Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

This book represents a turning point in my personal and professional aspirations. The object itself is nothing special, a tattered paperback edition purchased used from my university's bookstore. I was assigned this book in a World Civilizations course in 2003 during my second semester in college. Despite the fact that my disorganized and inarticulate professor never actually got around to discussing it, I devoured Conrad’s dark tale of exploration into the unknown, barbaric, and primal reaches of the Congo river, especially since the story is made more profound upon its narrator, Marlowe's, return to civilization and recounting of his tale. At the time I enjoyed the novel but I was not fully aware of how it would propel me into the vast unknown of literary study until I returned to it in a British Literature course during my own journey abroad in London in 2004 (see entry #19 and #20). I have since come to consider Heart of Darkness to be one of the most dense and fascinating pieces of literature in the English language.

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Penguin, 1995.

The Works of H.G. Wells

This book is not particularly valuable but it looks like it might with its faux leather binding and gilded pages. I was given this book for Christmas during my first break home from college in 2002. The giver was my high school girlfriend who, a year younger than I, had remained behind while I went off to school. Perhaps as is typical with long-distance arrangements such as these, the relationship did not last beyond Spring Break. The connections between my life and my books continue to be uncanny since the first novel in this collection that I read when Summer Break began was The Time Machine (17-76). The novel concerns the journey of an unnamed scientist to the future where he finds that humanity is nothing like it had been in his own time. The story is related to the novel's narrator by the inventor himself, but when the traveler leaves for his second trip, the story ends because the time traveler never returns.

Wells, H.G. The Works of H.G. Wells. Ann Arbor, MI: State Street Press, 2001.

Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

This is the only stolen book in my collection and it was taken from a large set of Signet Classic paperbacks owned by my senior year English teacher. I had borrowed this book from his library in spring of 2002 wholly intending to return it when I finished, but graduation seems to have happened first. Considering that Mr. Razor had started out as the ‘cool’ teacher who later snubbed me personally (a long story involving concert tickets and last-minute cancellations), I’ve probably allowed myself to feel less guilty than I ought. The narrative of the book is strikingly appropriate since Defoe’s main character spends many years stranded on a desert island, away from his native England. Of course Crusoe eventually returns to civilized society a better man; however, I don’t see this book ever returning to Mr. Razor’s shelf.

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. New York: Signet Classic, 1961.