25. A book set on an island

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

I for one would love to be on a tropical island right now, cold drink in one hand, book in the other. Floppy hat optional. In lieu of that, since I'll probably have to go to work, clean the house, etc, I will have to satisfy myself with still having a book in one hand.

Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading?
2. What kind of island is it set on?
3. What island books would you recommend?

[Sam]

Circe is my pick for this category, mostly/partially set on the mythological island of Aeaea/Aiaia. I know everyone has loved it and I'm overdue to read it and give Madeline Miller a second shot (I was in the minority of really not vibing with The Song of Achilles.)

Random books I like set on islands:
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - island of Great Britain
Burial Rites - Iceland
A Tale for the Time Being - Japan/Canadian island
The Count of Monte Cristo - not primary setting but island of Monte Cristo important and set on island of If
Miranda and Caliban - fictional island of The Tempest
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - set a bit on Manhattan and a good amount on Hispaniola
The Marriage of Opposites - St. Thomas

[Nancy]

I am doing Next Year in Havana for this one.

Pretty much everything Elin Hilderbrand has written is set on Nantucket, except her newest Paradise series which is set on St. John, so still an island.

[Chrissy]

I’ll be reading A Small Place, it’s been on my TBR for a while. There are some great suggestions on the listopia, 6 of the first 11 books on there I gave 5 stars too! I also recommend Sharks in the Time of Saviors, which spends some time on the mainland but the heart of the story is on Hawai’i and Oahu to a lesser extent.

[Heather]

I'll be reading Lord of the Flies.

[Kelly Sj]

One of my favorite books from when I was a kid is The Island by Gary Paulsen. I might do a re-read, but I also have The House in the Cerulean Sea and Circe on my TBR. If I didn't have so many long books picked out for the year already, I'd also consider Michener's Caribbean.

And speaking of Michener, I can recommend Hawaii for this prompt, it is excellent!

[Serendipity]

The glorious Heresies is a Woman’s Prize Winner and set in Ireland and Ireland is an island so that’s a strong contender. Another option is Children Come by Ship set in Malta for my long term read around the world project.

[Thomas]

I am thinking. Shutter Island

[Alicia]

I'm also going to use Next Year in Havana. If not that, then Treasure Island

[Kathryn]

If I'm looking for something easy for this one, I'll just read something set in Australia (I'll have a multitude to pick from as I think I'd average about 30 books set in Australia yearly, and we are the largest island in the world!).

If my challenge is going well and I'm looking for something a little more challenging, I'll read either Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton or Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Next Year in Havana is such a great book, and an easier read. Highly recommend that one, Kathryn!

[dalex]

I didn't realize how many books are set on fictional islands until I started researching for this prompt! I'll be using one of those or maybe A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, which is set on a Scottish island.

[Kathy]

Possibilities:
Annie John- Jamaica Kincaid (Life List) (Antigua)
The Star Side of Bird Hill- Naomi Jackson (Barbados)
Vintage Murder - Ngaio Marsh (New Zealand)
The Stormy Petrel - Mary Stewart (fictional island of Moila in the Scottish Hebrides)
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters - Mark Dunn (fictional island of Nollop off coast of S.C.)

Recommendations:
Burial Rites (Iceland)
Next Year in Havana (Cuba)
Wide Sargasso Sea (Jamaica, Dominica)

[Ellie]

I really want to find something where the island is important to the story. I love small island settings. Maybe The Fourth Island.

[Harini]

Is it just for me or does the listopia link open to the edit page?

[Johanne]

Ellie wrote: "I really want to find something where the island is important to the story. I love small island settings. Maybe The Fourth Island."

I'm thinking Minecraft: The Island or Lord of the Flies

[Nancy]

Harini wrote: "Is it just for me or does the listopia link open to the edit page?"

Not just you. But you should still be able to add and vote on books.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Sorry, I copied the wrong link into our spreadsheet, and Jackie pulled it from there.

Here's the correct link: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Hopefully she can see this and switch it out!

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Whoops! Corrected

[Dubhease]

Montreal is also an island. So if you didn't do Quebec for the NATO code word prompt, any book set in Montreal would work.

[SadieReadsAgain]

1. What are you reading?
Burial Rites

2. What kind of island is it set on?
A country - Iceland.

3. What island books would you recommend?
The Summer Book, Everything You Need, The Gracekeepers

[Reenah]

The Survivors by Jane Harper is set on Tasmania.

[Deborah]

For this prompt I will be reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C S Lewis. It is actually set on several fictional islands. Some are populated, some are magical, but they are all different kinds of islands with different challenges.

Here are some other books that I would recommend for this prompt.
The Other Side of Heaven by John H Groberg
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr

[Beth]

This will be my first prompt to cross off this year. I didn't intend to start with it but I couldn't find many prompts that work well for my first book so I'm slotting it in here. :)

1. What are you reading?
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

2. What kind of island is it set on?
The British Isles

3. What island books would you recommend?
Norwegian Wood (Japan)
The Dry (Australia)

[Nikki]

I have read The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan. It’s set on the Scottish island of Mure. This is my 1st completed prompt of the year 😊

[Alexx]

1. What are you reading?
I read Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

2. What kind of island is it set on?
Half of the book is set in the Dominican Republic, the other half in New York

3. What island books would you recommend?
I enjoyed We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, so I'd recommend that!

