LOST Books

Everything That Rises Must Converge

2009-05-14T13:05:00.002+01:00

by Flannery O'Connor
Published: 1965
Episode: The Incident

Everything That Rises Must Converge is a collection of short stories written by Flannery O'Connor during her final illness. The title of the collection and of the short story is taken from a passage from the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.The collection was published posthumously in 1965. It includes an introduction by Robert Fitzgerald, and nine stories:

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A Separate Reality

2009-03-26T01:03:00.000Z

by Carlos Castaneda
Published: 1971
Episode: He's Our You

A Separate Reality is an allegedly non-fictional book written by anthropologist/author Carlos Castaneda in 1971 concerning the events that took place during an apprenticeship he claimed to have served with a self-proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer, Don Juan Matus, between 1968 and 1971. The authenticity of the book, along with the rest of Castaneda's series, has been a topic of debate since they were published.

In the book Castaneda continues his description of his apprenticeship under the tutelage of Don Juan, from which he had withdrawn in 1965. As in his previous book, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Castaneda describes the experiences he has with Don Juan while under the influence of the psychotropic plants that Don Juan offered him, peyote (Lophophora williamsii) and a smokable mixture of what Castaneda believed to be, among other plants, dried mushroom of the genus Psilocybe. The main focus of the book centered around Don Juan's attempts at getting Carlos to See, a practice best described as, in Castaneda's own words, "perceiving energy directly as it flows through the universe".

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Manservant and Maidservant

2008-06-11T18:31:00.003+01:00

by Ivy Compton-Burnett
Published: 1947
Episode: There's No Place Like Home

Reference: In the season 4 finale (There's No Place Like Home: pt.2/3), when Kate has a dream that someone is in Aaron's room (it turns out to be Claire), she grabs her gun that is laying on top of a book in her drawer.

At once the strangest and most marvelous of Ivy Compton-Burnett's fictions, Manservant and Maidservant has for its subject the domestic life of Horace Lamb, sadist, skinflint, and tyrant. But it is when Horace undergoes an altogether unforeseeable change of heart that the real difficulties begin. Is the repentant master a victim along with the former slave? And how can anyone endure the memory of the wrongs that have been done?" Says Edward Sackville-West about the book, 'Apart from physical violence and starvation, there is no feature of the totalitarian regime which has not its counterpart in the atrocious families depicted in these novels.

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The Survivors of the Chancellor

2008-03-14T05:31:00.001Z

by Jules Verne
Published: 1875
Episode: Ji Yeon

Reference: Regina was reading this outside the room where Sayid and Desmond were.
The Survivors of the Chancellor: Diary of J. R. Kazallon, Passenger (French: Le Chancellor: Journal du passager J.-R. Kazallon) is an 1875 novel written by Jules Verne about the final voyage of a British sailing vessel, the Chancellor, told from the perspective of one of its passengers (in the form of a diary).

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The Invention of Morel

2008-02-22T04:35:00.003Z

by Adolfo Bioy Casares
Published: 1940
Episode: Eggtown
Reference: The book Sawyer is reading

A fugitive hides on a deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific. Tourists arrive afterward, and his fear of being discovered becomes a mixed emotion when he falls in love with one of them. He wants to tell her his feelings, but an inexplicable phenomenon keeps them apart.

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Valis

2008-02-22T04:30:00.003Z

by Philip K Dick
Published: 1981
Episode: Eggtown
Reference: a book that Locke takes to Ben from Ben's own bookshelf, also seen in The Other Woman

The main character in VALIS is Horselover Fat, an author surrogate. "Horselover" is English for the Greek word philippos (Φίλιππος), meaning "lover of horses" (from philo "brotherly or comradely love" and hippos "horse"); "Fat" is English for the German word "dick".

Even though the book is written in the first-person-autobiographical, for most of the book Dick treats himself and Fat as two separate characters; he describes conversations and arguments with Fat, and harshly if sympathetically criticizes his opinions and writings. The major subject of these dialogues is spirituality, as Dick/Fat is/are ostensibly obsessed with several religions and philosophies, including Christianity, Taoism, Gnosticism and even Jungian psychoanalysis, in the search for a cure for what he believes is simultaneously a personal and a cosmic wound. Near the end of the book the messianic figure, incarnated by the child Sophia (a name associated with Wisdom in many Gnostic texts), cures him (temporarily), and the narrator describes his surprise that Horselover Fat has suddenly disappeared from his side.

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Through the Looking Glass

2007-12-02T08:03:00.000Z

By Lewis Carroll
Published: 1871
Episode: Through the Looking Glass
Reference: Title of episode and reference to the the Looking Glass Station.

Outline
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There ( 1871) is a work of children's literatureby Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), generally categorized as literary nonsense. It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, although it makes no reference to its events. In it, there are many mirror themes, including opposites, time running backwards, and so on.

