Louise Ure's post at Murderati last week has stuck with me ever since. She started out with E.B. White's essay "Irtnog," a satirical history of digest publications:
Someone conceived the idea of digesting the digests. He brought out a little publication called Pith, no bigger than your thumb. It was a digest of Reader’s Digest, Time, Concise Spicy Tales, and the daily News Summary of the New York Herald Tribune. Everything was so extremely condensed that a reader could absorb everything that was being published in the world in about forty-five minutes.
Then challenged readers to come up with a "three-words-or-less summary of any book you want," starting the game with:
Example: A Tale of Two Cities "Off with têtes."
Among my favorite entries, Sharon Wheeler offered, "Any Dick Francis: Horsy chap suffers"
Janine jumped in with, "The Scarlet Letter ~ red suits you"
Alex Sokoloff did Rosemary's Baby: Happy Birthday, Satan.
Rob Gregory Brown did one in TWO words-- Children of the Corn: Kids Stalk
I got completely carried away and listed a few, which I've been adding to all week, starting with"
Anna Karenina: Slut vs. train.
The Great Gatsby: Nouveau laid low.
The Fountainhead: Mammon-gram
Atlas Shrugged: Dude, WTF Galt?
All Creatures Great and Small: Bully for ewe.
The Year of Magical Thinking: Dunne's one undone.
The Crucible: Hicks nix tricks.
Flowers for Algernon: Whither mouse goest...
Hannibal: What's up, Doc?
The Maltese Falcon: Bye bye birdy
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: Yeah, I'm guilty.
Memoirs of Casanova: Quicker picker-upper
Anybody else wanna play?
Glad you liked the game, Miss C. And you made my day with "bye bye birdy" and "quicker picker upper."
ReplyDeleteHow about:
Moby Dick = Whale tale
The Bible = B.C. to A.D.
The Things They Carried - An Eloquent Grunt
ReplyDeleteAny Sherlock Holmes - Look closer, Doc
Great Expectations - Old Bride Revisited
Catch 22 - Regardless, you're fucked
King Lear - Old Man Walking
That's all I got.
A Field of Darkness - Deb Does Death
ReplyDeleteThe Crazy School - Deb Does Ed.
Hey Ms. C ~
ReplyDeleteHow about:
A Field of Darkness = Dog Tags Redux
Janine
I so love "Hicks nix tricks". How the heck do you think of this stuff?
ReplyDeleteI could only come up with two, and they suck:
Romeo and Juliet: Loved to Death
Watership Down: Rabbits Gone Wild
;-)
Here's a one-word plot summary:
ReplyDeleteGaudy Night - Bluestalkings
Louise, LOVE your Moby Dick--way better than the actual book.
ReplyDeleteDavid, Catch 22 is perfect and deserves a "beverage alert," tied with "Old Man Walking."
Regina and Janine, you guys crack me up...
Rae, I tried "Run Rabbit Run" for Watership Down, but then deleted it. Yours are WAY better!
And JLW--Bluestalkings is PERFECT!
Any diet book, ever:
ReplyDeleteEat less, exercise.
Jurassic Park:
Dinos eat jerks.
Lord of the Rings:
Force of hobbit.
Daisy, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Hound of the Baskervilles - Bog dog fog
ReplyDeleteFor Whom the Bell Tolls - Nun's gun's run
ReplyDeleteYou guys are all awesome!!!!
ReplyDeleteJLW's are GREAT!
ReplyDeleteNew ones thought of while picking up the kids:
Rebecca: Bride's shed revisited.
An American Tragedy: Pimp my bride.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull: Who is Jon Gull?
"In Cold Blood"
ReplyDeleteKlutzes Kill Clutters.
And a few more for your consideration...
ReplyDeleteSharp Objects = Cut the Ties
Lady Chatterley's Lover = The Mind Reels
The Canterbury Tales = Heaven's Road Trip
and.....
The Crazy School=Madeline Blows Up
Janine
i HATE THIS BLOG!!!!!!
ReplyDeletesorry but i was the first to post - there was a big zero and i posted and it never got accepted. i HATE that!
grrrrr
whine
grumble....hmph.
i HATE THIS BLOG!!!!!!
ReplyDeletesorry but i was the first to post - there was a big zero and i posted and it never got accepted. i HATE that!
grrrrr
whine
grumble....hmph.
It doesn't rhyme I'm afraid, but
ReplyDeleteOliver Twist: "More please? No!"
(Been trying for ages to think of one for Maisie Dobbs, which I've just finished, but nope! Nothing!)
Great game! A day late, but:
ReplyDeleteHuckleberry Finn: Boy meets river
Alice Through the Looking Glass: Nonsense underground
Any Harlan Coben: Witty always wins
Go Edgy! And hey, you could even reverse the one for Harlan Coben and it would still work: Win's always witty.
ReplyDeleteRobert, nice one with the Oliver!
And Andi, I am so sorry the blog ate your comment. Bad blog! Down! Down!