Murph's Bookcase - What's in it?

Christopher Nolan's 2014 grand scale science-fiction story about time and space, and the things that transcend them.
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u2aerofan
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From Jonah about the bookcase:

"The connection between us and our kids and us and our parents and the fragility of that. It's no coincidence that it's a bookcase that is the symbol for that sequence in the film, because there's no better symbol for the repository of information passed down from one generation to the next. Look at anyone's bookcase at home, no matter how modest, and you're going to find a book that contains wisdom or ideas or a language that's at least a thousand years old. And the idea that humans have created a mechanism to time travel, to hurl ideas into the future, it sort of bookends. Books are a time machine."

I LOVE IT! I'm so happy about this film. So very, very happy. http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/11/08/ ... r-spoilers
gonzzCABJ
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I love to write and to read. So the idea of using the books the way they did fascinates me. It's a very wise idea, if you ask me.
I can't remember much about the books that were there, though. But, The Stand? You know that, when I was watching the movie, I kept thinking: "Hmm... I wonder if there's a Stephen King's book..." and yep, there was, and probably his best one.
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u2aerofan
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Added more titles to the main page. :)
eescorpius
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A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
It's interesting because I actually thought about this book after I watched Interstellar.
iamlight
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one book that stuck out to me and was in quite a few shots was Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck which is pretty interesting considering the plot of the book
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titansupes
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So how many are planning on getting some of these books? :D
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Pratham
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Q: Murph's Bookcase - What's in it?

A: Her dad.
Aili
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Today the Guardian is reporting that McC has accepted the role of Randall Flagg in the 4-part The Stand movie adaptation. Don't know if this is true as you'd think Variety or somebody like them would have the news. They reported a month back that McC was offered the role, but I didn't know he had agreed to do it.

This is so weird: The Stand is one of the books in Murph's shelf.

Also, if you have never read "Edgar Sawtelle", it's a wonderful book but very sad.
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u2aerofan
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u2aerofan wrote:One of my favorite things so far about Interstellar has been Murphy Cooper's bookcase. You might call it an "elegant solution for keeping track of time"...love and gravity may transcend time, but so can the written word. Nolan's use of allowing the bookcase to carry Coop's messages to Murph is poetic, to say the least, and really beautiful. One of the best ways to cross boundaries with other generations is to put yourself into print. Further, as proven with the discussion concerning the changes to textbooks - books are really timecapsles and means of traveling in and of themselves. We move through other worlds, visit other countries, and we remember our human history because of the written word.

Mr. Nolan is a literature nut. He studied literature at UCL and all his films often invoke or recall great literary works (such as A Tale of Two Cities). The English teacher in me can't resist an opportunity to see into his mind. Assuming he purposely chose the literature that fills the bookshelf (and, with his attention to detail, I'd suspect that to be the case), we might get a look into his influences and where he's headed.

So, I'm trying to compile a reading list. I've seen the film 3 times and made the attempt to document some of the things I've seen. This article was also helpful: http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/solitu ... ar-teaser/

So far, the entries are:

The Stand by Stephen King
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Out of the Blue by Isabel Wolf
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
Maugham: A Biography by Ted Morgan
Downwinders: An Atomic Tale by Curtis and Diane Oberhansly
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (P.S.) by David Wroblewski

Can you help me add more? :gonf:

EDIT: Thank you guys for your help so far! Keep them coming! I'll update this post as new info comes through.

The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot (specifically the poem "Four Quartets")

EDIT 2: Here's WIRED magazine's article on the book case complete with comments from Chris about a few of the books http://www.wired.com/2014/11/interstell ... library/#x and here is their list:
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Emma by Jane Austen (and what he says about this...<3 )
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
The Go Between by L.P. Hartley
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott

A few glimpses of authors/names:
Janet Finch
Diana Gabaldon

Edit 3:
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

I have also created a pinterest board (easiest way I could think of to display): http://www.pinterest.com/magnusrexbegin ... -bookcase/ :gonf:

A little more info has been added to the original post. Thanks to those of you helping compile - if anyone sees the film again over Thanksgiving, take note! :) Hopefully by the time I secure a digital copy I'll be able to get further into it. I began The Stand this week, and I'm already captivated. :)
Bg.litchfield
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The Willoughbys is such a strange and interesting book. It's all about about family and abandonment (or not.) it fits well, which only makes sense as it gets so much front and Center screen time.
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