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.

The Hobbit - The Mind's Eye radio drama boxed CD set

As has already been established, Tolkien plays a big part in my literary journey. As such, when it came to entertainment on family road-trips from 2001 on there was nothing better than the 1979 National Public Radio dramatized version of Tolkien’s novel. Having these discs playing with their iconic performances of Tolkien’s characters and unique musical additions was often the only way my sisters and I could ignore the lack of comfortable space in the back seat. Of course, the fact that these discs came in a stylish yet bulky branded wooden box didn’t help these space constraints, but we forgave the set in light of its contents. We would later purchase the Lord of the Rings radio drama and put it to the very same purpose (the longer work could usually get us there and back, while The Hobbit, ironically, usually only lasted until we arrived at our destination).

Picture to follow: this particular item is in my parents' house at the moment.

Tolkien, J.R.R. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Dir. Bob Lewis. The Mind’s Eye. N.D. (CD set).

Wooden puzzle box from Budapest, Hungary

This book is not actually a book at all, but it looks like one and while I may be stretching the definition of ‘book’ this particular item has always sat very inconspicuously on my bookshelf and has become just as much a part of my book collection its fellows that simply happen to contain pages instead of sliding panels and secret keys. The box itself is about seven inches tall and five inches wide, lacquered black with small carving features that expose the lighter wood in much the same way that gilding accentuates the spines of nice hardcovers. Rather than literary treasures, this box contains an interesting variety of coins from around the world that tell their own stories about the various departures and returns taken by myself or people that are close to me. The box itself was a gift from my mother who found it in a vendor’s stall in Budapest’s Great Market Hall while on a European trip with my grandfather in 2001. Almost a decade and a half later, on my own European trip, I would find this very same market and pass by what was probably the very same vendor selling the very same puzzle boxes (this item will be closely connected to a travel guide that I will be posting on later this year).

As an added update to this entry, I have just recently added some Jamaican coinage to this box which already contains currency from Austria, Spain (both have specific versions of the Euro), Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and the UK.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy - J.R.R. Tolkien

I have annotated these three books together partly because Tolkien originally wrote them as one work but also because their story deals with all three. This boxed set is particularly lovely, including Tolkien’s original drawings and maps. Though I don’t often see them because of the dust-jackets, I also love that the cloth hardcover of each book also bears Tolkien’s icon of the Eye of Sauron surrounded by the gilded script that covers the ring in the story itself.

I cannot say for certain when I acquired this set of books. My parents had given me the set for Christmas of 2001. This was especially exciting since, as already mentioned, Tolkien’s works were iconic in my family. My sisters asked to borrow the books sometime around 2002 and at the time I thought nothing of it. But some years later (I cannot remember when), upon visiting one of my sisters I noticed a similar set of books on her shelf. Upon examining them I saw that the dust jackets were ripped and the pages were smudged. When I noted this, my sister buttoned her lip and attempted to hide a coy expression and I immediately realized that these were MY books! Knowing how much I valued this set, my sisters had grown fearful of my wrath after having damaged my books and, rather than admit it, had simply bought me a brand-new set and replaced it on my shelf, hoping I wouldn’t notice. The tale of this book is similarly appropriate: in terms of Tolkien’s narrative, The Fellowship of the Ring easily represents ‘departure’ since it is in this volume that Frodo leaves his home to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Bilbo and partake in a grand adventure. Even more interesting in light of the above story, is The Return of the King, which is titled for its focus on the restoration of an old line of kingship in Tolkien’s Middle Earth; though the books that I now own are new and unsullied, my original books will never actually return to me.

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring. 2nd Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993.

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Two Towers. 2nd Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993.

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Return of the King. 2nd Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993.

Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie (reprise)

As with Dante, I have written on Peter Pan before, but I will include the newer collection entry even though some of the content is the same:

I suppose my experience with this book was the clearest indication of the journey that literary study would inspire me to since, I read almost the entirety of it while I should have been paying attention in my high school chemistry class in 2000. I can’t say that I regretted departing from the mundane world of equations and chemical configurations to accompany Peter and Wendy to Neverland. It helped, of course, that the book itself was a wonderful hardcover with rough pages and artwork that has come to epitomize the wild freedom that Barrie’s boy-who-would-not-grow-up represents. Even more appropriately, this volume had been a gift from the very same grandmother whose TV cabinet we had looted for her copy of Hook.

Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan. Illus. Trina Schart Hyman. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1980.