Books about people being stranded?

[becoming]

I love reading any and all fiction about people being stranded. (Probably not entirely normal, I know. ) Any suggestions?

(I got a lot of good titles from the end-of-the-world fiction thread, but I don't just want apocalyptic stuff--I'm interested in ALL books that involve people being stranded. )

[KristyDi]

Your title made one of my favorite books from my teenage years pop into my head.

Homecoming by Cynthia Voight (sp?)

A mom has a mental break and leaves her 4 kids in a car in a mall parking lot somewhere between their house and their grandmother's (who they've never met) The oldest (13) decides to take her siblings and walk the rest of the way. Can't remember where they start, but they're going to New England and its a long way.

There are several sequels.

[Aufilia]

'Island of the Blue Dolphins' popped to mind. I know it's YA but I always liked it.

"Darkover Landfall" by Marion Zimmer Bradley -- whole spaceship full of stranded people.

And come to think of it, I think one of the main character in "The Forbidden Tower" was stranded on Darkover in a plane crash (several centuries later).

[philomom]

http://annemccaffrey.net/index.php?page_id=31&bid=110


Love these. Read them in order. They were awesome.

[MusicianDad]

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a popular one in Canada

[kirstenb]

Originally Posted by Aufilia

'Island of the Blue Dolphins' popped to mind. I know it's YA but I always liked it.

I was just going to post this! It was one of my favorites from when I was younger. I was just thinking the other day that I wanted to re-read it again, as it has been years since the last time.

[Thalia the Muse]

Here are a few:

Concrete Island, J.G. Ballard -- a guy is injured in a car crash and thrown into a median area on a freeway, from which he cannot escape.

Voyage of the Short Serpent, by ... um, some French guy ... An inquisitor comes to a Christian colony in medieval Iceland that has been cut off from contact.

Obviously, Lord of the Flies

In the Heart of the Sea, Nathanial Philbrick -- nonfiction account of the survivors of the whaleship Essex, floating for months in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific. This is an outstanding book! Kind of harrowing though.

The Siege of Krishnapur, J.G. Farrell -- during the Sepoy Mutiny, a group of Brts are trapped in a fortress in a rural outpost while mutineers try to starve them out (not sure if this is what you mean by stranded, but it is a fantastic book! I can't recomend it highly enough).

[KristyDi]

Originally Posted by Aufilia

'Island of the Blue Dolphins' popped to mind. I know it's YA but I always liked it.

"Darkover Landfall" by Marion Zimmer Bradley -- whole spaceship full of stranded people.

And come to think of it, I think one of the main character in "The Forbidden Tower" was stranded on Darkover in a plane crash (several centuries later).

Originally Posted by kirstenb

I was just going to post this! It was one of my favorites from when I was younger. I was just thinking the other day that I wanted to re-read it again, as it has been years since the last time.

Can't believe I didn't think of Island of the Blue Dolphins. It's still good as an adult. I used to read it to my 4th graders when I was a teacher. The last time I did was was pregnant and cried when Rollo died.

[aisling]

I'm not positive that this fits, but its the very first book I thought of, and its most definitely a survival book: Follow the River.

Mary Ingles was twenty-three, married, and pregnant, when Shawnee Indians invaded her peaceful Virginia settlement, killed the men and women, then took her captive. For months, she lived with them, unbroken, until she escaped, and followed a thousand mile trail to freedom--an extraordinary story of a pioneer woman who risked her life to return to her people.

The majority of the book is her journey home through the wilderness. Unless I'm mistaken, its a true story. Well, a novelization of a true event anyway.

[Murihiku]

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (children's literature) and of course the archetypal (but I'm afraid rather hard-to-read) Robinson Crusoe.

[Thalia the Muse]

Oh, I'd forgotten all about this one, but The Cay! YA fiction -a boy and an old West Indian man are stranded on a tiny desert island after their ship is attacked by submarine during WW II.

And of course, The Black Stallion.

You might also like Mutiny on the Bounty, either the novel or nonfiction about the same event (the Pitcairn mutineers dumped Captain Bligh and some of his crew either on an island or in a lifeboat -- I forget which -- and incredibly he survived and made his way back to England).

[mazajo]

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts.

If you've seen the movie, don't let that stop you from reading the book. The movie sucks, but the book is wonderful.

[Bohemian Squash]

Oh, do you mean like island stranded?
Or survival, trapped? Lost?
I really liked "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Aron Ralston. True story about a guy who had to cut off his own arm after being trapped by a falling boulder.

[KristyDi]

Just thought of another, sorta. The Last on the Breed, by Louis L'Amour.

US test pilot of Native American descent escapes from a Russian camp in Siberia during the Cold War and makes his way across Siberia heading for the Bering Straight and Alaska.

[Amaranth]

Another good arctic one (and one I liked so much that I blogged about it): Ada Blackjack, by Jennifer Niven - about a Native woman who is stranded on an Aleutian island with four white explorers (I think, or maybe the island belongs to Russia now). It's a wonderful biography with lots of interesting and thought-provoking stuff on race and class

And Selkirk's Island, by Diana Souhami, is the story of the guy that "Robinson Crusoe" was supposedly based upon (tropical island shipwreck).

There's several good strandings in Patrick O'Brian's books, too, if you like naval stories.

[kofduke]

I really liked Into Thin Air by Krakauer -- about climbers stranded on Everestt during a blizzard.

[OakBerry]

I second "Follow the River" by James Alexander Thom.

Also I remember reading this when I was young:http://www.amazon.com/Iceberg-Hermit...=cm_cr_pr_pb_i

[becoming]

Thanks for all the cool suggestions! I've made a list.

[Freedom~Mama]

Island of the Blue Dolphins and Hatchet were my favorites growing up and I still like them!

[mamatoablessing]

Originally Posted by Thalia the Muse

Oh, I'd forgotten all about this one, but The Cay! YA fiction -a boy and an old West Indian man are stranded on a tiny desert island after their ship is attacked by submarine during WW II.

Wow, I totally forgot about this book. It's a great read!

Originally Posted by kofduke

I really liked Into Thin Air by Krakauer -- about climbers stranded on Everestt during a blizzard.

This is what I was coming to post. I have read Into Thin Air several times and haven't gotten bored of it yet. Krakauer is an excellent writer. Into The Wild, also by Jon Krakaur, is a fascinating story as well.

Into The Wild Synopsis: In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. He had given $25,000 in savings to a charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet and invented a life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. Jon Krakauer brings Chris McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows and illuminates it with meaning in this mesmerizing and heartbreaking tour de force.