Would you tweet book reviews?
I've got this idea about starting a trend of tweeting book reviews. Basically, the idea (warning, Twitter-speak coming) is that each book would have its own hashtag. The first tweet about a book would give its title and author. After that, every tweet would be running thoughts on the book.
For example, see the one I did for Paul Tremblay's IN THE MEAN TIME:
http://www.calebjross.com/2010/10/twitter-review-in-the-mean-time-by-pau...
Twitter Review: #ITMT In The Mean Time by Paul Tremblay @paulGtremblay http://bit.ly/bfWKjw
#ITMT story1: The ticking clock is a child’s impending pain. Incredible suspense. I suffered an entire life during this story.
#ITMT story2: Does simple psychosis explain the girl's 2nd head? Her mother's unhealthy support of the condition tears me apart.
#ITMT story3: like a scary retelling of Barthleme's The Balloon through the meta lens of academic legacy.Starts simply clever but ends deep.
#ITMT story4: Procreation, like hunger, is instinctual and ultimately insatiable. One character grows a child. The other eats dirt.
#ITMT story5: Sketches map a metamorphosis plague. Evenson-esque imagery with all the Tremblay emotion I am coming to love.
#ITMT story6: Plant-like growths overtake the world. Two sisters watch it steal their parents. The life cycle through magical realism.
#ITMT story7: Secret-eating spiders wait patiently for food. A lighter story in terms of theme, but no less creepy than the rest.
#ITMT story8: the Jewish aspect feels forced but otherwise a truly haunting tale. Nothing sadder than a caste teased with hope.
#ITMT story9: One brother escapes a childhood he remembers by billboard advertisements. Too short of a story. I want more pages.
#ITMT story10: Blog comments document a recent string of aneurysm deaths. The juxtaposition of casual banter and the serious epidemic works.
#ITMT story11: An isolated neighborhood feels like an unreal limbo. Residential expansion means personal implosion.
#ITMT story12: 2 people literally trapped between the floors of a multi-storied building. Are the floors meant to be heaven and hell?
#ITMT story13: A border patrol agent confiscates a child's tooth. The stolen sentiment tears him apart. Meant to be a novel, @paulGtremblay
#ITMT story14: A comparatively traditional story. A family trying to hide its poverty from the kids. Probably better if I wasn't drunk.
#ITMT story15: surviving an apocalypse in an amusement park. Like trying to end the collection on a happy note, but still fitting blood in.
#ITMT review: At times Aimee Bender minus the domesticity, add humor, mix with welcomed introspection. I'll be reading more @paulGtremblay
The idea would be to encourage readers to post their thoughts about a book as they occur.
I'd call it nOtprah's Book Club.
Does this sound like something that could catch on?
1. I was afraid of this. I know I don't follow them that often, but I figured maybe I was out of the loop.
2. Could you elaborate? Do you mean that people hate it when other people tweet a lot, or that people hate to tweet a lot, themselves?
I agree, it's too many tweets. If you could encapsulate a concise review of a book into one tweet, that might be something that would catch on.
I mean, I recognize that those are English words, but I got no idea what any of that means.
I'm with Nate.
I don't even know how to tweet.
and if all those tiny posts are meant to encompass one review, yeah, I would find that annoying.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
I guess this would be something that only those who are familiar with Twitter would latch on to (Twitter does have a harsh learning curve). Basically, the idea of too many tweets, though, this would be a form of running critique, not a way to review the entire book. Say, for example, I find a quote I really like. I'd put the book down and sent a tweet with the quote. Or, after I finish a single story, I'd tweet a review of that story (like I did with the IN THE MEAN TIME example above.
This is probably something I will continue to do on my own, but yeah, it may not be something many other people will take to. Though, maybe those who already use Twitter, they might.
how easy is it to make a new account on there? Maybe have an account dedicated to nothing but thoughts and quotes from a book as you're reading it.
That's a pretty good idea. The drawback is that in order for people to see the thoughts, they have to be "following" you, so that would mean building up a list of people in addition to setting up the account. This is why I thought the hashtag (#) idea would be better.
But still, I like the idea.
What about a twitter account that publishes micro-stories isn't there a 140 character limit or something. That could be interesting. If i was a twittering twit and had the motivation to do it, i probably would.
It might work for a small group of people but I think it would be very hard for it to actually catch on.