Desert Island Books 1

Desert Island Books for January 2011

Mark Fairweather, solicitor in Aldeburgh, Boxing-Day-North-Sea swimmer and prolific reader, has offered us his top ten selection, commenting: 'This would be my current selection (curious how books which I read as a child or young man have stayed with me almost as companions, and most of the stuff I read now - however meritorious - doesn't leave a permanent imprint):

1.  Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig
2.  Four Essays on Liberty by Isaiah Berlin
3   The Rings of Saturn  by W G Sebald
4.  Suffolk Scene by Julian Tennyson
5.  Waterlog by Roger Deakin
6.  The English Country House by Mark Gerouard
7.  The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo
8.  Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
9.  Under The Net by Iris Murdoch
10. The English Auden: poems, essays and dramatic writings 1927-1939 by W H Auden
 

Archive choices: 1.  Our friend, Peter Sinfield of King Crimson fame, showed us his desert island book list, which we thought you would all enjoy and he has kindly allowed us to reproduce it below:

Peter Sinfield's Desert Island Books

Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Shakespeare's Sonnets (Arden Shakespeare.Third Series) by William Shakespeare and Katherine Duncan-Jones*
Notes From the Air: Selected Later Poems by John Ashbery
Selected Poems of Lawrence Durrell by Lawrence Durrell and Peter Porter
The Sound of Water: Haiku - By Basho, Issa and Other Poets (Shambhala Centaur Editions) by Sam Hamill
Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable by John Ayto and Ian Crofton
Charcoal Drawing (Artist's Library) by Ken Goldman
Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies by Charles Webel and Johan Galtung
Primitive Living, Self-Sufficiency, and Survival Skills: A Field Guide to Primitive Living Skills by Thomas J. Elpel

*if Shakespeare is disallowed, then Gourmet Cooking for Vegetarians by Colin Spencer.

See more news from Peter on his website at www.songsouponsea.com.