books – she had taken a photograph of them and then an artist had painted a watercolor of it. It was beautiful, and I would LOVE for someone to do that for me! (Hint hint, painting friends!)
But then I got thinking – what ARE my favorite books?
It’s impossible to pick just one. That’s like asking a mother to pick their favourite child! Ten seemed more doable, but still tough…
So I asked myself this question – if I knew I was going to be stranded on a deserted island, what books would I take with me?
(I’m not sure if you noticed, but there are 12, not 10 books in my pic!)
All these books are well-read and well-loved. I’m the type who rereads books and some of these books do look a little worse for wear! If I do get a painting out of it, I hope the artist can make them look a little less read!
Here’s my list of 12 favorite reads and reasons why:
In no particular order
Michael Grant – Gone
I know in the picture it’s called Hunger, but that’s because I let a friend borrow Gone and she hasn’t given it back yet.
This is my latest addition to my top list. I found it last summer at a toystore while we were at the cottage, and it took me a day to read it, in between looking after kids and packing up for home! I seriously couldn’t put the book down, and on the 3 hour drive home, I stopped in the first Indigo I could find and bought the next 2 books in the series!
It’s a YA book about a town where everyone older 15 just disappears one day, and the kids that are left must fend for themselves and deal with their newly discovered powers. There’s also a sinister evil apparition that is hell-bent on acquiring these powers.
It was the tag-line that sold me – If Stephen King had wrote Lord of the Flies. ‘Nuff said.
A.C. Crispin – V
They made a miniseries out of this in the 1980s, about the lizard aliens who invade Earth to steal our water, hiding behind human faces. Remember the scene of the lizard baby being born? Or the alien commander eating a guinea pig?
This was the first sci-fi book I ever read when I was a teenager and it still has a big place in my heart. So does Mike Donovan – the anti-hero hero of the book!
Emily Giffin – Something Borrowed
Even though I wrote a chick-lit book, (Baby! Baby? Baby?!), I was finding so much of the genre focused on characters that were really annoying and self-serving and selfish and…it’s difficult for me to read a book when I am constantly irritated by the main character. So I stopped reading chick-lit for a while. And then I picked up this book at an airport and it restored my faith in the chick-lit genre!
Rachel sleeps with her best friend’s fiancé and it turns out to be a good thing.
J.K.Rowling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The only deliberation I had was whether to include this one or number 4 – Goblet of Fire. I told myself only to pick one Harry Potter book. If I was planning on being stranded on a deserted island, I would do my best to sneak the entire series into my bag!
Jilly Cooper – Rivals
Jilly Cooper is a British writer whose books are ‘gripping yarns’, set in glamorous settings and are chock full of adultery, infidelity and general betrayals. My favourite of her books are the Rutshire Chronicles, featuring the devastating Rupert Campbell – Black. Rivals is my top pick of Cooper’s books but any one of them are the ultimate beach read.
Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice
I don’t feel I need to explain. If you haven’t read it, it’s a must! Plus, Mr. Bennett reminds me so much of my father-in-law!
Stephen King – The Stand
This is more thriller than horror and one of Stephen’s King’s best. A plague has decimated the human population and small groups of survivors make their way to Colorado where there is an epic fight between good and evil. Classic.
George R.R. Martin – Game of Thrones
If you’ve seen the show you’ll understand why I picked this one. It’s fantasy with dragons and gods and the three best characters are a little girl, a witty dwarf and a Kingslayer who is involved in an incestuous relationship. And the main character is killed off before the end of the book. If it’s not for you, than I won’t bother trying to persuade you to try, but it’s good!
Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games
The first one is the series is the best
Michael Critchon – Timeline
Time-travel, quantum physics and thirteen century France. The movie was pretty sad, but the book is really cool
Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
I first read this in high school and it’s been a favourite ever since. It was my first time reading about dystopian society and my first time focusing in the status of women in literature; two things that remain an interest of mine to this day
Katherine Neville – The Eight
It’s a mixture of historical fiction, medieval mystery and modern romance. It’s hard to explain, but definitely a cool read.
So there are my 12 favorite books. What about you?
Ask any writer and they'll tell you they have always wrote and Holly Kerr is no exception. She’s written stories about bunnies dodging cars and sisters dying, distracting the cute boy in class and dark plots to kill your best friend's husband. Coming Home is her latest novel, a story about sisters who can’t get along and living in a small town, two things she knows more than a little about! A self-professed geek, she loves anything to do with Star Wars, super heroes, Joss Whedon and Harry Potter. She also enjoys running, playing in the dirt and sharing a glass of wine with friends.
Loving your sisters is easy. Liking them is the hard part.
Brenna Ebans always wanted more than what Hill n’Valley could give her, so it seemed a simple decision to follow her black-sheep sister Dory’s footsteps and leave Hill n’Valley in her rearview, hoping to locate their missing father. Leaving her sisters and her first love Seamus was harder than she thought, but she’s made a life for herself in Vancouver, started her career at a prestigious law firm, and has found the man of her dreams. But when she finds her husband Toby in a compromising position at work, she loses both her love and her job, and has nowhere to go but home.
Youngest sister Cat has remained in Hill n’Valley, leaving a string of broken hearts—and ex-husbands—in her wake. She’s happy living in the family home, with the ghost of their dead mother to keep her company during the day, and her latest conquest—Brenna’s old boyfriend, Seamus—to keep her warm at night. And she’s less than thrilled to hear about Brenna’s return.
But when tragedy strikes, it brings their father back to Hill n’Valley, and the sisters will have a lot of issues to resolve…
