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Lost Books and the “Lost Book Club”

May 30, 2006 • • 19 Comments

My wife and I have become addicted to ABC’s Lost. One of the things we’ve noticed is that the characters often reference or are seen reading interesting books. Some of them I’ve read and others she’s read and some neither of us has read, but probably should have.

Wikipedia’s Lost page lists all the books that have appeared or been “somewhat mentioned” on the show, and so we decided to start a two-person book club in which we will read (or reread) the various books before the October 4 start of season three. Some of the books purportedly provide clues to what in the hell is really happening on that island. Others just reflect certain themes in the show. Either way, it’s an interesting list. I’ve put asterisks by the books I’ve already read and will be rereading:

  1. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle;
  2. * Watership Down by Richard Adams;
  3. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume;
  4. The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien;
  5. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum;
  6. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky;
  7. * Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll;
  8. * Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad;
  9. * Lord of the Flies by William Golding;
  10. Turn of the Screw by Henry James;
  11. * “An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce;
  12. Lancelot by Walker Percy;
  13. The Epic of Gilgamesh;
  14. Bad Twin by Gary Troup (written specifically for the show); and
  15. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

It should be an interesting summer of reading. I’ll be writing about these books as I finish them (as usual) and trying to relate them to Lost. If you’ve read any of these and watch Lost, feel free to join the fun in the comments or on your own blog and let us know what you think.

I’ll be getting the shortest one knocked out of the way first: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

Update: Here are links to my posts about each book:

Update 2: I am no longer updating this post. Updates are now linked to this page, which includes the season three books.

Published inBooksLOST

19 Comments

  1. panthergirl panthergirl

    What a fun thing to do! I always notice what characters on TV shows are reading (Carmela on The Sopranos is always reading a recognizable title like “Memoirs of a Geisha”.)

    I haven’t gotten into “Lost”. I watched the first few episodes and then decided that they are actually all dead and in their own personal hells. 😉

    I may have to rent the DVDs at some point and see what all the fuss is about.

    Enjoy your list! There are definitely a lot of goodies there!

    # May 30, 2006 Reply
  2. Jessica Jessica

    I used to have a short black and white version of “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” that was as equally stunning as the story itself. Good stuff.

    # May 30, 2006 Reply
  3. James James

    Panthergirl, We got started by renting the first season and watched all the episodes over the course of a week and promptly got sucked into season two.

    I’ve wondered about them all being dead and perhaps in a collective Hell such as Philip Dick’s Ubik or Eye in the Sky. If anyone starts reading any Dick on that island, it will certainly say a lot about what’s really going on. At least to me.

    Jessica, I didn’t know there was a film version. I’ll have to look into it. Have you read “The Secret Miracle” by Jorge Luis Borges? It’s a very interesting and similar story. Just similar enough to be a nice companion, but different enough not to feel derivitive.

    # May 31, 2006 Reply
  8. Coyote Mercury » The Lost Book Club: Heart of Darkness

    […] The Lost Book Club: Heart of Darkness Note: In our effort to read new books while hopefully gaining insight into the various mysteries on ABC’s Lost, my wife and I are reading the books that appear on the show. We are, of course proceeding on the assumption that the books referenced and shown are included because of the way they interact with the show’s themes and not just because any given book was what the propmaster had on the truck when an actor needed something to do with his hands. […]

  9. Coyote Mercury » The Lost Book Club: Lord of the Flies

    […] The Lost Book Club: Lord of the Flies Note: In our effort to read new books while hopefully gaining insight into the various mysteries on ABC’s Lost, my wife and I are reading the books that appear on the show. We are, of course proceeding on the assumption that the books referenced and shown are included because of the way they interact with the show’s themes and not just because any given book was what the propmaster had on the truck when an actor needed something to do with his hands. […]

  10. Coyote Mercury » The Lost Book Club: Bad Twin

    […] The Lost Book Club: Bad Twin Note: In our effort to read new books while hopefully gaining insight into the various mysteries on ABC’s Lost, my wife and I are reading the books that appear on the show. We are, of course proceeding on the assumption that the books referenced and shown are included because of the way they interact with the show’s themes and not just because any given book was what the propmaster had on the truck when an actor needed something to do with his hands. […]

  11. Coyote Mercury » The Lost Book Club: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    […] The Lost Book Club: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Note: In our effort to read new books while hopefully gaining insight into the various mysteries on ABC’s Lost, my wife and I are reading the books that appear on the show. We are, of course proceeding on the assumption that the books referenced and shown are included because of the way they interact with the show’s themes and not just because any given book was what the propmaster had on the truck when an actor needed something to do with his hands. […]

  12. Coyote Mercury » The Lost Book Club: Watership Down

    […] The Lost Book Club: Watership Down Note: In our effort to read new books while hopefully gaining insight into the various mysteries on ABC’s Lost, my wife and I are reading the books that appear on the show. We are, of course proceeding on the assumption that the books referenced and shown are included because of the way they interact with the show’s themes and not just because any given book was what the propmaster had on the truck when an actor needed something to do with his hands. […]

  13. Coyote Mercury » The Lost Book Club: The Third Policeman

    […] The Lost Book Club: The Third Policeman Note: In our effort to read new books while hopefully gaining insight into the various mysteries on ABC’s Lost, my wife and I are reading the books that appear on the show. We are, of course proceeding on the assumption that the books referenced and shown are included because of the way they interact with the show’s themes and not just because any given book was what the propmaster had on the truck when an actor needed something to do with his hands. […]

  14. Coyote Mercury » The Lost Book Club: Alice in Wonderland

    […] The Lost Book Club: Alice in Wonderland Note: In our effort to read new books while hopefully gaining insight into the various mysteries on ABC’s Lost, my wife and I are reading the books that appear on the show. We are, of course proceeding on the assumption that the books referenced and shown are included because of the way they interact with the show’s themes and not just because any given book was what the propmaster had on the truck when an actor needed something to do with his hands. […]

  17. Coyote Mercury » The Lost Book Club

    […] The Lost Book Club Season 3 of ABC’s Lost begins in a little while so the project to read all of the books shown and referenced on the show (according to the list on Wikipedia) that my wife and I started back in May is officially over. I read the following (links go to my reviews and theories): […]

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