Whereas the first book has the deck of cards as a theme, this book is loosely based on a game of chess, played on a giant chessboard with fields for squares. Most main characters met in the story are represented by a chess piece, with Alice herself being a pawn. However, the chess game described cannot be carried out legally due to a move where white doesn't move out of check (a list of moves is included - note that a young child might make this error due to inexperience). The looking-glass world is divided into sections by brooks, with the crossing of each brook usually signifying a notable change in the scene and action of the story: the brooks represent the divisions between squares on the chessboard, and Alice's crossing of them signifies advancing of her piece one square. The sequence of moves (white and red) is not always followed, which goes along with the book's mirror image reversal theme as noted by mathematician and author Martin Gardner
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

Catch-22

2007-04-19T05:04:00.000+01:00

By Joseph Heller
Published: 1961
Episode: Catch-22
Reference: Book that the Parachutist had

Outline
Catch-22 is a satirical, historical fiction novel by the American author Joseph Heller, first published in 1961. The novel, set during the latter stages of the Second World War from 1943 onwards, is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the Twentieth Century.[2]

The novel follows Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier, and a number of other characters. Most events occur while the airmen of the Fighting 256th (or "two to the fighting eighth power") Squadron are based on the island of Pianosa, west of Italy. Many events in the book are repeatedly described from differing points of view, so the reader learns more about the event from each iteration. Furthermore, the events are referred to as if the reader already knows all about them. The pacing of Catch-22 is frenetic, its tenor intellectual, and its humor largely absurd, but interspersed with grisly moments of realism.
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

Evil Under the Sun

2007-03-29T05:09:00.000+01:00

By Agatha Christie
Published: 1941
Episode: Exposé
Reference: Book Sawyer was reading when Nikki asked him for a gun

Outline
A quiet holiday at a secluded hotel in Cornwall is all that Poirot wants, but amongst his fellow guests is a beautiful and vain woman who, seemingly oblivious to her own husband’s feeling, revels in the attention of another woman’s husband. The scene is set for murder, but can the field of suspects really be as narrow as it first appears?
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The Fountainhead

2007-03-15T03:49:00.000Z

By Ayn Rand.
Published: 1943
Episode: Par Avion
Reference: Book Sawyer was reading

Outline
The Fountainhead examines the life of an idealistic young architect, Howard Roark, who prefers to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision by pandering to the prevailing taste in building design.
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Stranger in a Strange Land

2007-02-23T09:43:00.000Z

By Robert A. Heinlein
Published: 1961
Episode: Stranger in a Strange Land
Reference: Episode Title

Outline
It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians on Mars, as he returns to Earth in early adulthood. The novel explores his interaction with — and eventual transformation of — Earth culture. The title of the book is from the Biblical Book of Exodus..
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Laughter in the Dark

2007-02-15T04:24:00.000Z

By Vladimir Nabokov
Published: 1932
Episode: Flashes Before Your Eyes
Reference: Hurley was reading this in Sawyers tent

Outline
The book deals with the affection of a middle-aged man for a very young woman, resulting in a mutually parasitic relationship. In 1955, Nabokov used this theme again with Lolita to a much greater effect..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

A Brief History of Time

2007-02-08T06:35:00.000Z

By Stephen Hawking
Published: 1988
Episode: Not in Portland
Reference: Being read by a guard outside the brainwashing room

Outline
It attempts to explain a range of subjects in cosmology, including the Big Bang, black holes, light cones and superstring theory, to the nonspecialist reader. Its main goal is to give an overview of the subject but, unusually for a popular science book, it also attempts to explain some complex mathematics..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

Of Mice and Men

2006-10-26T04:52:00.000+01:00

By John Steinbeck
Published: 1937
Episode: Every Man for Himself
Reference: Book seen in Episode 4

Outline
Of Mice and Men is a novella by John Steinbeck, first published in 1937, which tells the tragic story of George and Lennie, two displaced Anglo migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression (1929-1939). The story is set on a ranch few miles from Soledad in the Salinas Valley..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

A Tale of Two Cities

2006-10-09T14:37:00.000+01:00

By Charles Dickens
Published: 1859
Episode: A Tale of Two Cities
Reference: The title of the Season 3 premiere.

Outline
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens; it is moreover a moral novel strongly concerned with themes of guilt, shame, redemption and patriotism. Dickens' primary source for this historical novel is Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution. The narrative is extraordinarily dependent upon correspondence as a medium for ensuring the flow of events, and while not an epistolary novel in the way that Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses is, nevertheless, it is immediately apparent that the flow of letters forms a driving center to much of the narrative development in this novel. The novel covers a period in history between 1775 and 1793, from the American Revolution until the middle period of the French Revolution..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

Carrie

2006-10-05T07:46:00.000+01:00

By Stephen King
Published: 1974
Episode: A Tale of Two Cities, One of Us
Reference: The Others are reading this at the book club meeting.

