Bent Bindings

The Lost Book Club (and a theory)

I stumbled upon a unique book club the other day and thought many of you might be interested in it. It’s from ABC’s show Lost, which is a show that I’ve really come to enjoy for all its strangeness. The Lost Book Club is a book club hosted by the show that includes all of the many books that have appeared in the background (and the foreground) of the episodes.

Now, before you start thinking, “Oh, yeah, that’s worth something — a book club based on a television show”, take a look at a sample of some of the books included in the list:

• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding

As you can see, it reads almost like a high school English class reading list, and that’s just a few of the books in the club. It would be a challenge to read all of the books in the list, and you’d have some classic works under your belt if you did. Not to mention, it may give some insight into the twist and tangles of the show.

Speaking of which:

My Island Theory

I have a theory about the island of Lost, and with finding this book club, I find that there is a book missing from the list. While I don’t think it ever appeared on an episode of the show, I believe that Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie should be on the list.

My theory is that the island that is the center of Lost is actually Neverland.

Here are some of my reasons behind this:

• Neverland can move. In Peter Pan (and in other related works that I’ve read), the island of Neverland moves about quite frequently. It does so in order to catch children’s laughter (so fairies can be born), and it does so to catch lost children. At the end of the last season, we also found out that the island in Lost can move.
• Inhabitants of Neverland don’t get older. Peter Pan is known as the boy who refuses to grow up. On the Lost island, there is at least one person (Richard) who doesn’t seem to age. We’ve seen him in flashbacks where the main characters were children and he looked the same as he looks now. It’s possible that other “natives” of the island also don’t age.
• Neverland is a character in itself. In Peter Pan, Neverland is often talked about as if it were a character in the book (not a location). It does things in order to protect itself, and it feels good or bad depending on what is happening. Throughout Lost the island has been it’s own character. The characters talk about it as if it’s controlling actions. It has the power to heal, but has shown that it only heals those people that believe in it.
• Neverland is difficult to find. The directions to Neverland are notoriously fickle, “First star on the right, and straight on ’till morning”. The Lost island is just as difficult to find, as we know that even people who have been there have a difficult time getting to it.
• Neverland feeds on belief. The fairies that live on Neverland feed on the belief of children. When a child stops believing in fairies, a fairy will die. Belief is a strong theme in all the episodes of Lost and when the characters believe in the power of the island they are usually rewarded. When they stop believing in the island, they are punished.
• The Lost Boys that live on Neverland are all orphans. The Lost Boys who live on Neverland are boys who were lost by their nannies and went unclaimed for seven days. When this happened, they were whisked off to Neverland. On the Lost island, when both Locke and Benjamin wanted to take over the leadership of the island, they needed to kill their fathers in order to do so, thus making them “orphans.”
• There are seven entrances to the underground hideaway of The Lost Boys. On Neverland, the Lost Boys enter their underground hideaway through seven entrances scattered around the island. According to the map that appeared to Locke, there are seven Dharma stations on the Lost island.

Well, that’s my theory. Take it as you will. The great thing about the show Lost is that you can have tons of theories and watch them come crashing down and still enjoy the show.

Any comments, thoughts, or other theories? Let us know in the comments.

[Review] Anathem by Neal Stephenson

There’s a phrase that gets used very often: “to stop and think.”

But ask yourself, when was the last time that you really did that? When was the last time you really stopped and focused all of mental efforts on one thing?

Anathem by Neal Stephenson, is about just that. What happens when you take the thinkers of the world and allow them to seclude themselves from all other worldly distractions and really focus on thinking?

The Blurb from the Back

Fraa Erasmus is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathemeticians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside “saecular” world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent’s walls. Three times during history’s darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmus has no fear of the outside – the Extramuros – for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.

› Continue reading

Life, Site Changes, and Great Big Books

Okay, so I haven’t been writing too many articles or reviews in the last week, so I thought I’d at least make a small entry so everyone knows I’m still around.

Right now, there are a few things encroaching on my “web site time”. First, is just life in general. At work we’re trying to get out a new release of software, so there’s all the craziness that goes along with that. At home, it’s the holidays, so there’s always more to do around this time.

I’ve also been working on figuring out the tools that run this web site and how to change things around. I have some ideas about how to make the site easier to navigate and just plain nicer to look at. I’m learning, though, so some of that work is taking a while. I sit for an hour trying to figure something out, and end up only knowing a lot of ways how not to do something. It is coming along, though, and soon you’ll see the results.

On top of that, I’m in the middle of Anathem by Neil Stephenson, which is just one monster of a big book.

These aren’t excuses, mind you, I just wanted to let everyone know I hadn’t fallen off the face of the planet.

Hope your holidays are going great!