# Nine months of boredom with only ten books for company: your list, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835 "2012-03-05T17:12:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/21 "2012-03-06T12:17:47Z")
I may have to do this in segments, but… First pick? The annotated Milton’s _Paradise Lost_. ---
**Author:** ![Stelios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Stelios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stelios)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/22 "2012-03-06T12:28:18Z")
Mine would be: Complete works of George Orwell Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison It - Stephen King Complete works of Dickens Complete works of Shakespeare Money - Martin Amis Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole Don Quixote - Cervantes Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets - David Simon Encyclopedia Britannica ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/23 "2012-03-06T13:15:24Z")
> [@Stelios](#): > > Complete works of Dickens I’m going to be pedantic again…\* in a single volume?\* ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_G7subs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/24 "2012-03-06T16:47:44Z")
Ok, I think I’d chose a few Stephen King or Tom Clancy novels since they average like 2,487 pages each and I don’t wanna be bored!. 1. re read “The Stand” for the 4th time 2. “IT” for the 3rd time, but might creep me out too much reading it alone! 3. “Hunt for Red October” 4. “Patriot Games” 5. “The Ultimate Hitchikers guide to the Galaxy” 'cuz I’d need a chuckle after reading the above 4. (It has ALL of the series in one book.) 6. “World War Z” 7. “War and Peace” . Never read it…always wanted to. 8. “The Lord of the Rings” 9. “The Hobbit” 10. Vonnegut’s “Breakfast of Champions” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/25 "2012-03-06T20:09:10Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > I’m going to be pedantic again…\* in a single volume?\* Not to mention the Encyclopedia Britannica. I worked on finding single volume books for my original list. But if multi-volume series are allowed: [_The Complete Idiot’s Guide_ series](http://idiotsguides.com/) _[The Encyclopedia Britannica](http://store.britannica.com/collections/books/products/ecm001en0)_ _[Everyman’s Library Contemporary Classics Set](http://www.amazon.com/Everymans-Library-Contemporary-Classics-Set/dp/0307383954/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_35)_ [the complete _For Dummies_ series](http://www.dummies.com/) _[Great Books of the Western World](http://www.amazon.com/Great-Books-Western-World-Set/dp/B000NWXN5E/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_6)_ _[The Harvard Classics](http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Classics-Complete-Volumes-First/dp/B0013RC8I6/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331063885&sr=1-2)_ _[The Library of America Collection](http://www.amazon.com/Library-America-Collection-2012/dp/1598530003/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_15)_ _[The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection](http://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Classics-Library-Complete-Collection/dp/0147503078/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_6)_ _[The Story of Civilization](http://www.amazon.com/Story-Civilization-11-Set/dp/1567310230/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331063799&sr=1-1)_ _[The Year’s Best Science Fiction](http://www.goodreads.com/series/49258-the-year-s-best-science-fiction)_ Last me a winter? Heck, this would last me a few decades. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/26 "2012-03-06T20:17:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Not to mention the Encyclopedia Britannica. > > I worked on finding single volume books for my original list. But if multi-volume series are allowed: > > [_The Complete Idiot’s Guide_ series](http://idiotsguides.com/) > _[The Encyclopedia Britannica](http://store.britannica.com/collections/books/products/ecm001en0)_ > _[Everyman’s Library Contemporary Classics Set](http://www.amazon.com/Everymans-Library-Contemporary-Classics-Set/dp/0307383954/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_35)_ > [the complete _For Dummies_ series](http://www.dummies.com/) > _[Great Books of the Western World](http://www.amazon.com/Great-Books-Western-World-Set/dp/B000NWXN5E/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_6)_ > _[The Harvard Classics](http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Classics-Complete-Volumes-First/dp/B0013RC8I6/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331063885&sr=1-2)_ > _[The Library of America Collection](http://www.amazon.com/Library-America-Collection-2012/dp/1598530003/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_15)_ > _[The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection](http://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Classics-Library-Complete-Collection/dp/0147503078/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_6)_ > _[The Story of Civilization](http://www.amazon.com/Story-Civilization-11-Set/dp/1567310230/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331063799&sr=1-1)_ > _[The Year’s Best Science Fiction](http://www.goodreads.com/series/49258-the-year-s-best-science-fiction)_ > > Last me a winter? Heck, this would last me a few decades. I believe he rule is multiple books…if bound in a single volume. edited to add: I need to borrow a few million dollars. I’ve got this great idea of putting the entire Library of Congress into a ten-volume set. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/27 "2012-03-06T21:42:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I believe he rule is multiple books…if bound in a single volume. That’s the rule I followed in my original list. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/28 "2012-03-06T22:47:33Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **The Civil War: A Narrative** by Shelby Foote Ah but that is three books (or is it just one) 😃 And I would include those. I have read through them twice and I am sure I will read through them again. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/29 "2012-03-06T23:15:52Z")
Neal Stephenson’s last two books (Anathem and Reamde), over 1000 pages each, ought to do me for nine months. Add LOTR (3 books), William Gibson’s Bigend books (3 more) and maybe Cryptonomicon and Necromancer and I will be happy. ---
**Author:** ![Stelios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Stelios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stelios)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835/30 "2012-03-07T19:53:10Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > I’m going to be pedantic again…\* in a single volume?\* Got it on my Kindle 🙂 I admit, imagining a print version may require a _little_ suspension of disbelief, but I know it exists in theory, and that’s good enough for me 🙂 But if it’s not allowed I’d replace it with Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-months-of-boredom-with-only-ten-books-for-company-your-list-please/614835.md?page=1)