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The 'Change One Letter' Game
Well, it looks like you've done them all!
The Bluest DyeToni Morrison's paean to growing old and developing a blue tint to her formerly black hair after a failed dye job.
Gun
Ann Patchett's story of a former Boston mayor's increasing frustration that his sons won't pursue politics, as he'd trained them to.
The House of Birth
Edith Wharton's saga of the rollicking adventures of Lily Barth, who is the star of New York's social scene despite ten kids at home left nannied by a poorer cousin.
The Year of Magical Thanking
Joan Didion's life is changed after a visit on Oprah.
This could go on forever . . .
Heath Be Not Proud
Heath Ledger's father's memoir on his son's tragically short life.
Blandness
Jose Saramago's tale of an unknown Latin American city's epidemic of its inhabitants' no longer being able to taste food.
In the Miso Soap
Ryu Murakami's horror about a failed Japanese entrepreneur who creates miso-flavored bath products.
Gel Canto
Patchett's story of a renowned opera singer who turns to performing commercial ditties after the trauma of being taken hostage in Latin America.
Memoirs of a Mute
Lara Vapnyar's novel of a muse who can't find words to express how boring her writer-boyfriend is.
The Weather Men
Ranulph Fiennes's real-life tale of vigilante meteorologists in England.
You've found a new calling, Yulia!
Oh, that's just too depressing. There are no words for how upset my mother is about what I've made of my world-class education. one last addition before I contemplate my existence:
The Vogue Male
The classic thriller by Geoffrey Household about a British upperclassman hunted by local and foreign forces due to his scandalous cross-dressing.
I did a few groaners myself:The Toad
Cormac McCarthy’s searing apocalyptic novel about a man and his pet frog.
Chime and Punishment
Roskolnikov gets confused and ends up in a Victor Hugo novel ringing church bells. We suspect Jasper Fford had a hand in this.
James and the Giant Perch
Raoul Dahl’s children’s version of Moby Dick.
Stranger in a Strange Band
Michael Smith finds happiness as the new drummer for the Rolling Stones.
The Killer Angles
Shaara decides to do an in-depth history of high school geometry class.
The Gropes of Wrath
The Joad family history as told by Henry Miller.
Horton Wears a WhoThe local PETA chapter is not happy about this.
Latte in Weimar
Thomas Mann's account of how Goethe learned to love Starbucks.
My Year of Geats
Ruth Ozeki interprets the Beowulf saga. Soon to be a major motion picture, starring Angelina Jolie.
Cleft Behind
Mark Foley's latest page-turner.
Perhaps I'd better stop now...
(I especially like "Gel Canto")
Thanks to all who posted here. What fun!"James and the Giant Perch"...if only that were real...
All right, I'm late to this party, but I have to throw in a few more.The Peerslayer – A member of Cromwell’s Roundheads takes it as his personal mission to seek out and destroy every nobleman he can find.
Huckleberry Jinn – A young boy sails down the Mississippi on a sleek yacht with his black lawyer friend and keeps up a correspondence with his successful father after being granted three wishes.
All’s Hell That Ends Well – The pessimist’s guide to life.
You Can’t Go Dome Again – The story of the Houston Astros’ newest ballpark.
How Green Was My Galley – A famous Naval cook’s recipes for the rough North Atlantic crossing.
Cold Comfort Firm -- The saga of how Bear Stearns' board rejected this revelatory name change before agreeing to be bought by JP Morgan.
The Quilt American -- A CIA operative tries to derail the Viet Minh through village sewing cooperatives.
The Rape of the Sock -- Every laundry day, Onan's wife is disgusted by what he's done the previous night.
Animal Fart -- Dav Pilkey reworks Orwell's classic for tweeners.
The Leotard -- Giuseppe di Lampedusa's tale of an Italian aristocrat who stays out of Garibaldi's revolution because his form-fitting outfit would make him appear ridiculous on the battlefield.
Bender Is The Night -- Essays by alcoholics.
Okay, I've thought it over and decided I can allow myself this addiction. Here's some more:The Wind-up Bard Chronicle
Murakami's fanciful tale of a jack-in-the-box that recites Shakespeare.
The Old Man and the Spa
An old fisherman, after a weary day, decides to treat himself to a day at the spa, where he gets Dead Sea salt rubbed on his back to recuperate.
Farewell to Army
Hemingway's protagonist, instead of ditching his comrades, gets kicked out when they discover he is homosexual.
The Snogs of Kilimanjaro
Harry falls in love with a hyena as he lays dying on the mountain and dies sweetly in its embrace.
Tender is the Right
An old primer for compassionate conservatism.
Rove and Consequences
(This my boyfriend came up with) A thoroughly fact-checked non-fiction account of evil, power, and evil.
