The Third Policeman is on the Lost Lit List because Desmond appears to be reading it when the Hatch is first infiltrated by the Losties at the start of Season 2. The book is visible on Desmond's bunk in the Swan. I spent most of the week reading this one, not because it is long ("only" 200 pages), but because it is so dense, both with descriptions and ideas. It is so weird, and strange, and confusing, but still entertaining and amusing. My brain hurt for the majority of the week because I was trying so hard to understand what was going on. The end was so mind-blowing, though, that when I got to it, it's as if I put on a pair of glasses and suddenly, everything was in focus. Everything made sense, in it's own strange little way. The narrator spends much of the book talking about the theories of a strange man named de Selby, who is a fascinating character, despite the fact that he doesn't actually make an appearance in the novel. And the policemen's Atomic Theory is hilarious! I don't want to spoil anything for you, because you should read this book! But don't read the introduction, because they stupidly put major spoilers in it.
The Invention of Morel is on the Lost Lit List because Sawyer is seen reading it while living at the Barracks during Season 4. This one is a read-in-one-sitting sort of book. I started it before going to bed one night, and ended up staying up an extra few hours to finish it. Not only is it short (103 pages!), but the action and quick-paced writing draw you in and keep you hooked. This is the diary of an unnamed man, living alone on a deserted Mediterranean Island. Well, he is sort-of alone, which is part of the delicious mystery. People eventually come to the island, but who are they? Where are they from and how did they come to the island? The answers to this are mind-bending and fascinating. I would definitely recommend this one to the Lost fans out there.
A Brief History of Time is on the Lost Lit List for a couple reasons. The first time it appears is during Season 3, when Alex, Kate and Sawyer go to rescue Karl from his brainwashing session. The man guarding the bunker, Aldo, is reading a chapter from it on black holes, highlighting it and making notes. We also see a copy later on in Season 3 in Ben's house at the Barracks. This is another short book, but one that takes some time to read because the subject matter is so complex. So far, Hawking has done a fantastic job distilling the details of such complicated science down into something that someone like me, with almost no science training, can mostly understand. But man, it has been a LONG time since my high school chemistry and physics classes. Some of this stuff I vaguely remember, but I'm sure most of it we never even touched. The hardest thing to wrap my mind around so far has been particles, atoms, neutrons, quarks, and the like. Luckily, I just hit the fun stuff: Black holes!
Nick Hornby and I had a fight this week, and subsequently, I had to put this one down for several days. Normally, I have no problem with people preferring one genre over another. Don't like romance novels? Cool, don't read them. Not a fan of science fiction? Whatever, that's your decision. But when Hornby stated that he was trying to expand the type of stuff he reads by trying something he never would have picked up before, I expected him to at least give it an honest try. He picked a science fiction novel (Excession by Iain M. Banks), was embarrassed to be seen buying it at the store, tried reading maybe 20 pages of it, and then abandoned it, saying it made him feel stupid. I'm sorry, but that's a cop out. Seriously? You just read 20 pages, and then gave up on it? That's not really trying. Plus, if you found Banks' work confusing, there are millions of other sci-fi books to try, many of which aren't also speculative fiction, which is inherently a bit confusing. Overall, despite the fact that he claimed the "metal-heads" who read sci-fi are smarter than him, Hornby's overall attitude in response to his limited contact with one sci-fi novel was very condescending. As a reader of science fiction, I feel personally offended. In fact, I had kind of gotten over my annoyance, and had even read a few more of the essays, but writing this blurb has stirred my frustration back to the surface, and so I'm officially saying: Nick Hornby, we're still in a fight.
My main goal for this first week of reading was to finish The Strain, as we are having our book club meeting for it tonight! Also, once I finished this one last Thursday, I didn't really want to start any new books, so that this would be fresh in my mind still. My first reaction to The Strain was that it reminded me quite a bit of Michael Crichton, with a mix of science, history, and myth. The first part is a bit slow-going, as you try to figure out what's going on: what does a myth about a giant man have to do with a death camp during WWII? And what do those have to do with the mysterious deaths of 200+ people? Once things started to connect, though, I was hooked, and couldn't stop reading! The myth and virus are both fascinatingly original takes on what has become standard fare in recent years, and the characters are engaging - you really start to care about what happens to them. I can't wait to read the next 2 books in this new series. The only thing I disliked: like many books in a series, The Strain didn't really have an *ending* - it just sorts of stops and waits to be picked up in the next book. I find this to be incredibly frustrating, as there are no real conclusions, but I tend to be slightly more forgiving of this when I like the book. So I will just say, it annoys me, but I'll live with it, and read the next books when they come out. :)
This was one of my favorite books that I read last year, and I have been patiently waiting until the new year to re-read it. It is just so heart-breaking and touching and energizing and interesting. And I find it's a hard book to tell people about, because at face-value, it sounds so sad: in a dystopic future version of America, kids from across the 12 districts are send into a horrific game in which they must kill each other to survive. All of this is televised for the enjoyment of those who live in the luxury of the Capital. But really, it's about fighting back, standing tall when people try to push you down and control you. It's about surviving through experiences that would cause others to collapse in despair. It's about finding people to care about, and then sticking by their side, no matter what.I never really run out of things that I want to read, but I find these essays by author Nick Hornby about what he is reading to be fascinating. Last summer, I read his first collection of essays The Polysylabbic Spree, originally published in the monthly magazine The Believer, and found them to be funny and smart, just as Hornby's novels are. His book recommendations are compelling, because he not only tells you about a book, but describes his experience while reading it and why he likes it. After reading his first book, I immediately wanted to read this second one, but it got pushed down the stacks for a while. This one is a great one to read bits of here and there. I stick it in my purse, and end up reading it everywhere. Stuck at a read light? Waiting for a print job to process at work? Bored during a commercial break? I pull this out and read a paragraph or page or two. So far, I've read the first 2 essays, and I've added the following books to my to-be-read list, as well as to my nick-hornby-recommends shelf on Goodreads:
2| Read longer books.
3| Read from the LOST Lit List in January.
4| Read a Russian book every month.
Yesterday, I sat down and trimmed up the rest of the tumblers blocks I had and finally counted them. Turns out I have 234, and I only need 240! Yay! Only 6 more needed! Although that is quite frightening, because that means I actually own over 200 fabrics. Eek!
Now, I'm setting up my machine so I can work on my block exchange from this past fall. Only millions of tiny half square triangles to go!
