Get Lost!

ABC’s hit show “Lost” began its final season last week and in addition to speculation about smoke monsters, polar bears, magnetic anomalies and “the Others”, faithful viewers also talk about books, specifically the ones characters are seen reading. So here are a few of the titles glimpsed in the series - you can decide what, if anything, they might have to do with what’s really happening on that baffling island.


Watership Down by Richard Adams.
Tells the story of a warren of wild rabbits who escape from their home as men develop the surrounding fields. “Lost” castaway Boone was the original owner of the book, but Sawyer is the one who’s seen reading it.

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie.
When a shrewish stage star is found strangled at a posh island resort, detective Hercule Poirot is called in to investigate. Sawyer, who is a bit criminally minded himself, may have particularly enjoyed this book, which he was spotted with in season three.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
This classic book examines the origin and nature of the universe and explains it all in understandable terms for the layman. Aldo, one of the Others, is seen reading (and making notes in) this book while on guard duty.

Carrie by Stephen King.
A repressed and abused teenager uses her telekinetic powers to avenge the cruel jokes of her classmates. This disturbing story was a selection for the Others’ book club.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.
This 1943 classic novel tells the story of a gifted architect’s struggle against conventional standards, his battle with a professional rival, and his complex relationship by with his lady love. Again, this is one of avid and eclectic reader Sawyer’s books.

The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien. Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence. Desmond is seen reading this when the Hatch is infiltrated by Oceanic Flight 815 survivors.

The Turn Of the Screw by Henry James.
A new governess at a remote country estate has her first peaceful weeks disturbed by the apparition of the ghosts of two evil servants who once served in the house. The Dharma Orientation film is hidden behind this book in the Swan Station.

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’ Engle.
Meg and Charles Wallace set out with their friend Calvin in a search through time and space for their father, whose top secret job as a physicist for the government has taken him away. Sawyer reads the book on the beach.

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Bloom.
Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, an eleven-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God. Sawyer reads this book on the beach, demonstrating his indiscriminate desire for reading material. He disliked the book, calling it "predictable", with "not nearly enough sex".

Dirty Work by Stuart Woods.
Hired to collect evidence for a celebrity divorce case, cop-turned-lawyer Stone Barrington finds himself having to defend his honor when the person he is investigating is murdered. The book can be seen in the Swan station by Sawyer's bed as he is recovering from the injuries caused as a result of the raft incident.

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.
John Harmon will inherit a fortune if he marries a girl whose personality has been affected by her wealth, and friends and events conspire to prove her true worth. Desmond finds Penny’s letter of love and devotion in the book as he is contemplating suicide.