Lost Horizon

In 1931, four people, including Glory Conway, escape the political unrest in Baskul, China by boarding a plane, bound for Peshawar The plane, however, much to their dismay, has been hijacked and eventually crash lands deep in the far reaches of the Tibetan Himalayas Seeking shelter, the group soon finds themselves in the valley of the blue moon, guests at a lamasery, called Shangri La.Reading this is like stepping slowly into a hot, fragrant bath while strains of your own audio preferences delig [...]

Skyjacked Unheard of, in the early 1930 s, but it did happen to four passengers, in Afghanistan, during a civil conflict there A mad Asian pilot, with a gun, does, flying east into the tallest mountains in the world The aircraft goes above, around and hopefully, not through them A spectacular view, for those with the guts, to look, beautiful, the Himalayas and frightening Tibet, an almost unknown land, with few visitors, who return back home, to report their findings, the apparent destination Gl [...]

The last time I loved a book as much as I loved this one was when I read Dune Even though Dune is considered one of the masterworks of science fiction, I m not really a sci fi kind of girl, per se, I just love places that are so well imagined by the author that you can t believe they re not real SOMEWHERE Lost Horizon presents Shangri La as such a place More personally, though, I read this book at the precise right moment in my life Conway, the main character, has a sort of dispassionate detachm [...]

I hummed Lara s Theme while reading most of Boris Pasternak s Doctor Zhivago a couple of years back Similarly, the first two lines of this Burt Bacharach composition was inside my ears while reading this book Have you ever dreamed of a placeFar away from it allWhere the air you breathe is soft and cleanAnd children play in fields of greenAnd the sound of gunsDoesn t pound in your ears any Have you ever dreamed of a placeFar away from it allWhere the winter winds will never blowAnd living things [...]

This is a fun read They did a pretty good job with the film Given that Hilton was a major screenwriter that makes sense It is very Victorian in its feel, a sort of Kipling esque yarn, in which depression era westerners find themselves in a version of paradise The place is rather communistic, with elements of free love that no doubt raised some eyebrows when it was published On the other hand, the place is run by a Belgian cleric On the other hand, their motto is all things in moderation, even et [...]

For the life of me, I have no idea why anyone dearly loves this book The narrative is plodding, the characters boring and unsympathetic, and the ending don t get me started on the ending This was a book club selection that I was actually excited about since its setting is the mystical Shangri La I thought it would be an Indiana Jones esque action and adventure in an exotic Asian setting What I got instead was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Boring Tibetans There s no action all they do is p [...]

Hugh Conway, a veteran of the Great War and a British diplomat, told a novelist friend an incredible story He and three other people were being evacuated from a rebellion in Baskul when their plane was hijacked and flown to Tibet After they crash landed in the frigid, windy mountains, their dying pilot told them to go to the lamasery of Shangri La The four passengers were guided there by porters and a postulant from the lamasery After winding through dangerous mountain passes for hours, they arr [...]

Lost Horizons is a very silly, dumb book, but charming and fun for all that.It s racist and sexist, in that casual and unmalicious way that you see in, like, Mad Men The hard, mocking, sex thirsty voices of women are mentioned at one point, and the inhabitants of Shangri La are described as cleaner and handsomer than the average Chinese Compare it to Sax Rohmer s The Insidious Dr Fu Manchu from 30 years previous that book is obsessed with the danger of cunning, diabolical Chinamen, while this on [...]

It wasn t until I finished the story and read the Afterword that I realized that this book was written by the same guy who wrote Goodbye, Mr Chips, another story I had pretty much put out of my mind Much, I think, like I expect to happen with this one.So, okay, here s Shangri La We all know the name, but this is where it started And that s fine Shangri La is this utopian society place in the Himalayan area, where the inhabitants are almost immortal It s supposed to be this perfect society essent [...]

Not the best book I ve read, but certainly one of the magical ones It does cast a spell I was a bit surprised at the WW I element in Lost Horizon Hugh Conway, the emotionally damaged hero of the novel, is a part of the Lost Generation Hilton s turning his Valley of the Blue Moon into a kind of post War Brigadoon is a brilliant one, especially since he sandwiches events between the known war and the worse one Hilton foresees as coming I m sure others in 1933, when the novel was published, saw th [...]

The plane that launched a thousand derivativesBefore there was the ABC juggernaut that is LOST, there was James Hilton s afternoon read Lost Horizon This fantastical tale, billed as the first paperback, introduced four characters, and a world audience, to Shangri La, a time capsule of knowledge and wisdom hidden in the crevasses of the Himalayas The conceit a plane crashes and the motley crew of survivors two British officials, and American, and a missionary are left to fend for themselves When [...]

A beautiful story set deep with in the Himalayans, sits a mysterious place known only to a few as Shangri La.Four people are kidnapped in a plane and land in the unknown regions of Tibet There they embark on a physical and spiritual journey to a Utopian society of Lamas living deep within the beautiful mountains of the east Here they are learning about transcending their lives to something wonderous and meaningful Our story opens when our lead character, Conway, is found in a hospital by a frie [...]

Dost Kitabevi nde dolan rken ismi ilgimi ekmi ti Yitik Ufuklar n Kitab bitirdi imde iyi ki de alm m diyorum nk merakla okudum Al rken b yle sevece imi hi d nmemi tim Hik ye e itli ama larla in de bulunan d rt ki inin i sava nedeniyle lkeyi terk etmek zere bir u a a binmeleriyle ba l yor Bu yolculardan ikisi D leri al an olan ngiliz, biri ngiliz kad n misyoner, di eri ise kim oldu u net olmayan bir Amerikal Bu d rt ki inin bulundu u u ak ka r l yor ve kimselerin bilmedi i bir yere inmek durumunda [...]