Yeast of Eden
This forgotten Steinbeck novel never made it to Oprah's book club, and it remains earnestly hoping for its moment in the spotlight.
Princess and the Pee
A children's fairy tale about a spoilt princess who insists on ten mattresses, only to have wet herself during her sleep and ruined all ten at once.
Test of the D'Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy finds antidepressants and reworks his classic so that Tess decides to look further into her sleazy suitor's claim he's a D'Urberville, leading her to find him out as a fraud and preventing the entire tragedy.
Bravo to Mark's "All's Hell That End's Well."
The Da Vinci ModeFashion during the Renaissance.
Death on the Mile
The winner of the NYC marathon is murdered seconds after winning the race...who did it? Mayor Bloomberg because the runner didn't support his congestion pricing plan? The runner up? One of the sponsors of the marathon?
Move in the time of Cholera
An epidemics of cholera chases a Colombian family from their homeland.
A Dirty Mob
Workers at Dove strike and decide not to bathe/shower until they receive higher salaries.
The Snobs of KilimanjaroTanzania becomes a playground for the nouveaux riche.
Lice in Wonderland
Off with her head!
Harry Potter and the Giblet of Fire
Trainee wizard laid low by appendicitis.
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Fells All
Senior goes on geriatric killing rampage in suburban Virginia mall.
Miserly
Stephen King's gruesome update of "A christmas carol"
The Pottery
Woman dies in unfortunate pot-throwing incident.
The Big Sheep
Known for his hard-boiled detective fiction, Raymond Chandler's charming series about farmyard animals, written for children, deserves greater exposure.
The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Ham
Grim story of suburban cannibalism.
1884
Classic Victorian dystopia.
Very good, everybody. Giving me chuckles.
To Kill A MockingbardWilliam Shakespeare finds himself the target of a madman.
The Thongs They Carried
Wandering fetishists search for their place in a cruel world.
Chicken Soup for the Foul
Feeding the unwashed masses.
The Colon Purple
Ew! Never mind!
Oh, I meant David's ... not my own. :) But thanks!
This is fun, really.An Artist of the Bloating World: Sumo Wrestler tells all
Bar and Peace: Husband explains a New World Order to wife at 3:00 a.m.
Ramlet: Angst among young sheep
War and Peas: Vegans plan to take over the world
Barchester Towels: Life in the linens factory...who will be foreman? who will be fired?
The Blame Trees of Thika: New thoughts on the origins of crime in Africa
I've allowed myself two letters: Jane Eeyore
This very pessimistic governess falls head over tail for Mr. Rochester.
Ha! This is addicting!Less of the d'Urbervilles
A welcome abridgement.
The Wife of Pi
She was a tiger in the bedroom ... or so he said.
I know what you mean, Leslie. The Secret Life of Beets
Sue Monk Kidd teams up with Barbara Kingsolver to explore what happens down in the dirt.
Atunement
McEwan delves into the life of a down and out piano repairman.
The Well of Lost Plats
Thursday Next accidently finds herself in the Multiple Listing Service weekly update.
Rubyfruit Juggle
The story of an all-girl circus.
Virginia Woolf's tribute to marriage, "A Groom of One's Own," followed by her increasingly uncontroversial, anti-feminist "A Broom of One's Own" and "A Loom of One's Own." (Of course, some modern feminists would take this as a woman's right to her innate housekeeping skills.) Ah, but age gives her wisdom, she divorces Leonard finally, and sets up "A Roof of One's Own."
With apologies to Leslie:Wife of Pi
What is life like when you are married to one of nature's most famously irrational entities? Someone whose life and qualities seem to be fair game for mathematicians the world over? What if your spouse's digits are a topic of gossip worldwide - to the extent that geeks in internet chatrooms and idiots savants on PBS boast about their familiarity with those same digits? How does it feel to have your spouse's philandering relationship with that Eulerian trollop e immortalized for ever on the lavatory stall walls in engineering buildings and in math texts from Bratislava to Brazzaville, from Abkhazia to Zimbabwe? Even though some have said the relationship is purely an imaginary one.
"Wife of Pi" explores the story of an unsung heroine of mathematics, as Cherry Pi reveals what life is like as the spouse of one of nature's bad boiz. She clearly loves her man: "Sure he can be irrational, but life with him is just transcendental", she swoons, "I couldn't imagine it any other way".
Gosh, David. I splattered my monitor with coffee, I laughed so loud. And her name is Cherry! Hahahaha! I guess the name of their son is Lemon!!!! Hahahahaha!People here at work are asking me if I'm OK because they saw me drying my tears...of laughter of course!
In Search of Lost TomeM. Swann hunts for his missing dissertaion.