[Andrea]

I have read The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune for this task. The fictional coastal island of Marsyas, upon which "the house" is situated, seems like a tropical paradise.
While most of the island books that immediately jump to my mind are listed above, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx is another suggestion.

[Kim]

1. What are you reading? Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth
2. What kind of island is it set on? England
3. What island books would you recommend? So many good books take place in England! Authors like Philippa Gregory and Elin Hilderbrand write almost exclusively books that take place on an island.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I also read The House in the Cerulean Sea, which fit a million different prompts! This was a hard prompt for me though, so I put it here for now.

It was amazing and I 100% recommend this book to anyone stuck for this prompt! It was lighthearted but had some meat to the plot, and the characters were fantastic.

[Wendy]

I'm reading The Survivors, the latest book by Jane Harper and it is set on Tasmania so it would be a good fit for this category! (I'm reading it for the 2021 book, but I thought others might like this fit)

[Kelly Sj]

I read Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend, and about 1/3 of the book is set in the Galapagos Islands during WWII, and was based on actual events. I was hoping more of the story would be on the island, but the backstory leading up to their time there was interesting too.

I would recommend Michener's Hawaii, it begins with the formation of the islands themselves.

[Tabatha (tab.talks.books)]

Shipped by Angie Hockman

finished 2/11/21

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Not sure why this feels like cheating to me, but I'm slotting in a manga here, which is set in Japan: Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 34

(I've used manga for other prompts, so I guess some part of my brain thinks I need a more obscure island than Japan.)

Recommendations:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Jane of Lantern Hill
The Housekeeper and the Professor

[Severina]

1. What are you reading?
I read Whisper of Bones by Melinda Leigh

2. What kind of island is it set on?
It's set on a fictional island called Widow's Island.

3. What island books would you recommend?
You can't go wrong with a story set in England.

[Pam]

I read Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken. Nantucket is a small island 30 miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

[Miko]

1. What are you reading? We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
2. What kind of island is it set on? A private island off the coast of Massachusetts

[Sherri]

Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading? The Guest List by Lucy Foley
2. What kind of island is it set on? An island off the coast of Ireland used for events.
3. What island books would you recommend? The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

[Samantha]

1. What are you reading? A Madness of Sunshine
2. What kind of island is it set on? New Zealand
3. What island books would you recommend?
Crazy Rich Asians
Last Tang Standing
Something in the Water

[Jill]

What are you reading?
I readTour de Force by Christianna Brand

What kind of island is it set on?
Fictional Supposedly off the coast of Italy

[Evelyn]

1. What are you reading?

2. What kind of island is it set on?
Is set on Mui which is a fictional island that is about tourism of disasters.
3. What island books would you recommend?

[Wendy]

I'm reading The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, which features a girl and her grandmother spending the summer on an island off the the coast of Finland, and seems to be based somewhat on the author's own life. It's gentle and episodic, and I'm liking the somewhat antagonistic yet playful relationship between the two leads.

[LeahS]

I loved The Summer Book.

1. What are you reading?

I read Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture by Sudhir Hazareesingh. I came across Toussaint Louverture many years ago in a sonnet by Wordsworth which made him sound someone worth knowing about, so I was very interested in this biography of a remarkable man. He was worth knowing about.

2. What kind of island is in set on?

It is set on modern day Haiti/Dominican Republic.

3. What island books would you recommend?

The Outrun: A Memoir; Where the World Ends; Breadfruit.

[Marie]

1. What are you reading? We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
2. What kind of island is it set on? Island nation divided by a wall
3. What island books would you recommend?

[JessicaMHR]

The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand

[Joanne]

I ended up reading Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud which is set in Trinidad.

[Marie (UK)]

Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading?
Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis

2. What kind of island is it set on?
Not sure what you mean by this it is set on Guernsey one of the Channel Islands which is a self-governing British Crown dependency

3. What island books would you recommend?
i liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
I always feel i can use the UK for set on Island so anything written by Agatha Christie or any PG Woodhouse would work

[GailW]

1. What are you reading?
I read Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

2. What kind of island is it set on?
New Calendonia, located in the Pacific Southwest but part of France.

[Laurel]

1. What are you reading? A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
2. What kind of island is it set on? West Indies
3. What island books would you recommend? When We Were Young (Corfu), Desire and the Deep Blue Sea (Caribbean), Hedda Stein-Sun's UnRemembered Islands (Nordic), On the Fringe (Hawaii)

[NancyJ]

I read The Night Tiger - Malaysia

I read a few other books about Islands this year. I was able to use most of them for other prompts.

These are all good:
Island Beneath the Sea - Haiti
A Tale for the Time Being - Japan, BC island
Euphoria - Papua New Guinea
The Guest List - an island off of Ireland
The Girl who wrote in silk (and Island near Seattle)
...Cerulian Sea

[Tsipi]

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart (Fantasy)