Outline
Carrie (1974) was Stephen King's first published novel. King has commented that he finds the work to be "raw" and "with a surprising power to hurt and horrify". It is one of the most frequently banned books in U.S. schools [1] and the film version was banned in Finland. Fans often see it as more of an emotionally touching story due to its portrayal of high school bullying and it has, at times, been a favorite amongst the Goth subculture. Much of the book is written in epistolary structure in the form of newspaper clippings, letters, excerpts from books, etc. Brian De Palma created a film version in 1976. This is one of the few adaptations of a Stephen King novel that the author himself appreciated..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

The Stand

2006-07-14T15:18:00.000+01:00

By Stephen King
Published: 1978
Episode: Maternity Leave
Reference: The false Henry Gale asks Locke if he has any Stephen King when he brings him a copy of The Brothers Karamazov to read. The producers have mentioned The Stand as a major influence on the series, according to Disk 7 of Lost: The Complete First Season DVDs

Outline
Following the apocalyptic collapse of society after the world is devastated by the "super-flu", a band of gritty survivors must battle not only the aftershocks of the calamity, but must also find a way to defeat a growing evil faction which wants to take over the decimated world. It is a world of horrors and what's even worse, it just might fall under the control of a man (?) that appears to be the devil personified. .
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

Heart of Darkness

2006-06-05T13:26:00.000+01:00

By Joseph Conrad
Published: 1902
Episode: Walkabout, Numbers
Reference: Tell me something.. How come any time there's a hike into the heart of darkness, you sign up?" Jack to Kate. Walkabout.
"One minute you're happy go lucky good time Hurley, the next you're Colonel bloody Kurtz." Charlie to Hurley. Numbers.

Outline
It details an incident earlier in Marlow's life, a visit up what we can assume is the Congo River (although the name of the country Marlow is visiting is never specified in the text) to investigate the work of Kurtz, a Belgian trader in ivory in the Congo Free State..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

Our Mutual Friend

2006-06-02T13:44:00.000+01:00

By Charles Dickens
Published: 1864
Episode: Live Together, Die Alone
Reference: The last book Desmond will read before he dies.

Outline
Our Mutual Friend (1864–5) is the last completed novel written by Charles Dickens. It centers on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life".
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Are you there God? It's me, Margaret.

2006-06-02T13:40:00.000+01:00

By Judy Blume
Published: 1977
Episode: The Whole Truth
Reference: Sawyer is reading when Sun asks for the pregnancy test.

Outline
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret (1970) by Judy Blume, typically categorized as a novel for young adults, is about a preteen girl who grew up with no religion. Margaret has one Christian and one Jewish parent, and the novel explores her quest for a single religion..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

Lancelot

2006-06-02T13:32:00.000+01:00

By Walker Percy
Published: 1977
Episode: Maternity Leave
Reference: As Kate approaches Sawyer in Maternity Leave you can see him reading it.

Outline
Lancelot Lamar is a disenchanted lawyer who finds himself confined in a mental asylum with memories that don't seem worth remembering. It all began the day he accidentally discovered he was not the father of his youngest daughter, a discovery which sent Lancelot on modern quest to reverse the degeneration of America. Percy's novel reveals a shining knight for the modern age--a knight not of romance, but of revenge..
More info: Amazon Entry, Amazon

The Brothers Karamazov

2006-06-02T13:28:00.000+01:00

By Fyordor Dostoevsky
Published: 1880
Episode: Maternity Leave
Reference: Locke gives it to Henry Gale to read in Maternity Leave.

Outline
The book is written on two levels: on the surface it is the story of a patricide in which all of the murdered man's sons share varying degrees of complicity but, on a deeper level, it is a spiritual drama of the moral struggles between faith, doubt, reason, and free will. The novel was composed mostly in Staraya Russa, which is also the main setting of the book..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge

2006-06-02T13:22:00.000+01:00

By Ambrose Bierce
Published: 1897
Episode: The Long Con
Reference: One of the books Locke shakes when he is alphebetising the hatch books.

Outline: Set during the American Civil War, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is the story of Peyton Farquhar, a Confederate sympathizer sentenced to death by hanging at the Owl Creek Bridge of the title. His crime was that he attempted to burn that same bridge down before Union soldiers got a chance to cross it.When he is hanged the rope breaks and the main character falls into the water, from which he begins a journey back to his home. .
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

The Third Policeman

2006-06-02T13:17:00.000+01:00

By Flann O'Brien
Published: 1967
Episode: Orientation
Reference: Desmond packs it as he leaves in Orientation.

Outline
The Third Policeman is a story about academic obsession, a fable about crime and punishment, and, according to some, it is even a commentary on Einsteinian physics. Most obviously, it is a deadpan murder mystery which retains its major revelation for the final pages..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon

The Turn of The Screw

2006-06-02T12:59:00.000+01:00

By Henry James
Published: 1898
Episode: Orientation
Reference: Infront of the Orientation tape in Orientation.

Outline
The Turn of the Screw is a ghost story that has lent itself well to operatic and film adaptation. Due to its ambiguous content and narrative skill, The Turn of the Screw became a favorite text of New Criticism. The reader is challenged to determine if the protagonist, a nameless governess, is reliably reporting events or instead is some kind of neurotic with an overheated imagination..
More info: Wiki Entry, Amazon