Ninteen-Eighty Dour
A history of the last year of the Carter administration
Finnegan's Awake
A lazy Irishman finally arises.
On the Origin of Specie
Darwin's lesser known history of the Royal Mint.
The Swining Some pigs are more equal than others in this trave-sty by Stephen King.
A Jane Austen boxed set:Price and Prejudice – An economist examines why the poor pay more for retail goods.
Tense and Sensibility – The most didactic of the recent popular grammar books.
Mansfield Dark – A young woman is brought up in a country estate with no electricity and far too few candles
Omma – A woman tries to use mediation to make romantic matches, with disastrous results
Normhanger Abbey – The home Jane Crawford always dreamed of.
Other efforts by Jane Austen:"Lemma"
Her neglected contribution to the fundamentals of Symbolic Logic
"Northanger Abs"
Thirty days to that six-pack you've always wanted. (Yes, I know, it's a major cheat)
"The Prance"
Power Dancing with Niccolo.
"A Thousand Splendid Subs"
Jared's Story.
"Bleak Mouse"
A family squabble over an inheritance darkens Stewart's life.
"Fifi did it"
Homicidal poodle implicated in brutal Brentwood killings.
"Goldilocks and the Three Beards"
Once again, Goldi wondered just why it was that Fate had caused her to be trapped in an elevator with Kelly Preston, Nicole Kidman, and Katie Holmes.
A Thousand Splendid Subs and the Three Beards are incredible. I am forcing ... myself ... to ... stop.
Stole this one from a brilliant colleague:Green Eggs and Wham
"Shoulda known better than to cheat a friend;
I would not, could not dance again."
"I, Di, did it."Harmonic convergence of 90's conspiracy theories.
"Dried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" -- The place had been abandoned for years, but someone forgot to remove the last entrees."Fried Green Tomatoes at the Thistle Stop Cafe" -- What was really in that barbecued haggis anyway?
"Fried Greek Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" -- Nikki was in love with Nikki, but she couldn't tell her so.
"Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Safe" -- A sleepy Southern town, a late snack, and one of the biggest bank heists ever ...
"A Tale of Two Cuties"They were the best of twins, they were the worst of twins.
"Into Thin Hair"
Sebastian Junger's epic tale of a group of head lice trying to reach the summit of Shiny Dome Peak. Soon to be released as a Pixar animated movie, starring the voices of John Leguizamo, Jon Lovitz, and Gilbert Gotfried.
"Les Fleurs du Mel"
A tormented "artist's" plunge into drunken degeneracy.
"Boulez-vous coucher avec moi?"
An over-the-hill Swedish songstress. The elder statesman of European orchestral composition. It's Hiroshima mon Amour when these two get together! A madcap romp through the boites and back alleys of the City of Light.
'Remembrance of Things Passed;' Proust, after eating WAY too much cheese, thinks back to his youth with 'regularity.'
"Lout" by Natsuo KirinoThe reader picks up the much-touted novel, hoping to find a diatribe against the oafs that lower-class Japanese women have found themselves married to or working for, but discovers to her disappointment that Kirino was using the Middle English form of lout (to bow down, submit, yield) and so finds the book to be a hopeless, self-deprecating chronicle of suppressed women unable to find a voice in modern-day Japan. Alas.
"Pout"
A Japanese woman's sullen look at her career options after college.
When I told this to Frank, he suggested "Gout" (the tale of Japanese doctors confronting an epidemic of gout after WWII) and "Bout" (a non-fiction book recording the sweaty feats of famed sumo wrestlers). There's also "Tout," "Rout," and "Oust," but I'll stop digging myself a new grave.
"Homage to Catatonia" In his role as TV critic for Slate.com, George Orwell is forced to review "Big Brother".
"The 39 Stews"
Cooking with Richard Hannay.
"Nut on a Limb"
Shirley Maclaine tells all.
"The Wisdom of Crows"
James Surowiecki's new book on economic forecasting through haruspicy.
"Me Tank Pretty One Day"
David Sedaris ponders the possibility of midlife failure.
Yulia, I have to admit, I had to look up The Kirino book, even though now I realize Theresa just read it and reviewed it. But having figured out what you're riffing on, I really enjoyed all the variations.David, great job!
"The Jewel in the Crowd"As the Queen mingles during the anniversary celebrations for her coronation, a famous Tudor heirloom goes missing. Another thrilling tale by Wilkie Collins.
"For Wham! The Bell Tolls"
The story of the band after George Michael left.
"It's Obvious You Won't Survive by Your Tits Alone"
Dilbert's frank advice to a young stripper.
"The Outsizers"
Hefty teenagers have problems too.
