The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

There are so many references to this work, some of which I didn’t even catch until reading up on fan sites. Where to begin?

A man named Henry Gale crashes on the island in a hot air balloon. (Ben Linus steals his identity.) Later, Sawyer calls Tom Friendly, one of the Others, “Zeke.” Zeke is one of the farmhands that works for Henry Gale, just as Tom works for Ben.

There is an episode titled “The Man Behind the Curtain” in which Locke calls Ben this and then directly mentions the Wizard of Oz. (As it turns out, the actual powerful being behind the curtain is Jacob, though he, unlike the Wizard, has real powers.) There is also a three-part episode called “There’s No Place Like Home” with flash forwards for Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, Kate, & Aaron.

Then there are also some references to the film, like a character getting crushed and having red shoes sticking out. (In the book, they were silver shoes, not ruby slippers.) But such references don’t really count, so I think I’ll let it go here.

Speaking of shoes, Dorothy uses her shoes and a wish to return home to get back to Kansas. To get back to the Island, Jack thinks he needs his father’s shoes.

On a larger, thematic note, both stories are about people being caught in a storm and thrown into a magical land.

Thoughts:

If I’m honest, I didn’t really care for this book. It wasn’t bad, but with all the hype around both the book and the movie, I was expecting a little bit more. It was written very simplistically, which one would expect from a children’s book, but there was far more “telling” than “showing” in the action. I never really felt engaged or like I was part of the story, just observing from the outside. Dorothy’s emotions especially were told very passively, and even when she did say or do things that would support the purported emotions, it just wasn’t enough to make up for the rest.

The Eyes of the Dragon – Stephen King

Rating: 4/5

Lost References:

Ben and Locke talk about Stephen King, and several of the author’s books influenced the Lost creators.

Thoughts:

This book is very different from King’s other books, as it was written for a younger audience, and I have to say… he should do more of this! Stephen King excels at wordcraft as a rule, and this adds to it with a level of innocence that contrasts with the darkness of certain characters and situations. The result was a fun and intelligent fairy tale with the slight drawback of predictability. But then, all fairy tales are predictable, aren’t they?

Watership Down – Richard Adams

Rating: 5/5

Lost References:

Boone had this book in Australia, but Sawyer found it and is seen reading it in a few scenes. (“It’s about bunnies.”) Also, the book has a big bunny motif, largely thanks to Ben and DHARMA.

Thematically, the novel has the ongoing idea of home, which is important to all the various rabbit communities. Some of the rabbits are lead to find this home through one rabbit’s prophecies.

One group of rabbits is reminiscent of the Others, as a military state from which no one is allowed to leave. They practice kidnapping and murder (and at one point, they even have some of the protagonists captive). This group also has difficulties with childbirth.

As in Lost, Watership Down has some Smoke Monsters. One is a train, and the other is the legendary Black Rabbit of Inlé who brings fear and sickness, lives in a cave (where no time exists), and plays a game with stones.

Thoughts:

When I was a kid, Tales From Watership Down was one of my favorite books. I had a thing for rabbits, and this book seemed a little edgier than other bunny books. Some parts of the book even genuinely freaked me out, like the White Blindness (which, incidentally, is a real rabbit disease known as Myxomatosis and is used by humans to control their population). The rabbit characters were more fleshed out here than in other rabbit books. They have a very complete culture of their own, and I loved the side stories about their folk hero, El-ahrairah.

Looking back years later, I have no reason to change my opinion. The original novel, Watership Down, has the same charm and originality, so it was a pleasant foray into children’s literature.

The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Rating: 2/5

Lost References:

This is the title of a Kate-centric episode. The little boy referred to in the title is Aaron, who Kate is raising.

In the book, the prince lives on asteroid B-612, and Danielle Rousseau’s research vessel is called the Bésixdouze, which is B-six-twelve in French.

Also, this story is about a pilot who makes an emergency landing in the desert and meets this weird kid, and ironically, the aviator author later took off on a flight and was never heard from again. The wreckage of his plane was finally found in 2003, but without a body. The mystery lives on.

Thoughts:

The prince was just a little too unbelievable for my taste. A little too out there. Not at all relatable to the target audience except for his overabundance of imagination. He’s too perfect but condescending – instantly sorry for all the grown-ups he meets because of their vices (like the “tippler,” who I was surprised to find in a kids’ book… I guess authors had more latitude for that stuff back in the day).

Inevitably, I have to compare his reaction to Sara in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess, which is a story about a girl barely older than the little prince who has a similar outlook on life. Even though Sara is more perfect than your average schoolgirl, she still has a wider range of emotions than the little prince. Sometimes she gets upset or angry even. And when she feels sorry for someone like the prince does, it’s not just an abstract emotion. She does something about it. She cheers up her fellow servant with stories. She shares her food with equally hungry children. Everything may work out for her in the end, but she’s a whole lot more likeable than Saint-Exupery’s prince.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories – Salman Rushdie

Rating: 5/5

Lost References:

Desmond reads this book in one of his flash-sideways visions. There are also some plot similarities, which Entertainment Weekly summarizes in this article. They mention, for example, the Black Rock/the Dark Ship (dark ship in jungle) and the Man in Black/Khattam-Shud (shape-shifting evil guy).

