Twittering the first lines of books so you don't have to.
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"For either logophiles or aspiring writers, Twitterlit's twice daily delivery of first sentences may be the most condensed form of education and enlightenment you can get." |
"That's the fun of TwitterLit, an extremely simple and extremely addictive site we've been goofing off with for the past half hour. Twice a day creator Debra Hamel posts the first line of a book with no title or author information. Mull it over, try and guess the line's provenance, and then — once you've figured it out or, more likely, once you give up in frustration — click on the accompanying link and get taken to the book's Amazon page. Hamel mixes well-known books ('A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head,' from A Confederacy of Dunces) with less popular gems ('The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roaster chicken,' from Mary Roach's nonfiction book Stiff), but all the first lines are eye-catching and can be delivered to your cell phone, via RSS feed, on a desktop widget, or any other of the myriad of ways Twitter dispenses information." |
"It's an intriguingly random way to discover new reads - Alan Alda's biography suddenly becomes a much more appealing prospect when you know it starts with, 'My mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six, but she must have shown signs of oddness before that.'" |
"MOOCHING ABOUT IN THE BLOGOSPHERE EARLY THIS MORNING I stumbled across this wonderful newish website called TwitterLit. It is just what every voracious reader will enjoy, and a terrible time waster, but on the other hand, as a result of reading the first lines I have added six books to my 'Must Read' list. Try it out, you'll love it too...." |
"I have found a good half a dozen books to add to my wish list, it could almost be the perfect way to select what to read next." |
"Twitterlit is gonna be a big smash hit, in my opinion. I've mentioned it before, I know, but it continues to fascinate. ...Anyway, I have a feeling that the lovely Debra has a winner here." |
"It’s an interesting and innovative combination of Web 2.0 and affiliate marketing...." |
"Lovely idea, since first lines are such a compelling topic to think about." |
"I’ve also been enjoying this: Twitterlit. ...It is like a game, to see how far off your guess is from the actual book. Which is how I felt when I clicked on Alan Alda’s memoir the other day." |
"I was simply amazed by the ingenuity and the simplicity of the service and the underlying sustainability of the effort." |
"But a more intriguing friend is TwitterLit, with roughly twice/day posts of first sentences of books. I love this idea. Would that we were all this clever..." |
"This site is actually well baked, meaning they know what they wanted to do and attacked it from all possible angles. Archives are sortable, you can search and even suggest books. A winner" |
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SUGGEST A LINE | TWITRLIT (bookmarklet -- drag link to your toolbar) | PRESS 6187 1st lines posted since 4-29-07 Full Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. TwitrLit is not affiliated with Twitter.com. |