A Tale of Two Cities

I have recently completed this Dickens masterpiece, referenced in LOST.

A lesson to take away, firstly, is not to always read introductions first. This introduction gave away the ending. How dissappointing. Still, the journey was a well constructed piece of literature and the introduction (which I completed reading after the story) contained some useful insights.

Why couldn't my high school English class have studied this novel? To Kill a Mockingbird is great, but Dickens' depictions of the mob mentality and self sacrifice are so much more interesting than the effects of racism on a community (which does not do TKAM credit...but I am in a rush).

The mob mentality and two characters were what struck me most in this novel. The first, Sydney Carton, struck me as peculiar because by all rights and respects he is such a failure even to himself. He does not even choose failure, rather he accepts that he can't change it. It is intersting that his entire being is self sacrifice - his inelligence if used for himself and not for the benefit of Syver could have rendered him an incredibly high part of society. I don't believe he does this willingly, but it is noteworthy that his existance props up that of those around him, by his own doing or not. The second character that struck me was that of Jerry, and very simply and quickly, it is because of his change of attitude towards being God-fearing. The French Revolution can be described as bringing secularism to the forefront of societies, and it is interesting the contrasts Dickens provides (being of that God-fearing era) of the God-fearing and non God-fearing. Illustrated mainly through Defarge claiming 'Long live the Devil' but also when Jerry realises what Godlessness can do to society after witnessing horrors of the French Revolution. An intersting comment on society.

'Carrie' - Stephen King

I am not normally a fan of horror stories, but I must say that I really enjoyed 'Carrie.' I could not believe this was Stephen King's first novel and my favourite thing about it is his author's note at the begining - it really helps you to understand the motivations and thoughts of the author as he was writing this and it is immensly satisfying to see where this influence has come into play.

I was not surprised this book was on the LOST list - the writing is very good, with similar technique to certain episodes. I can almost see the connection between character Carrie and Juliet Burke - in that isolation and the feeling of being an outsider. A pretty violent book for Juliet though - although I suppose she has some pretty violent tendancies herself.

I guess that was my only criticism of the novel - the ending was a touch overdone I felt. A little bit too violent - I didn't really see the need to blow up the gas main, or kill all the people on the street with power lines. The townspeople never came into Carrie's story until that moment, and they felt like unnecessary collateral damage. I got the feeling the author spent a lot of time and painstaking effort building up to the Titanic moment, the exlosion we all knew was coming, that he litterally could not hold back and just went to town.

The ending was very poetic - I felt everything paid off from his writing style and the characters. A very fitting ending, especially with the last letter implying the possiblity of another individual as unique as Carrie...

On the whole it was an incredible book - enjoyable even though the content was horrible. It was superbly written - no wonder he is so popular now! I really enjoyed the Titanic type sense of doom - the audience knows by the half way mark almost exactly what is going to happen at that prom, and yet you cannot help but continue reading to watch it happen anyway!

Introduction and Discovery

As a 21 year old inquisative albeit lazy student, I am discovering the joys and delights of literature. As an aspiring author one day, one of my favourite quotes is 'Nobody can sit down to write before they have stood up to live.'

By the same token, there is value in learning brilliance from the brilliant. Creativity is not just about originality, it is also about interpretation, developing, connecting and inspiring. Original thoughts need inspiration from somewhere. I have discovered that many of my favourite popular films, music, books and television programs have taken inspiration from earlier forms of literature. Upon this discovery I am endeavouring to start reading classical novels that have been the source of inspiration for subsequent pieces of literature and art to discover for myself what makes them 'classic'.

Not only this, I am very curious indeed to know which authors of our time will have an impact on the minds of those in future generations. Who are the influential authors of our time and how valuable are their contributinos to literature?

All missions need a starting point; mine is the list of books referenced and mentioned by the writers of the television progam LOST. Many of these are considered modern classics, and authors on the list include Lewis Carrol, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and many, many more. Old and new, famous and obscure. Personally, I will be focusing mainly on the famous as these are the most easily accessible, and I will reserve the right to not read a book at my own discretion - some books I have read recently have more than disapointed me. The reason I am starting with the LOST list is because I enjoyed the show for it's writing, and these books are reported to have inspired the writers to incorporate similarities in the show. It should follow that if I like the show, I should like most of these books.

It seems this blog beginning has been blessed by a discovery - in the book exchange at the caravan park I am currently at (we are also travelling around Australia as I do this) I came accross not one, but two books from this LOST list. Carrie, by Steven King, referenced in Ep 03.1 of LOST as the book Juliet Burke chooses for her book club meeting, and again later on in the season when mentioned by Benjamin Linus. Ironically, this particular episodes title A Tale of Two Cities is also the other title found, written by Charles Dickens. As good a place to start as any.