Every now and then I can get pretty lost (no pun intended) in a good TV series. It doesn’t happen that often because I’m quite reluctant to start a new series but sometimes we just hit if off. So what are the secret ingredients it takes to have me hooked?

Well a nice fat mystery in the middle certainly helps, so does of course well developed characters, a convincing story line and I won’t lie, some eye candy to fangirl about also a big plus. And somehow I noticed that quite a few of the series I fall for, feature books in them big time.

So I thought I might start a mini series on TV shows and compile some accompanying lists of books featured in them. Don from „Going to the Movies“ posted a recap of the LOST! series which kicked off my idea and here we go.

Welcome to LOST! … in Books. If you have never seen this series, you really should start watching it NOW. The pilot episode which broad

copyright of all pictures: ABC

casted in September 2004 still is one of the most exciting, nail-biting, glued-to-my-seat thing I’ve ever seen on TV. The series by JJ Abrahams had 6 seasons and ran until 2010.

It is a sci-fi/supernatural series that follows the survivors of the crash of a plane flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean.

My favourite character in the show was Sawyer,  the selfish, laddish guy who had a searing nick name for pretty much anybody but who was quite the tender hearted avid reader once you got to know him who developed a romantic relationship with Kate which also proved a pretty good taste in women and not just literature.

Sawyer reads constantly. No book is safe from him on the island and for a while I was aiming to read all the books read by him during the series.

Kate on the other hand – meh not a great reader unfortunately. At least she was never seen with a book, but hey maybe she also read secretly whatever Sawyer recommended. But let’s add a picture of here just for good old fangirling times:

The island was also home to a scientific research project „The DHARMA (Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications) Initiative’s general goal was to manipulate scientific laws in order to change any of the six factors of the Valenzetti Equation, a sequence that was believed to have some connection to the date marking the end of humanity, in hopes of delaying such a date.“ (from Lostpedia).

The initiative had secret stations on the island and pretty much all of them had libraries in them and in general there was a lot of reading going on on the island.

On the one hand not surprising when you’ve survived a plane crash and are stuck on an island but on the other hand with fire monsters, creepy scientists and a serious shortage on provisions I was glad to see the nourishing and comforting effect literature had on our heroes.

One of the Dharma stations even had a bookclub !

Lost! is the perfect series for friends of a good mystery filled with nerdy sci-fi/supernatural elements and a good portion of literature. There are countless references to authors and books, my list features only the books actually seen in the series. Either by any of the characters reading it or clearly seen on any of the bookshelves.

Richard Adams – Watership Down
Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Ambroce Bierce – Occurance at Owl Creak Bridge
Judy Blume – Are you there God?
Paul Bowles – The Sheltering Sky
Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451
Lewis Carroll – Alice in Wonderland
Adolfo Bioy Casares – The Invention of Morel
Carlos Castamede – A separate Reality
Agatha Christie – Evil under the Sun
Philip K Dick – Valis
Charles Dickens – Our Mutual Friend
Fjodor Dostojevski – Notes from the Underground
Fjordor Dostojevski – The Brothers Karamazov
Alex Haley – Hotel
Alex Haley – Roots
Stephen Hawkins – A Brief History of Time
Susan Isaacs – After all these Years
Henry James – The Turn of the Screw
James Joyce – Ulysses
Daniel Keyes – Flowers for Algernon
Soeren Kierkegaard – Fear and Trembling
Stephen King – Carrie
Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time
Vladimir Nabokov – Laughter in the Dark
Flann O’Brien – The Third Policeman
Flannery O’Connor – Everything that rises must converge
Walter Percy – Lancelot
Ayn Rand – The Fountainhead
Rick Romer – Visions of Astrology
JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabhan
Salman Rushdie – Haroun and the Sea of Stories
John Steinbeck – Of Mice and Men
Jules Verne – The Survivors of the Chancellor

Man I really loved this series. 4 8 15 16 23 42 was my password everywhere for a while (sorry, not anymore), I had a Lost Board on Pinterest and Lostpedia was homebase for some time. The DVD box makes a reunion always possible and maybe this winter is a  good time to watch the series again.

So – any Lost Friends out there ? Any books I have overlooked?

Which „bookish“ TV Series would you like to see featured next?