I don't know if this has been attempted before, but I think we should establish a long standing thread of what book each poster would memorize if they had to pick only one with which to restart a barren society.
Mine: THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS by C.S. Lewis.
The Book of Mormon
"Truly you have a dizzying intellect." - M.i.B.
I have, in flippancy, responded to this very question before with "The Suede Guitar Chord Songbook." However, aside from the fact that I wouldn't even attempt some of those death-defying minor-augmented contortions (I would consult my dictionary of 2,400 chord positions and select something which requires less practice - as long as it's not tooo discordant), I would actually choose Alexei Sayle's 'The Dog Catcher'.
shareThe Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts
shareAnd after you memorize your book, and destroy the last copy so that you can't be caught with printed matter (its only fiction that is banned in their socieyt, textbooks are permitted, as is reading) who could dispute that you were accurate in your memory?
Well,I was planning on either Catch-22 or Huckleberry Finn but since both have been mentioned elsewhere, we must continue a real classic in the absence of any like examples. My choice will be Battle Cry by Leon Uris.
shareWhen I first saw this film, I wondered about what my choice would be for sometime but never could narrow it down to one. Some of my final choices (that haven't already been taken)--
The Yearling--Rawlings
The Left Hand of Darkness--LeGuin
Alice In Wonderland--Carroll
The Works of Dr. Seuss--Dr. Seuss
Tom's Midnight Garden--Pearce
Richard III--Shakespeare
The Brothers Karamazov--Dostoyevsky
For Your Own Good: Hidden cruelty in childrearing and the roots of violence--Alice Miller
Fighting for Truth, Justice, and making it the American way.
I think I would memorize The Martian Chronicles by guess who, Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, or Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. So many more though.
Also, a very unknown poet, Javan, but I have mostly memorized his four really short books, so that's not a problem for me.
Guido from La Vita è Bella: I'm leaving. See you in Vineggio. We'll start an anvil factory.
Aaah, Richard III is taken, and only four days ago :(
"The Sirens of Titan", "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "Dune" are also taken, so I have to go with
"Farewell to Arms".
And "Stars My Destination".
And "The Last Unicorn"