32 Random Facts About Books, Poems and Basically Anything Involving Words on Pieces of Paper

Writing about writing. How meta
32 Random Facts About Books, Poems and Basically Anything Involving Words on Pieces of Paper
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Like any art form, the spectrum between world-class and utter trash is pretty broad. We’ve decided to spare you our barely-legible jot note ramblings from the Notes app on our phones, and focused more on tidbits about some slightly better works and some of the best writing in history. Again, as you’ll see, it’s a broad, broad spectrum.

We’ll keep this short so you can get to the goods.

Through The Looking Glass

What you'll find in the Looking Glass. A boat, beneath a sunny sky Children yet, the tale to hear, Lingering onward dreamily Eager eye and willing ear, In an evening of July- Lovingly shall nestle near Children three that nestle near, In a Wonderland they lio Eager eye and willing ear. Dreaming as the days go by Pleased a simple tale to hear- Dreaming as the summers die: A boat beneatha sunny sky Long has pated that sunny sky: Lingering onward dreamity Echoes tade and memories die Ever drifting down the stream - In an evening of July- Autumn frosts have

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Hints proceeding unfortunate events. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket Book THE IMPORTA leacher The Wide Window CRACKED.COM In Lemony Snicket's 13 part series of children's novels, A Series of Unfortunate Events, there are full-page illustrations at the end of each book that contain clues to the next installment. For instance, the last illustration in The Reptile Room features a man wearing a shirt that reads Lachrymose Leeches, which make their slimy debut in the next book, The Wide Window.

Stephen King’s Macroverse

Pennywise the clown keeps popping up. STEPHEN KING THE TOMMY- KNOCKERS HIS LATEST BESTSELLER CRACKED.COM All of Stephen King's books are connected in some way, featuring evil forces from the Macroverse that terrorize an, admittedly, geographically small portion of our realm. The creature from IT, Pennywise, is described in Tommyknockers as a clown with shiny silver dollars for eyes. His name also appears in Dreamcatcher, as someone has spray painted Pennywise Lives on a standpipe.

Q-Squared

An alternate reality reveals a real identity. THE RETURN DE THE SEMIRATIONS CONS VILLADO g a STAR TRER THE NEXT GENERATION Q-SQUARED PETER DAVID CRACKED.COM In the Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Q-Squared, several alternate realities are created, resulting in splintered timeline tracks. In one such track, Track A, the bartender in the Enterprise's Ten-Forward Lounge is named Caryn Johnson; in the show, this position is held by the character Guinan, who is played by Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopi's real name is, you guessed it, Caryn Johnson.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Tolkien in another language. The Fellowship of the Ring BEING THE FIRST PART OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS BY CRACKED.COM The Lord Of The Rings books were just an excuse for linguist J.R.R. Tolkien to flex his fantastical language crafting, and he took every opportunity to decorate his work with secret translations. On the title page of The Fellowship Of The Ring, the top Cirth runes and bottom Tengwar script spell out the message: The Lord of the Rings translated from the red book of Westmarch by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Herein is set forth the history of-the War

Han Solo

Harrison Ford's influence knows no time or space. LEGENDS STAR WARS THE PARADISE ESNARE THE HAN SOLO TRILOGY BOOK A. C. CRISPIN CRACKED.COM In volume one of the 1997 Han Solo trilogy, The Paradise Snare, it's revealed that Han uses the alias Jenos Idanian in the events prior to A New Hope. Unscrambling the name and switching the order will give you Indiana Jones, which hardcore movie fans recognize as another character played by Harrison Ford.

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves wrote BRZRKR, a comic book about an immortal, 80,000-year-old warrior. KEANU REEVES MATT KINDT RON GARNEY BILL CRABTREE BRZRKR VOLUME ONE The main character, the Berzerker, does the U.S. government's dirty work so he can find out the truth about who he is. I had this image in my head of a guy fighting through the ages because of his father's compulsion to violence, he says. CRACKED.COM

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar co-wrote a novel about Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft. to KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR and ANNA WATERHOUSE MYCROFT - AND SHERLOCK It's a murder mystery set in the days of Mycroft's youth that kind of functions as an origin story. CRACKED.COM

Bill O’Reilly

Bill O'Reilly wrote a novel about a deranged TV anchor who kills people. FOR O'REILLY O'Rei - 17 the - PART THAT Red - Tacking A office Even from - R e.g THE CARD AGAINET CAMPERS THOSE WHO TRESPASS A Novel et It's called Those Who Trespass: A Novel of Television and Murder, and it's about an Irish-American TV host who gets fired and then starts stalking and killing his former co-workers. CRACKED.COM

Saddam Hussein

Somehow, Saddam Hussein authored a romance novel. Zabiba and the King by Its Author SADDAM HUSSEIN Zabiba and the King is set thousands of years ago, and it's about a romance between the Iraqi king and Zabiba, an ordinary villager. CRACKED.COM

Ray Manzarek

The Doors' keyboardist, Ray Manzarek, wrote a book about how Jim Morrison's death was basically a hoax. Ray Manzarek The Poet in Exile A Nows Place FOR Per Lem an FM ... Pe let book - stried m It's presented as a totally fictional novel, but it's pretty obviously about Morrison and the Doors - and in the novel, Jordan (the stand-in for Morrison) fakes his own death so he can reset his life. CRACKED.COM

Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini published a novel about a romance in the 17th century. THE GARDINALS MISTRESS BENITO MUSSOLINI The Cardinal's Mistress (which he claimed was based on true events) is about what happens when word gets out that the cardinal of Trent has a mistress - the pope forbids him to marry her, and everyone around the cardinal suddenly starts dying. CRACKED.COM

