Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Ben — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:38:35 -0000

> "Tweets can refine literature 'to its purest form'."

Someone doesn't understand what defines good literature.

> "Shakespeare, Stendhal and Joyce would all have a laugh."

Probably -- everyone enjoys a good farce.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Greg Pincus — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:18:02 -0000

Abridging classics is a great route to comedy and has been done time and again (sometimes successfully, sometimes not). As one example, Maurice Sagoff wrote a great book called Shrinklits, beginning his reduction of Beowulf with...

Monster Grendel's tastes are plainish. Breakfast? Just a couple Danish.

I don't know if Twitterature will rise to that level, but there's certainly potential humor to be found here. I hope, though, they didn't make Dickens' paid-by-the-word deal....

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Brooke — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:32:05 -0000

Isn't this basically the same thing as Book-a-Minute? http://www.rinkworks.com/bo... More characters, I guess, but not by much. And probably funnier?

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

erickd — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:40:43 -0000

Sincerest apologies indeed.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

JanKozlowski — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:27:43 -0000

Interesting that they're writing a book on retelling great literature on Twitter and we're actually doing the experimental story telling- live and semi-improvisational- in a six week arc through character tweets in Tweet Mystery of Death. If you'd like to check out some ORIGINAL work we're at @Tweet_Mystery and www.tweetmystery.com

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Anxuna — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:39:14 -0000

It`s so freaking

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Ambarish Mitra — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:08:12 -0000

Hats off to Emmett Rensin and Alex Aciman for coming out with "Twitterature" as its a brilliant idea get a snapshot of great literature. This will make people read literature which is seen as boring by many in nintendo wii generation.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Kman — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:52:17 -0000

J.K. Rowling is this generations high literature?

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Kathy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:58:20 -0000

But books aren't about the specific plot points! They are about all the details between page 1 and 300 (or whatever). The story that gets you from point to point. There is so much more to learn in a book than 'he was born, he did something great, he died.'

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

bradleyf81 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:51:39 -0000

At my last job in the US, before I moved to Asia, there was a young guy, 19, that would text me sometimes to ask me work related questions. I can understand a few abbreviations, but this guy took it to a whole other level. Sometimes I would have to call him to find out what he was talking about.

So far, here in Asia, the only person I text regularly is my wife. Maybe when I get a job that will change. I imagine I'll have an aneurism trying to figure the stuff out. Just trying to understand the local English dialect when it's spoken is a challenge to me sometimes. Their accent is heavy and they mix in a lot of Hokkien Chinese slang. I'm living in Singapore at the moment if you're curious.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

marshal sandler — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:46:41 -0000

http://www.sparknotes.com/l... Reading is part one to comprehend is
part two HEH I tried to Tweet the first three pages of Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton it had to may words-

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

People Search — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:44:01 -0000

I like the concept of Twitterature, but the literary greats would roll over in their graves.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

kelly simmons — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:01:51 -0000

Well, if anyone wants to see what they're gonna do, you can basically follow me on twitter.
I've been doing "Twitter-sized Book Reviews" since January, not that I'm bitter. (hmmm--
Bitterature: the sequel. . . .) @kellysimmons

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Dushyant — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:17:58 -0000

Don't u guys have anything else to write about

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

DeanWhitbread — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:52:09 -0000

"As such, it demands our attention – and gotten it."

Dreadful sentence.

It's either "...it has demanded our attention - and gotten it."

"...it demands our attention - and gets it."

That's if you think "gotten" is valid in the first place.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

bradleyf81 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:38:48 -0000

Actually, I think we'll all be surprised. Since it's being marketed people will pick it up thinking it's a defining book about Twitter and its impact on American culture. I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a NY Times Bestseller.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

bradleyf81 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:37:00 -0000

Take it 140 characters at a time and you could get through it?

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

bradleyf81 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:36:19 -0000

Funny, I thought that's who it would appeal to most. Now that I think about it though, most of the people I know that use Twitter are in their mid 20s to mid 30s.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

bradleyf81 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:35:12 -0000

"the Twitter"

I've been out of the US for a while now. Is that what parents are calling it?

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

bradleyf81 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:34:11 -0000

I want to argue that their conclusion is wrong, that Twitter isn't the height of thinking for the average American, but then... I don't think I could.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

David Iwanow — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:29:13 -0000

But I would wonder how they would promote such a book, I mean its not as if many popular Blogs are covering the story.... "hi mashable editors..."

The only downside is that the audience to Oprah may not be getting a copy as part of Oprah's Book club so it may remain a niche topic...

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

Bob — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:16:33 -0000

And one hopes they'll use hopefully properly as well.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

David Iwanow — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:10:39 -0000

Hopefully unlike many tweets sent out I hope they remember to spell check the message before publication...

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

David Rensin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:59:02 -0000

To Pete: Since Donna Barstow dropped my name -- and Emmett and Alex are out after a hard days work on the book -- I thought I'd comment. Nice of you to post about the book. Good that you picked up on the introduction's verbosity. It's meant to be Ironic, of course, in contrast with tweeting great literature.

Jack: the premise is NOT to sum up each book in one 140 charcter or less tweet. That's just short-handing the plots, and not that interesting. This book is much more ambitious. Each book is presented -- as the subtitle indicates -- in up to twenty tweets. So why are a couple smart rising sophomores from U Chicago writing this book? Because betweeen them they've actually read every book they're including.

Twitterature is funny and smart.

Shakespeare, Stendhal and Joyce would all have a laugh.

Re: Twitterature: 19 Year-Olds Score Twitter Book Deal

matthewmaurice — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:51:28 -0000

Somewhere a Literary Agent is about to be fired. The only people who care about what 19yo Twitters have to say are 19yo Twitters, and the only books they buy are textbooks, or maybe manga. Either way I don't think Penguin should expect to recoup their advance.