Results tagged “Books” from Sledgeweb's LOST ... STUFF

Tonight young Ben provided prisoner Sayid with a book titled A Separate Reality - by Carlos Castaneda published in 1971. The book is supposedly a non-fiction story where Castaneda claims he was under the apprenticeship of a self-proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer, Don Juan Matus. Whether or not the events in the book took place have been a subject of debate since it was published. However, its also interesting that the title of the book is A Separate Reality. Are the writers hinting that the losties are in an alternate reality, something we touched on in this discussion, or is the book nothing more than a red herring?

Sun receives a package at the hotel in 5x04, "The Little Prince". Inside the package is a gun hidden in chocolates, some photos of Jack and Ben at the funeral home, and several pages of Surveillance files. A close look at the files reveal they aren't related to anything on LOST at all. Or does it? An investigation into the text on the files has revealed that the source of the text originates from here. A very strange game site where users try to solve crimes set in the fictional county of Yaknapatawpha - which is created and used in the writing of William Faulkner. Is this more literary thematic references for us to dig up? Let us know what you think in the comments. Pictures after the jump.

For those of you who don't know DocArzt, have you been living in a cave? Many Lost fans became aware of DocArzt on the popular Lost site, TheTailSection.com, to which he no longer contributes (his new site is www.docarzt.com). He is also someone that Sledge and myself would call a friend, and he's certainly been a friend to Sledgeweb's Lost...stuff, providing us with some great breaking news on occasion, and crediting SWLS as the first Lost site he visited regularly, as well as what inspired him to do his own site.

There are two books seen on episode 4x04, "Eggtown". The first one, a book that Locke takes to Ben from Ben's own bookshelf, is "Valis", by Philip K. Dick.

The book Sawyer is reading ("The Invention of Morel"), however, is even more interesting. The plot synopsis reads as follows:

"A fugitive hides on a deserted island somewhere in Polynesia. Tourists arrive, 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 anomalous phenomenon keeps them apart."

In 3x19, "The Brig", we get a a quick look of Ben's library in his makeshift tent. It looks like he brought along "WORD POWER" with him, which we previously caught in his home library. I guess when you're backpacking through the jungle, you never want to be short on word power.

We can also catch John Lescroart's "The Oath". Seems like one of the writers likes these sort of criminal thriller novels. "When an HMO bigwig dies in his own hospital, nobody doubts that a hit-and-run car accident was the cause. Until the autopsy, that is. When defense attorney Dismas Hardy and lieutenant Abe Glitsky get involved, they discover a trail of homicide in a house of healing."

In 3x17, "Catch-22", Desmond and crew find a backpack apparently dropped from the parachutist who bailed from the sputtering helicopter. Included is a book titled ARDIL-22. This is the Portuguese version of Catch-22, a book by Joseph Heller. It's important to note that the two men in the listening station were speaking Portuguese.

From the publisher: Catch-22 is set in the closing months of World War II, in an American bomber squadron on a small island off Italy. Its hero is a bombardier named Yossarian, who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he hasn't even met keep trying to kill him. (He has decided to live forever even if he has to die in the attempt.)

In 3x17, "Catch-22", Desmond and crew find a backpack apparently dropped from the parachutist who bailed from the sputtering helicopter. Besides the Catch-22 book with the Des and Penny photo, they also find some Beef Stew rations, a Nutra Fruit bar, a satellite phone (which, if you look closely, is getting pretty good reception before it dies), a canteen and of course, the doll that fell out.

In LOST 3x16, "One of Us", we get a look at a lot of books in Ben's library. Books are always interesting thematic clues related to the LOST universe, and we have a few new additions to chew on. The books we can make include: ASSASSINS by Tim F. LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins, which is part of the LEFT BEHIND (familiar?) series about the end times. Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson, a crime thriller. The Royals by Kitty Kelley, an examination of the British Royal Family. Stitches in Time by Barbara Michaels, about magical quilts and the good and bad powers they possess. Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, about the myths of Wild Women and a call to the awakening of the Wild Woman in modern women.

Interesting choices, Ben. Special thanks to Astro for helping me decipher the names of some of these books.

In 3x15, "Left Behind", we see Kate wearing an interesting hat in her flashback. The hat shows the silhouette of a cowboy surrounded by some text. Around the cowboy figure, the words "COWBOY UP" repeat four times. If you recall, this phrase was used in Episode 3x9 by Sawyer:
[Cut to Sawyer approaching Karl. Karl quickly wipes his eyes. Sawyer punches Karl in the arm.]
KARL: Ow!! What the hell was that for?!
SAWYER: So you'd cowboy up. Crying in the jungle -- I thought you people were supposed to be tough.
KARL [shoving Sawyer]: I am tough.
And in Episode 1x22, again by Sawyer:
SAWYER: Michael's going to cowboy up. We set sail tomorrow.

Buy your own "Cowboy Up" hat here: http://www.rentonww.com

In 3x15, "Left Behind", Sawyer is seen reading another book. Wait a minute, has he ran out of books? It appears he is reading "Watership Down"... again. This was the first book we ever saw Sawyer reading, way back in Season 1.

Description: One of the most beloved novels of our time, Richard Adams's Watership Down takes us to a world we have never truly seen: to the remarkable life that teems in the fields, forests and riverbanks far beyon our cities and towns. It is a powerful saga of courage, leadership and survival; an epic tale of a hardy band of adventurers forced to flee the destruction of their fragile community... and their trials and triumphs in the face of extraordinary adversity as they pursue a glorious dream called "home."

Another addition to the Book Club. This time, we see Sawyer reading Agatha Christie's "Evil Under the Sun".

Synopsis:
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?

In 3x13, "The Man from Tallahassee", we see many interesting things in Ben's place. There are a lot of books laying around, and one that is featured prominently just so happens to be "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. We saw this same book in episode 3x7, being read by an Other guarding Karl. Perhaps the book was simply borrowed from Ben and returned. Or, maybe it's the current selection in the Other's Book Club that we learned about in 3x1. Either way, it's definitely and interesting book to have pop up again in LOST.

Another entry for the LOST Book Club. In 3x12, "Par Avion", we see that Sawyer has returned to his favorite past time, reading. This time, he's picked up a copy of Ayn Rand's fountain head.

The book was written in 1943, and made into a movie in 1949.

From wikipedia: The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand. It was Rand's first major literary success and its royalties and movie rights brought her fame and financial security. The book's title is a reference to Rand's statement that "man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress," and is a more specific version of the book's theme, which is, in Rand's words, "individualism and collectivism in man's soul."

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.

In "Flashes Before Your Eyes", Hurley and Charlie raid Sawyer's stash. In it, they find a yet unseen book: "Laughter in the Dark" written by Vladimir Nabokov and John Banville in 1932.

Annotation: A malicious comedy of desire, deception, and denial played out against the background of the film world of 1930's Berlin.

Publisher's Description: Albinus, a respectable, middle-aged man and aspiring filmmaker, abandons his wife for a lover half his age: Margot, who wants to become a movie star herself. When Albinus introduces her to Rex, an American movie producer, disaster ensues. What emerges is an elegantly sardonic and irresistibly ironic novel of desire, deceit, and deception, a curious romance set in the film world of Berlin in the 1930s.

It appears The Others have a nice book club going. Once again, LOST pays homage to Stephen King. The book The Others are reading is "Carrie", by Stephen King. We see at least three different versions of the book cover in 3x01.