It’s All Fun and Games

In need of some entertainment? Try these links:

Reading other people’s reviews failing to inflate your must-read list sufficiently? Literature Map can help. Type in the name of a favourite author and a cloud of other names will appear. The closer they are to the author in the centre, the greater the probability that you’ll enjoy their books. (You could use this in reverse, too - enter the name of someone whose works you loathe, and find out which similar authors to avoid.)

Test your memory with the First Lines Quiz. How many opening sentences can you identify by title and author?

If you’re really up for a challenge, try Etymologic. Forget about the meaning of a word - can you identify its origin?

There are Word Games galore courtesy of the Oxford University Press, including the Oxford Word Challenge. Challenges range from the relatively simple to the truly fiendish.

At the site of a rare book store called Between the Covers (!) is a game called Letterature - think Wheel of Fortune with a literary theme. Play against a friend or the computer, and see who can deduce the title first.

Verbotomy issues a daily challenge to invent a new word for a given situation. For a blogosphere version with a literary bent, Raidergirl3 and Suey have devised the Bookword Game, looking for neologisms to fit bookish situations that need a word of their own.

Enjoy!