I just read through a book with an interesting premise: six word memoirs collected from a variety of writers. It is really intriuging to think about how one would sum up a life in just six words and the results vary from poignant to self-deprecating.
The introduction starts out with an anecdote about Hemingway being challenged to write a story in six words...and the result was "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
With the feel of magnetic poetry, this idea has many possibilities for writers (new and old!) as both an original writing exercise, as well as using the phrases in the books as writing prompts.
The name of the book is Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure and can be found in adult nonfiction, 920.02 Not.
We had a great discussion last night about the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer, predictions for the book that comes out tonight at midnight, Breaking Dawn, and the upcoming December movie.
WARNING: Don't read this post if you aren't through the whole series....or some of the suspense may be ruined.
Here are some of the things that came up...in case any readers would like to post comments: 1) Discussion about whether Bella will end up with Edward or Jacob, 2) suggestion that maybe Breaking Dawn will reveal that Bella is a witch (explaining some of her special perceptions, the fact Edward can't read her mind, etc.) 3) the fact that Breaking Dawn begins with Bella and Edward's wedding (and what that means), 4) the idea that maybe there is something about Bella that will prevent her from being turned into a vampire, even if Edward (or someone else) agrees to go ahead with that, 5) opinions about the casting of the characters to appear in the December release of Twilight....and many more ideas.
Here is a list of some ideas of books that people who enjoyed Twilight may enjoy (all are available for check out at the Marshalltown Library) Some are "vampire-y or werewolf-y," some are more the romance element, and some are the "atmosphere" of the book and voice of the narrator. Feel free to post your recomendations as comments!
Cirque de Freak series by Darren Shan
Kitty series by Carrie Vaughn
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare
Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare (some parallels in Twilight novels)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Blood and Chocolate and The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause
Birth of the Pack (#1 in the Weregirls series) by Petru Popescu
A Fast and Brutal Wing by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson
Vampire Kisses series by Ellen Schreiber
Dangerous Girls series by R.L. Stine
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Vampire High by Douglas Rees"
In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Mary Jane by Judith O'Brien (novel about Mary Jane from Spider-man)
Also, check out Stephanie Meyer's website for her list of recommended reads, her "playlist" of music she thinks goes with Twilight, movie trailers, photos of book covers from around the world, links to fan sites and more.
