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Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Shakespeare on Twitter

Some of us procrastinators here at CNET News are having fun with the idea of coming up with Twitter versions of classic novels. And you thought Cliffs Notes made things easier...

Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
Credentials
  • Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
Leslie Katz

Times are hard. Sister breast feeding homeless guy. I am so outta here.

If you had to guess which classic novel that describes, Twitter-style, what would you bet on? (*Scroll to the bottom of the page for answer.)

Let's invade France and marry their women! And you thought Cliffs Notes were fast...

Some of us procrastinators here at CNET News (I'm talking to you, Jim Kerstetter) are having great fun with NPR host Peter Sagal's idea of coming up with Twitter versions of classic novels, like the summation above, which Sagal wrote.

Sagal, head funnyman on the weekly news quiz Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! went on his Twitter page and challenged others to come up with their own literary summations in 140 characters or less.

None are quite as good as Sagal's--or as Jim's. Kerstetter managed to come up with, like a dozen, in two minutes. He even threw in a few plays and a short story:

• I became famous to impress a chick and some old crook helped me. (Great Expectations)

• My no-good daughters are making me crazy! (King Lear)

• Lemme tell ya about the big one that got away. (The Old Man and The Sea)

• Let's invade France and marry their women! (Henry V )

• Cold-blooded murderers are people, too! (In Cold Blood)

• I wish I brought a Band-Aid. (The Snows of Kilimanjaro)

OK readers, got anything for us?

*Answer: The Grapes of Wrath.