'Interstellar' Reading List: What's on the Movie's Big Bookshelf?
What are Murph and Coop reading in Interstellar?
Warning: Spoilers to follow
Christopher Nolan has already revealed that he doesn’t have an e-mail address. And based on a crucial series of scenes in Interstellar,it appears he might not have a Kindle either. In the movie, which takes place at an unspecified point in the future after an environmental disaster has upended our civilization, we spend a fair amount of time in the book-lined bedroom of young Murphy (played as a child by Mackenzie Foy and as an adult by Jessica Chastain), the daughter of intrepid astronaut–turned–farmer–turned–astronaut again, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey). Though they may appear to be set decoration at first, those dusty tomes end up playing a key role in the film, one that an e-reader definitely couldn’t fulfill. While you’d have to have freeze-frame capabilities to see every book on those shelves, here are the titles that jumped out at us in theaters. Look below to see which works Nolan thinks will outlast the coming environmental apocalypse.
Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin (2007)
After a rough descent from his attempt to scale the world’s second-highest mountain, Pakistan’s K2, mountaineer and nurse Greg Mortensen recuperated in the small village of Korphe, where he was welcomed and aided with open arms. Touched by the experience, he vowed to build a school for young people both in Korphe and in remote areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan, defying death threats and government stonewalling to accomplish his goal. If that story sounds too good to be true, that because it most likely isn’t. A 2011 60 Minutes report alleged that both Three Cups of Tea and its follow-up, Stones into Schools, contained substantial inaccuracies. Still, good inspirational stories are probably hard to come by in Interstellar’s dystopian future…even if they’re not exactly accurate.
Related: Speaking of Interstellar and tea…
The Stand, by Stephen King (1978)
The mother of all modern post-apocalyptic adventures, King’s epic masterpiece depicts an America ravaged by a deadly plague, where the survivors have to pick a side in that eternal struggle between good and evil. Based on the dust jacket that’s glimpsed briefly onscreen, it appears that Murph scored a copy of The Stand’s long out-of-print first edition, which is probably valuable enough in her future to pay for a fleet of crop dusters.
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville (1851)
As long as there are high school English classes, kids like Murph will eventually be required to read (or pretend to read) Melville’s 19th century seafaring classic about Ishmael, Ahab, and the titular albino sperm whale. The real question is, which movie version still survives in this future time? Our money’s on the 1998 made-for-TV flick starring Captain Picard as Captain Ahab.
The Willoughbys, by Lois Lowry (2008)
We’re betting that one of Nolan’s four kids slipped this slender tome onto Murph’s shelf, which tells the wickedly comic story of two self-absorbed parents who plan to rid themselves of their quartet of offspring. Sounds like the kind of dark comedy that would appeal to the offspring of the guy who directed The Dark Knight.
The Big Nowhere, by James Ellroy (1988)
Part 2 in the celebrated crime novelist’s “L.A. Quartet” (which also includes The Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential and White Jazz) takes place in the City of Angels circa 1950 and mingles murder most foul with Cold War paranoia. It’s also a subtle joke about where McConaughey’s astronaut, Cooper, finds himself at a key point in the movie.
Lindbergh, by A. Scott Berg (1998)
It’s understandable that Cooper would have a fascination with 20th century aviation hero Charles Lindbergh that would extend to his descendants. Here’s hoping he had a long conversation with Murph about why Lindbergh could be so right about the importance of air travel and so wrong about a guy like Hitler.
A Dorothy Parker Collection
Of course the precocious Murph would be taken with the wit and wisdom of the famed satirist, who dazzled New York literary culture during the Roaring Twenties in the pages of The New Yorker and at the Algonquin Round Table. It’s almost a good thing magazines apparently no longer exist in the future because otherwise she might not have followed her dad into the underground space industry.
A Sherlock Holmes Collection
It would certainly take a detective of Sherlock Holmes’s formidable intelligence to explain some of the events that occur during Interstellar’s final act.
The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary
Because a future without Scrabble is definitely one we wouldn’t want to live in.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Not exactly light reading material, but since personal computers seem to be a luxury for kids Murph’s age in Interstellar’s world, she has to do research into wormholes and rocket ships the old-fashioned way.
What books did we miss? Tell us in the comments.
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