"Little Souse on the Prairie"
A kindly neighbor teaches Laura and Pa the trick to making headway with head cheese.
"Something Wicker This Way Comes"
Martha's back, and there's gonna be some changes around here.
"Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Hovel"
Decorating tips from Jane Smiley.
"The Flaming Ho's Smile"
Stephen Jay Gould tries his hand at pornography.
I must apologise in advance..."The Da Vinci Cod"
Dan Brown reworks this fishy mystery
"Little Mouse on the Prairie"
Laura Ingalls Wilder orginal American Tail
"The Last Fighting Mommy"
An English mother fighting in the trenches
"The Hoarse Whisperer"
A classic tale of sore throats
"Lucky Jam"
Kingsley Amis gets stuck
"The Canterbury Sales"
Hurry... Only while stocks last!
"The Lust Continent"
Bill Bryson's tales of love in middle America
"Bed Storm Rising"
Tom Clancy writes new kiss and tell thriller
"Pork in Progress"
Michael Eisner as a pig farmer
"Bleak Mouse"
Dickens writes about sad rodents
"Bad Duck and Trouble"
Lee Child describes how Jack Reacher goes quackers
"The Black Marrow"
Stevenson tells us about poor vegetable growing
"Around the World in 80 Lays"
Jules Verne sleeps his way around the planet
"Herd Times"
Cattle rustling in Victorian England
"The Pickwick Capers"
A prickly story
"Grime and Punishment"
Dostoyevsky in anti-litter campaign
"The Wind in the Pillows"
Farting under the covers
"A Pair of Glue Eyes"
Hardy calls for the doctor
"Three Men in a Coat"
It was a squeeze - but we just managed it!
"The Bungle Book"
How Kiplings first attempt went awry
Groan! I especially like "Herd Times" and "Bed Storm Rising". But really I'm just jealous I didn't think of these first.
"Rabbit, Rub": Updike's expose on those who get off by wearing furry outfits in bed.
Constant Reader
Books mentioned in this topic
Murder on the Orient Express (other topics)Romeo and Juliet (other topics)
The Big Sleep (other topics)
Here are some to get you started:
Mein Krampf
A certain failed Austrian artist drones on about his bodily ailments.
All the Pretty Houses
Cormac MacCarthy's verbal tribute to the real estate industry.
The Right Stiff
Tom Wolfe explores the growing phenomenon of space burial.
A Heartbreaking Worm of Staggering Genius
One man's search for truth in a tequila bottle.
Batch 22.
Dolly finds out that real life is more complicated than she had been led to expect at the Cloning Academy.
Fast.
Goaded by his desire for instant gratification, a German academic strikes an ill-judged bargain.
The Book of Slaughter and Forgetting.
Latest addition to the literature of holocaust denial.
Chip of Fools
Pandering to a different form of denial.
Granny and Zooey
A certain reclusive author updates an earlier work.
Franny and Oozey
Psoriasis and eczema were no strangers to the Glass family.
A High Mind in Jamaica
Another biography of Bob Marley.
Infinite Pest
A talented author loses all control of his manuscript and the footnotes go on forever.
The Shops of the Fisherman
To meet the ever-increasing cost of litigation brought by the families of former altar boys, Vatican City is leased out to a multinational shopping mall conglomerate.
Lost Verizon
While climbing in the Himalayas, a yuppie is extremely disturbed to find that his cell phone no longer works.
(Yeah, this one cheats. Sue me!)
Vonage of the Beagle
Professor Darwin announces that his next Galapagos expedition will be sponsored by the new "telephone" company founded by Mr Alexander Graham Bell.
The Unbearable Tightness of Being
Memoir of an Asthma Patient.
Lady Windermere's Fin
Inbreeding in Victorian England.
Lady Windermere's Fat
Mr Wilde draws attention to the dramatic increase in obesity in Victorian England.
Behind the Scones at the Museum
John McPhee and Malcolm Gladwell join forces to bring you this riveting account of a topic you never imagined you could care about.
The Cremains of the Day
A Mitford-Ishiguro production.
The Spoils of Boynton
A lifetime of drawing cute cats has its rewards.
Eyes on the Pride
A group of tourists on safari are separated from their jeep.
The Brothels Karamazov
Heidi Fleiss meets Dostoevski.
The Good Marrow
John Donne wins big at the county fair!
Caesar's Garlic Wars
Internecine strife threatens to bring down a pizza-making empire.
The Year of Jiving Dangerously
Indonesian authorities crack down on dirty dancing.
Sexbiscuit
The Anna Nicole Smith story.
This game works in any language -
A la recherche du temps Perdue
A man. A madeline. A chicken. A dream. It takes a tough man to write an autobiography as tender as this.
Now it's your turn!