May 31, 2007


Book-A-Minute Classics

I love the great classic works of literature—when I can find time to read them! Some of those books have pages filled with words and they just go on and on without pictures to give some relief. Here’s a no-frills site that offers concise, condensed versions of all your favorites. The layout is kind of ugly, but the content will help you catch up on the most significant books published in the last several hundred years.

And there’s a separate page for sci-fi/fantasy…

comments

14 Responses to “Book-A-Minute Classics”

  1. Deron Bauman on May 31st, 2007 at 12:49 pm

    oh, Michael, we love you so much,

    the rest of us.

  2. Michael Grant Smith on May 31st, 2007 at 1:08 pm

    I love clusterflock so much it hurts right here.

  3. India on May 31st, 2007 at 1:24 pm

    “(The Evil Puritanical Society SNUBS Hester Prynne.) . . .
    (They call her NAMES.) . . .
    (They won’t let her play any Evil Puritanical Society GAMES.)”

  4. Andrew Simone on May 31st, 2007 at 1:44 pm

    Holy crap! this post is amazing.

  5. India on May 31st, 2007 at 1:55 pm

    Some people are plagiarizing their own book reports. Typical.

    ———-

    The Collected Work of Jane Austen
    By Jane Austen
    Ultra-Condensed by Christina Carlson and Peter da Silva

    Female Lead

    I secretly love Male Lead. He must never know.

    Male Lead

    I secretly love Female Lead. She must never know.

    (They find out.)

    THE END

    ———-

    The Collected Work of Anne McCaffrey
    Ultra-Condensed by Christina Carlson

    Female Lead

    I secretly love Male Lead. He must never know.

    Male Lead

    I secretly love Female Lead. She must never know.

    (They find out.)

    THE END

  6. Daryl Scroggins on May 31st, 2007 at 2:26 pm

    But these are too long. Let’s shorten them up a bit as a kind of value-added feature. Here’s Moby Dick:

    Fuck me!

  7. Andrew Simone on May 31st, 2007 at 2:38 pm

    Daryl, I thought that was what Billy Budd was about.

  8. Deron Bauman on May 31st, 2007 at 2:48 pm

    bartleby: feh.

  9. India on May 31st, 2007 at 3:06 pm

    The shorter Jane Austen:

    Surely I’ll never marry you!

    The shorter Anne McCaffrey:

    Even my dragon knows I secretly love you!

    The shorter Great Expectations:

    Well, that was all a waste of time, wasn’t it?

  10. Sheila Ryan on May 31st, 2007 at 4:54 pm

    Crime and Punishment: You can run, but you can’t hide.

  11. Daryl Scroggins on May 31st, 2007 at 5:15 pm

    The Metamorphosis:

    …what?

    The Old Man and the Sea:

    “Great, you landed your own skeleton.”

    The Great Gatsby:

    sup

    (none of these as good as yours, India; you are the winner)

  12. India on May 31st, 2007 at 5:26 pm

    The plagiarized thanks:

    Oh, my goodness, I won! I won! I’ve never won anything. Thank you, Daryl! I’m, like, soooo blessed.

    Or, the shorter, plagiarized, Southern high school girl thanks:

    Y’all? Thanks?

  13. Sheila Ryan on May 31st, 2007 at 5:27 pm

    Yes, India scores bigtime.

    (I also like Deron’s take on “Bartleby”. Kinda like the dude just says, “Nunh-unh.”)

  14. Sheila Ryan on May 31st, 2007 at 5:33 pm

    And India scores double-plus bigtime with “Y’all? Thanks?

    Y’all know India? I’m thinkin’, like, she should, like, enter a pageant? ‘Cause y’all know how she can always say something smart, you know, and, like, she’s real poised and all, y’all?