[Deserted Isle Books is our new series in which our contributors discuss the one book they would choose if they were, well, stranded alone on a deserted isle forever. Read other installments of the series here, get your own copies at Powell's, and explore other series like this on our Special Features page.]

Of course, if you’re going to be stranded on a deserted island for the rest of your life, or if you know that such a catastrophe (or adventure) is about to occur—or has the potential to occur because the journey on which you’re about to embark is dangerous, probably foolish, and the crew looks somewhat sketchy, and the ship itself (or plane or zeppelin) is patched together from salvaged parts, and you’ve forgotten to tell anyone at home exactly where you’re going (I’ve done this twice already and I was underprepared both times: Hoyle’s was not a good choice, let me tell you)—you want to pack accordingly. I’d probably want to select the longest and most desirable read I haven’t read yet,  Remembrance of Things Past, the whole damn thing, which, I think, would suit me just fine, and I can imagine myself living quite happily, actually, reclining with my Proust beneath a lone palm—please God let there be at least one palm—alternately reading and dozing, as I am wont to do, a shard of coconut serving as my own madeleine, my own catalyst for reflections on the past and time and memory and loss, of which there will be plenty. …
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