Thoughts:

This book has been marketed as a children’s novel, but like the Chronicles of Narnia, it’s one that can be appreciated by almost any age. I admit, I was surprised at how short and how clear this book was… The only Rushdie book I’d read previously was the doorstopper novel Midnight’s Children. But this book, there’s so much to say, I don’t want to say anything. I want you all to read it and appreciate it yourselves.

I also recommend the sequel, Luka and the Fire of Life, an adventure for Haroun’s younger brother. (I was especially happy with its own not-so-subtle media references, such as one to Doctor Who in the time mess.)

Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

Rating: 5/5

Lost References:

Hurley, seeing Sawyer in his new glasses, says, “Dude, looks like someone steamrolled Harry Potter.” Book Three, The Prisoner of Azkaban, is also on Jack’s shelf (the one with time travel).

Thoughts:

Since the final movie just came out earlier this month, it’ll be difficult to avoid comparing books to movies. Except the last one. I’m going to see Deathly Hallows Part Two later this week. As far as the books go… they cover a wide scale of quality and a hefty amount of plot, come to that. I guess that means I’ll be dealing in broad strokes.

One through Three were amazing. These three books make up some of the best literature I have ever read, with Prisoner of Azkaban at the peak of excellence. (Oddly, I find this one the worst of the movies, thanks to poor CGI, directing, and acting. Gary Oldman was a great choice for Sirius, being an incredible character actor, but even he couldn’t save this flick.) Then the books started going downhill. Four and five were readable, but they started the trend of door-stopper novels that abandoned concise storytelling and indiscriminately included extraneous scenes and information. Six was pretty bad. I want to forget Seven ever happened. Plot-wise, it lacks creativity (which is disappointing, since creativity was one of Rowling’s strong suits previously. Essentially, the characters, in the middle of their Book-Six-introduced quest to find a bunch of magical artifacts find out that they have to… find more magical artifacts. The resolution was poor, too. Half the cast died random, weightless deaths. Everyone who survived married each other and had kids named for all the dead people.

But even this blight of a book can not make the first three any less wonderful. The mix of serious plots and lighthearted moments, the originality, the flawless pacing, the fact that children in trouble at least consulted adults, the unique characters, and just the writing, all make these three novels worth the reading. In fact, it’s practically worth reading the whole series to find out what happens. Even if you’re disappointed in the end.

A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

Rating: 4/5

Lost References:

Sawyer, knocking on the (past) hatch door, announces himself as the Ghost of Christmas Future. Later he calls the Man in Black the Ghost of Christmas Past. Both the book and later seasons of Lost rely on time travel. And of course, there are the ghosts.

Thoughts:

Anyone who’s seen any Christmas Carol play, movie, or musical has heard most of the memorable lines, which are usually mined straight from the book. Your average movie-goer will probably have seen more than one version to compare. And yet, you’d be surprised how many clever sentences are left to read. Personally, I even loved rereading the bits I’ve heard a million times. It’s probably (mostly) nostalgia, but I found it a cozy read.

Babar – Jean de Brunhoff

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

Sawyer calls Hurley “Barbar,” and Hurley tells him, “It’s ‘Babar.'”

Thoughts:

It’s a cute kid’s story. Not very deep, not remotely realistic. Still, it’s short and lighthearted and as entertaining as anything for the very young.

Animal Farm – George Orwell

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

Arzt says “the pigs are walking” to describe how he thinks Jack and Kate are getting power-hungry. (In this book, the pigs take over the supposedly communist farm as they become more and more human. Eventually, they start walking and wearing clothes.)

Thoughts:

Written as a critique of Stalinism and distributed through high schools across America, many people seem to grow up resentful of this book. No one likes being forced to read certain things. However, when my turn came around, I found myself grateful for one point – it was short.

Now, I can appreciate it for another, similar reason. It gets to the point swiftly and insightfully without belaboring the point. It’s not terribly clever as far as plots go, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be. It’s written to be a satire, and it communicates its points efficiently. Orwell indicates his targets pretty clearly and exposes their hypocrisy with a straightforward allegorical tale. So, it gets marks for effectiveness, but anyone disinterested in politics might want to stay clear.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass – Lewis Carroll

Rating: 4/5

Lost References:

Jack reads the first book to Aaron in Something Nice Back Home. In Via Domus, a copy of it can be obtained and traded. In the pilot, Vincent runs Jack by like the white rabbit. White rabbits are also a recurring motif, especially for DHARMA and Ben; one episode is even entitled White Rabbit. Another is Through the Looking Glass, and DHARMA has a station called the Looking Glass.

Thoughts:

These books were terribly original and creative when they were first published and still are today. So many people enjoyed Lewis Carroll’s works that many of the scenes, such as Alice’s tea party, have entered into iconic popular culture. The sequel suffered, but that’s to be expected. Also, the poetry was creative but a bit much, especially in the sequel. In any case, the strong point is the dialogue. I especially enjoyed the Mad Hatter and, surprisingly, the Cheshire cat (who is not nearly as offensive in the books as in the movies).

Above: DHARMA’s Looking Glass Station logo.