Friday Favorites-Deserted Island Books

I'm a pretty passionate person, which means I love a lot of things. I have a lot of favorites and I have a hard time with questions about picking favorites. But... I'm also a masochist and I love discussing favorites with people. To borrow a quote from John Green, a favorite author, "Maybe our favorite quotations say more about us than the stories and people we are quoting." Our favorites show a lot about ourselves. Next time you think about your favorite anything, think about what is says about you.

I want to start putting up some posts about my favorite things! It's the best part of dating and getting to know someone, seeing their favorites and what they love. So every few fridays, let's get to know each other with some favorite sharing, yes? If you have any ideas for what you'd like to see here, let me know! Movies, books, food, literary characters, you name it!

To start off, let's take one of the hardest questions to answer and hash it out! You're on a deserted island. What five books would you take with you to a deserted island? I saw this post on one of my favorite book blogs called The Midnight Garden. I love what they said about why this is so hard. It means forever with these five books. So what do you pick? The classics, the guilty pleasures? The books that changed you? GAH This is so hard. But so fun. It's like a horrible version of that game Would you rather? I love that game too.

So. After much debate! Here are my five deserted island books.

via WeHeartIt

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This I feel is decently self explanatory. I love the romance, I love the words, I love the passion. I love Jay Gatsby. It's a book I can never get sick of and it would be a real comfort during any long dark nights. Something about this book feels eternal to me and it would be the first thing I would miss if I didn't have it with me.

2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This is another of my absolute favorite books; a book I read once a year. It is unbearably sad but it is also probably the most beautiful book I have ever read. This book changed me and made me a different person and a different writer. Zusak is incredibly talented with his words and this book has some of my favorite literary characters of all time. When I finish reading this book I miss the characters like I miss friends I haven't seen in a while. I would have to keep these characters close.

3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I have a box set, so I'm counting it as one book and bringing all three with me. K at The Midnight Garden counted her Harry Potter box set as one so this works too. These books make me feel strong and have pulled me through a lot. THey are exciting and full of adventure and if I was ever in a pickle on my little island I would just pull a Katniss and save myself. I'd need these books there to learn from. And also because they are too good to not bring. These books are perfect. I am Katniss Everdeen and I wouldn't want to lose my connection with her.

(I would like to point out that I am in PAIN trying to pick just five. This was a foolish idea.)

4. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides 

Here is another book with some of the most beautiful writing around. I read this book for the first time this year and was enraptured by it. It's so unique and just fills your mind with thoughts and questions. It's a pretty book. It's so dark and sexy and haunting. If I have the rest of my life to be on an island, I want to spend that time pondering complex things. This book really makes me do that. Also I love Lux. 

5. Looking for Alaska by John Green

Rounding it out with one of my absolute favorite books of all time, by a favorite author. This was the first book I called a favorite and this book fell in to my hands when I was 15 years old and I still can't get over it. It makes me laugh, it makes me weep, it makes me feel, it makes me love. This book made me want to write more than I already was writing at the time. It's another one of those "contemplate life" books and it gives me a lot of hope. Can't leave hope at home when I'm stuck on an island.

Ok. Well that was torture but I'm happy with my list! Not all of my absolute favorite books made the cut, but I will be all set on my island. And these books do say a lot about me, don't they? I have quite the morbid streak. Ha I can't help but laugh as I count up the total casualties I'll be reading for the rest of my life on my little island. Ha. Awesome.

What are your five books to take to a deserted island? I'd love to know!