Hilton s beautiful tale is hard to classify It reminds me, in a way, of The Twenty One Balloons, by William P ne du Bois, and in another, curious way, of C.S Lewis s Till We Have Faces I do know that I want to go back to Shangri La.

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2013

This was a reread for book club, but I enjoyed it as much as I did 1990 26 years ago It s not too long It s kind of mysterious It was first published in 1933 which I think is an interesting era It s about 4 people who get kidnapped and accidentally end up in Shangri La Or do they I enjoyed it Also, the same author wrote Goodbye, Mr Chips, it s a good one too

To fully capture my moment of reading this book and re watching Frank Capra s 1937 film version of Lost Horizon simultaneously, I ve penned a mighty review of both that exceeds the 20,000 character limit To get around this, I have posted the rest in my personal writing section, where it fits snugly It can be found here First part of the review starts here Continuation link is below In 1937, director Frank Capra made a masterful, heart rending movie out of James Hilton s immensely popular 1933 Ut [...]

There are reasons books become classics They speak with a voice that is ageless, have a plot that reflects the human experience and or connects with a deep part of the psyche Reading a classic work of literature for the first time is akin to discovering an unknown family member someone who expresses a familiarity of experience that is rooted in genetics, needs no explanation or translation to be understood and is a friend upon meeting When this classic was offered by one of my dealers, the price [...]

After seeing Frank Capra s film version of this book, I had to read James Hilton s novel The book and the film are very similar, so my love for the film has transferred to the original work Lost Horizon is the story of four people, an American, a young British soldier, a middle aged British man, and a female missionary, who have the misfortune of being kidnapped on an airplane They are crashed near a mysterious and dismal mountain somewhere in Tibet, and all seems to be lost to them, including t [...]

This was part of a book recommendation swap between myself and my brother in law I recommended Ender s Game and he recommended Lost Horizon I wasn t sure at first if either of us anticipated our tastes in literature very well, but I at least read Lost Horizon with interest There is no doubt that it is well written Hilton is able to tap into the deeper philosophies of life in a non intrusive yet succinct way that avoids most of the heaviness that accompany philosophical reads In other words, I fo [...]

A British group leaves India in the 1930s by plane, the plane goes down, and thereafter they find themselves in the fabled Shangri La In this valley of warmth and beauty in the midst of the Himalayan mountains, they find a people with astounding longevity leading lives of simplicity and wisdom and peace They eventually find their way out of Shangri La and back home, but Conway the main character , consumed by regret for the peace that he left behind, returns in the end For me, the power of this [...]

What a beautiful and wondrous book I was completely captivated by the mysteries of Shangri la Our hero Conway s adventure was an awe inspiring tale of a monastery hidden deep in a Tibetan mountain range, where the lamas lead extraordinary existences Theirs are privileged lives steeped in wisdom and secrecy Their isolation and longevity allows them a unique position in the world and very few outsiders are privy to their secrets Hilton s use of the high lama s telepathy is certainly prophetic, con [...]

After loving the BBC dramatization based on this book, I decided to read it afterwards Really liked it and I didn t know that Frank Capra had made a movie version of this book, which was probably reliable to story itself than the last Hollywood version.

5 5 Perhaps the exhaustion of the passions is the beginning of wisdom.This was an absolutely mesmerizing and compelling read It narrates a tale of a utopian lamasery concealed within the majestic mountains of the Himalayas, bordering near Tibet It is a tale of high fantasy, utopian indulgence and pure, unadulterated adventure which has the power to resonate with one s spiritual and physical existence You see, my dear sir, one of the first steps toward the clarifying of the mind is to obtain a pa [...]

This is a great book It is a short read but provokes deep thought and questions about what we want of life and existence It s very much rooted in the time it was written and, without any direct references, reflects the emotional, societal and physical damage that WWI created and that tipped reality on its axis It is a sort of adventure story but, be warned, it s not pacey takes a while for both the characters and the reader to get to a point of understanding but its worth the wait A very well wr [...]

Lost Horizon gives birth to the Legendary utopia of Shangri La This was an incredible philosophical journey into the crisp Himalayan mountains Deep and Thought Provoking this story is great for any one interested in religion and spirituality, or just books in general that really make you stop and think A True Escapist Read into Paradise

I enjoyed this much than I d expected I d seen the movie many many years ago and vaguely remembered it as an adventure story, set in Utopia I didn t realize how much it was a post World War I book In Chapter 3, Conway says If you d had all the experiences I ve had, you d know that there are times in life when the most comfortable thing to do is nothing at all Things happen to you and you just let them happen The War was rather like that One is fortunate if, as on this occasion, a touch of novel [...]

I ve known of this book was so long as the work that gave us the mysterious Shangri La Reading this was an utter delight Hilton is a terrific writer, his descriptions are vivid and his characters are so well developed and fleshed out Conway, in particular, has become of my my favorite fictional characters now And Shangri La itself, what a marvelous concept, a quiet serene utopia to espace the loud turbulent world I loved the way Hilton compares perspectives of the place from the view points of v [...]

I read this when I was a teenager, on my father s recommendation, and it has haunted me all these years It fired my imagination and has remained one of my all time favorite books Well, I just read this book again for my book discussion tomorrow at the library, and my feelings about it haven t changed since I first read it as a teenager I wish Shangri La really existed, because I d go there in a heartbeat The concept of moderation in all things, all the time you want to read and study and think, [...]