Lost: The Importance of a Library on a Deserted Island

Two and a half years ago, I blogged about why I love Lost as a writer. I’m still a fan, so I was excited to see this post in GalleyCat today: Lost Season 6 Premiere: The Most Literary TV Show?

There was a recent interview with Nikki Stafford, author of five unofficial guides to the show, on the role of literature in Lost. The quote the excerpted quote from the GalleyCat post:

“The books are essential. The second season was the first time they came out a head of time actually told viewers that they would flash a book and they should watch for it…in the beginning of season two…Desmond chucks a whole bunch of things into his backpack, one was a copy of the book, ‘The Third Policeman.’ This was a book that came out in the 1960s by an Irish writer [Flann O'Brien]. I interviewed an editor at that publishing house and they sold 20,000 copies of that book in the weeks leading up to the episode.”

My previous post about the show had focused on how it’s written — the character development and use of backstory. But I absolutely should have included the books themselves. As Stafford said, they’re essential. Like everything else in the show, the books are details that add depth to the characters and the scenes.

For books to have such an important role in a show with the “if you were stranded on a deserted island…” premise, is a huge win for writers and bibliophiles everywhere. The network even started a Lost Book Club on their site, featuring titles that make a cameo on the show. Anything that promotes reading gets a virtual fist-bump from me.

And how much sexier was Sawyer for reading all the time in the earlier seasons?