1 "Red Harvest" by Dashiell Hammett. Genre: Detective fiction
It´s the grandfather of the genre as it was represented in the cinema.
2 "Wilt" by Tom Sharpe. Genre: Comedic Novel
Really funny book, you may finish it in a couple of days.
3 "Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl". Genre: Short stories
Collection of short stories which can be listed as "black comedy", very funny to read.
4 The Slave by Isaac Bashevis. Genre: Fiction, historical
I love Bashevis, most of his books are deeply emotional and well written

These four books are really easy to read, you may finish them all just in a few days so, if the rescue team delays so much, I would recommend some "harder" author, for example, Thomas Mann. I loved "Buddenbrooks", "Doctor Faustus", and "The magic moutain"; I didn´t like "Death in Venice" even though it is a very popular book.

PS: I didn´t want to include any book mentioned by other fellow "GOGers".

Robert Rankin:
The book of Ultimate Truths
Armageddon - The Musical
The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
Snuff Fiction
The Da da de da da Code

(or any other book by Robert Rankin)

Only 5? But The Wheel of Time has 14 + 1 prequel novel...!

If that cheap-ass chest came to me with an offer like that I'd PUNCH IT IN THE FUCKING SOUL!

"The Swarm" by Frank Schätzing
It is very nice Sci-Fi novel themed with ocean life. Despite the title looks like B movie, it's not cheesy at all. I was actually interested oceanography by reading it. Frank Schätzing always whites an interesting novels. I learned about Methane Hydrate because of this book.

And it has part 1~3 in my country so I have 2 more books left.
Let's see...

"No One's Perfect" by Ototake Hirotada
I doubt you know the author, but he's really famous in JP. He was born with no arms and legs. However he didn't get servile. On the contrary, he made a great success working as a sport journalist and even a teacher! He got married, he has two kids and now he's singing as a vocalist of rock band. And this book is telling how he lived his life with such a handicap. It's really encouraging. Rare book I can recommend for everyone if you can find one in your country.

"Kabukicho" by Kwon Choul
This is actually a photo book about one of the largest red light districts in Tokyo. I always love the chaos created by people and this one has it. Photos might be shocking for some people. It shows Yakuza fighting, girls passing out because of drugs, people working in the sex industries, and such kinda dirty stuffs. However they show me the life I couldn't even imagine and sometimes it's even beautiful.

Hmm pick 5 awesome books. Always tough =)

I generally read English books, but someone mentioned "The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch". That book is amazing read. I read it in dutch, but as the title says, it's translated in English.

For the rest I mainly read fantasy books. Which generally consist of long series
So to suggest some of those:

Start with:
Wizards FIrst Rule - Terry Goodkind (First book in the Sword of Truth series)
Dragon Wing - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (First book in the Death Gate cycle)
A Game of Thrones - George R.R Martin (First book in A Song of Ice and Fire series)
Dune* - Frank Herbert (First book in Dune series), although I think I enjoyed God Emperor of Dune most (4th book)

* In regards to the Dune series I have to say that I really enjoyed the writings of Frank Herbert. However when his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson continued the series after his death I felt a bit let down. It became too predictable. Still it's nice to have a conclusion on an epic series.

Science Fiction, fantasy, neo noir type stuff and zombie apocalypse type stuff.
Physical books only please but the chest can also offer you magazines, comic books etc.
LOL no.

* James Clavell's Shogun
* Jesse Schell's The Art of Game Design
* The Complete Works of Shakespeare
* A calculus or physics textbook.
* A gigantic completely empty book for writing in.

...and something to write with?

The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick (Philip K. Dick)
Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie)
Geek Love (Katherine Dunn)
Time's Arrow (Martin Amis)
Cathedral (Raymond Carver)

Charles Bukowski "Post Office"

Robert Pirsig "Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance"

Henry David Thoreau "Walden"

J.R.R. Tolkien "Lord of the Rings"

Frank Herbert "Dune Trilogy".

This is quite difficult!

In no particular order:

* Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy (actually 5 books even though it's called a trilogy, and can be found in several places combined into a single book)

* J.R.R. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings (as several people have mentioned, this is actually one book)

* George Orwell - 1984 (an amazing book, just amazing)

* J.R.R. Tolkien - The Hobbit

* Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy - the complete edition (might need it when rescued by a passing space ship)

Robinsob Crusoe - goes well with the island theme

Lord of the Rings - a book which I can read again and again

The complete Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson

And the complete works of William Shakespeare - Yes, that's ONE book. Quite thick though. Then I could finally learn all the plays by heart.

The thing about this is... the books you know are very good is because you have already read them, so even if you enjoy reading it a second time, nothing beats enjoying a good book when you read it for the first time. Then again, how do you know what books are good if you've never read them?

if the treasure chest is magical, then i'd ask some recommendations or maybe go with:

1) Survival guide.
2) Book catalog with reviews so i can pick two books I've never read. It would also entertain me a little.
3 & 4) Two books I've never read. Preferably thick ones.
5) The thickest Twilight book, because you never mentioned if I had tinder or not and just in case the toilet paper runs out. :)

Also, I think I'd spend more time talking to the magical treasure chest than reading the books. It CAN talk, right? Why would I want to play with monkeys, when I can socialize with a talking Magical Chest?

The premise is that the magic box provides us everything we need to survive. I consider that survival.