Blogger Island with Darren from Bart's Books

I bet you thought I'd stop sending innocent bloggers to the island. Well you would be wrong! Poor Darren from Bart's Bookshelf is my next victim!

So, there I was, quietly enjoying my morning cornflakes when I answered a knock at the door, to find a couple of very smartly dressed and serious looking individuals, who informed me that I was going on a trip, we would leaving that morning, and ‘no, there would be no need for my passport…’

Apparently I had been selected to join an unknown number of others on Blogger’s Island, the only luggage allowed would be a very limited number of books. It was made very clear to me that the head of customs took a very dim view of smuggling and should I be caught doing so, there would be consequences… 

I thought it best not to ask…

It wasn't clear whether my fellow detainees holidayers would be allowed to share their own selections, so it in the short period of time my visitors allowed me, it was clear I had to choose carefully!

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My first choice is Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

This is probably the book I have reread most in my life, I first read it back in my early teens, had the radio play on tape, and have since read it many, many times. Thankfully, the jokes are just as funny the 100th time as the first, which is likely to be useful on this stay! Anyway I think I might have a new appreciation for Arthur, being forced into a trip he neither wanted nor expected!

While Hitchhikers may be my most read book, I could not go without my favourite book of all time, which is Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. You know, I’ve just realised that the first two books are feature main characters being forced in to a new world and life… Hmm… I wonder why that is?…

Neverwhere is just packed with som many fantastic characters, strange events, and I love London Below. Also I can dream about Door or the Marquess maybe popping over to the island and providing a way home!

Like, most of the others on the island it seems, I just had to bring along one of the Harry Potter books with me, but as we can only bring a single book from a series, so I picked Goblet of Fire, it’s a close thing between it and Askaban for my favourite, but GOF just wins out and it’s also the longer of the two!

Another series I’d like to take is Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness, but there was a very worrying growl when I took them all off the shelf (I was just trying to decide which one to take honest!). While I love the whole series, the second book The Ask and the Answer just blew me a away when I first read it, therefore that’s the one I’m taking!

I seem to be torturing myself by picking series books, but nice light and amusing mystery, seems to be just the thing to bring along and well, for me that means Jasper Fforde. While I love the Thursday Next series, it’s last of the Nursery Crimes, books I gone for. The Fourth Bear proves there is a lot more to the Goldilocks series that you know.

It also contains a joke that made me snort so loud, the entire and very full bus I was on looked around to stare at me.

Lastly, it might be other books that make my most read or favourites, but there is only one candidate for favourite author that that is Terry Pratchett, making a choice from the vast Discworld series is a nearly impossible task and I almost went for Colour of Magic for purely sentimental reasons, but in the end I’ve gone for Wee Free Men, because of Tiffany Aching and the Nac Mac Feegle.

And that other book, Look, I put it back. Honest. Stop looking at me like that, it’s scary…

*gulps*

****

I think Darren has picked his books well. Though I will be checking the ones in the series only contain the one book chosen. 

If you wish to see where Darren once dwelled before I cast him adrift, then please visit his blog, Bart's Bookshelf or his Twitter account, @bartsbooks

I know there are others of you out there who volunteered for Blogger Island. I will be knocking on your door shortly!