You may also take one album of music and one luxury item.
Here's mine.
Books
1) 1984 by George Orwell
I regard this as one of the finest works of fiction ever. Aside from all the insight into totalitarianism, the way Orwell depicts the loneliness and necessary self-reliance of the human condition I find amazing. Internally, we are all alone in the universe and he captures this perfectly in Winston Smith.
2) We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
This book is like Brave New World, only good. Huxley claims he wasn't aware of it, but that seems unlikely too me. Like Brave New World and THX 1138, the story is about a breaking free from a stifling 'perfect' future, for something more base and animal.
3) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
This book has been described as the "greatest work of rapture of the 20th C". It's a strange thing to read, early sections are disturbingly alluring. Yet the book is never explicit. Throughout the book you are an observer on the mind of a man who sees the world differently to you, is a monster, and yet you feel empathy for him. Lolita doesn't easily fit into standard stereotypes or categories. Narbokov's writing style is sometimes obscure, but paints a wonderfully detailed picture of the world, often through small suggestions.
4) The Trial by Franz Kafka
I like this book in part due to similar reasons to 1984. It depicts a mind working alone in the world. But also, Kafka manages to put across the sense of continual paranoia, something I've not read before. The protagonist, Joseph K., seems to make every decision that I wouldn't. Time and again, he behaves in a manner that I cannot understand or identify with. Every example of him coming into contact with a woman is bizarre. Every time he is presented with a choice, he seems to do the opposite of what I would do in the same situation, and I find it infuriating to read. Also, the possibility that he may have created a bureaucratic hell of his own choosing just by playing along is a very strange idea to contemplate. Finally, there's the ending, which actually shocked the the hell out of me when I first read it.
5) Burmese Days by George Orwell
I could have included Orwell's complete works, but I'd have run out of space. I always identify with Orwell's main characters (who were presumably a projection of himself), and this is his darkest version ever. This time, it's not merely a self-reliance or loneliness of mind, but an actual torture of being unable to express what's in one's head due to class and cultural rules. I've previously described this book as "the only book that ever knock me off my perch". If you've not read it, I'd recommend it. It's Orwell's first novel, has a hint of Kipling to it, but is unmistakably Orwell's style.
6) Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov
I've loved all of Andrey Kurkov's books and would recommend them all. I had trouble picking my favourite, so I picked the first of his that I read. All Kurkov's books have what should be pretty dark storylines, death, mafia, etc., but the tales are lifted by the introduction of children and animals (into somewhat odd, haphazard and dysfunctional makeshift families). He has a curious way of cutting from scene to scene, leaving out all extraneous text, but missing nothing important. The stories are endearing, funny and uplifting in very dark settings.
7) Rainforest Shamans: Essays on the Tukano Indians of the Northwest Amazon by Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff
Without at least one good anthropology book with me, I'd probably cut my losses and walk into the sea. Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff spent 30 years working and living with the Tukano. He was a fantastic anthropologist and the huge amount of effort he put into studying the Tukano gave a very detailed insight into their lives and worldviews. If all anthropologists had his dedication and insight, there would be a much greater understanding of why different cultures have different values and ways of looking at the world, and that would be a great step forward for us all.
8) The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Social History of Drugs by Richard Davenport-Hines
Easily the best book ever written on the history of illegal drugs and drug prohibition.
I wanted to include the Bible too (New King James Version), as the sickest joke book ever written, but I ran out of space.
Album
That's a no-brainer for me. It's the only album I can listen to every day and never get bored of it. There's a huge amount of other music I'd miss though.
Luxury Item
This was tricky, but in the end, only one think would do and that's beer, many cases of it. But which beer? I prefer mild ales to anything else, but as it would be a hot, tropical island, something wet, sharp and refreshing would be more appropriate, like an old-fashioned astringent British bitter or a tasty and refreshing IPA or American Pale Ale. In the end, I went for a local favourite, a little known micro-brewery that's only about 15 miles from my house called the Otley Brewing Company, and the beer is Otley O1. It's a lovely, sharp, golden ale.