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson wrote a ridiculously racist novel about suicide bombers. Boris Johnson Seventy Two Virgins Efforteesly brilliane page-turner. DANK TELEGRAPH Seventy-Two Virgins is about Islamofascists (that's what the book calls them) trying to assassinate the U.S. President on a visit to Britain. They're foiled by a conservative Member of Parliament with shaggy hair who likes making classical allusions (coincidentally, that could also describe Johnson). CRACKED.COM

Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey co-wrote kind of an autobiographical novel. JIM CARREY AND YACHON MEMOIRS AND MISINFORMATION NOVEL We say kind of because Memoirs and Misinformation is about a movie star named Jim Carrey, but the plot has him fighting aliens with Gwyneth Paltrow (and it's hard to imagine Gwyneth Paltrow doing that). CRACKED.COM

Ruhnama

Turkmenistan dictator Saparmurat Niyazov authored a holy book called Ruhnama. SAPARMYRAT TÜRKMENBASY RUHNAMA It was taught in schools, and people had to carry it during official ceremonies. One scholar thinks this was all because Niyazov couldn't read or write Turkmen or Russian properly. People who have disabilities, for example illiteracy, want to be seen as geniuses. This was probably what got him started. CRACKED.COM

Richard Kiel

Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in Bond movies, spent 25 years researching and co-writing a book. The True Story of Cassius Glav KENTUCKYZION THE FORMIDABLE The LIGENDARY WHITE PLANTATION CONNER WEREHANCEDHESTORY AND CAUSEDMCIUASIMAD RICHARD KIEL PAMELA WALLACE The True Story of Cassius Clay: Kentucky Lion tells the story of Cassius Clay, a Kentucky abolitionist who lost his friends, his wife, and his son fighting slavery. CRACKED.COM

LeVar Burton

Aftermath by LeVar Burton is a sci-fi novel about civil war in the U.S. *DEFTLY CRAFTED ADDS NEW DEPTH AND PERSPECTIVE TO THE SCIENCE FICTION GENRE Denver Post LEVAR BURTON AFTERMATH ROVERN OF THE FUTURE In the book, civil war breaks out after an earthquake and the assassination of the first African-American U.S. president. Somehow, the plot features an evil scientist kidnapping non-white Americans to harvest their organs. CRACKED.COM

Lynne Cheney

Dick Cheney's wife Lynne published a lesbian romance novel. SISTERS LYNNE CHENET - - THE NOVEL OFA STRONG AND BEAUTIFUL WOMAN WHO BROKE ALLTHE RULES OF THE AMERICAN FRONTIER Sisters was considered so controversial, Cheney persuaded the publisher not to re-issue it in the 2004 re-election year (it was written about 25 years earlier). CRACKED.COM

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain published a graphic novel about a sushi chef who's also a murderer. ANTHON BOURDAIN GET JIRO! - LANGOON LOFF OSS ROSE TELEBRODIA The blurb for Get Jiro! starts with In a not-too-distant future L.A. where master chefs rule the town like crime lords and people literally kill for a seat at the best restaurants, a bloody culinary war is raging. CRACKED.COM

Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks' book Modelland is truly weird sci-fi YA fiction. TYRA BANKS Modelland It's about Tookie, a regular girl who somehow gets a SMIZE, an artifact that could get her to Modelland, a boarding school in the skies that trains young models. CRACKED.COM

Jesus of Nazareth

Paul Verhoeven wrote the scholarly work Jesus of Nazareth. jesus *Shrew and learned. -ABAM GOPNIK. The New Tarker of nazareth paul verhoeven It's about the historical Jesus - - a a revolutionary, not the Son of God. For Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven was a very tangible thing. Something that was already present on Earth, in the same way that Che Guevara proclaimed Marxism as the advent of world change. CRACKED.COM

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

CRACKED.COM The Hunchback of Notre Dame PHOEBUS was written by Victor Hugo as a womanizing creep. In Hugo's novel, the captain takes advantage of Esmeralda's affection for him to get in her panties, and then does nothing to save her when she is wrongly accused of trying to murder him.

Game of Thrones

CRACKED.COM Game of Thrones SHAE never cared for Tyrion in the books. Tyrion is just another client for Shae in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice -a particularly rich client, but that's all. She isn't at all heartbroken when she's forced to betray him.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

CRACKED.COM Who Framed Roger Rabbit JESSICA RABBIT isn't just drawn that way in the novel. Jessica is a nasty piece of work in Gary К. Wolf's book. She's a gold digger who cares nothing for Roger, and will happily play patty cake with anyone if she stands to gain anything from it.

Jurassic Park

CRACKED.COM R Jurassic Park JOHN HAMMOND was originally a greedy, unsympathetic jerk. Children gaping in awe at dinosaurs? На! The only reason Hammond creates the park in Michael Crichton's novel is getting tons of money, and cares about nothing except that.

Die Hard

CRACKED.COM Die Hard HANS ANTON GRUBER had noble intentions in the book. Unlike Hans, who was in terrorism only for the money, Anton Little Tony the Red Gruber was trying to expose a corrupt corporation's dealings with the Chilean dictatorship.

Agatha Harkness in the Comics

CRACKED.COM WandaVision AGATHA HARKNESS was Wanda Maximoff's mentor, not her foe. In the comics, Agatha is a generally benevolent witch who trained Wanda in magic. The show turned her into a villain mostly because they needed one.

The Original Ursula

CRACKED.COM The Little Mermaid URSULA was originally an honest witch. In Hans Christian Andersen's story, the (nameless) Sea Witch is a scary but fair provider of magic services. She has no hidden agenda, and even warns the mermaid she's doing a stupid thing.

The Girl from Petrovka

Anthony Hopkins stole the wrong (or right?) book. THE GIRL FROM PETROVKA CRACKED.COM Hopkins was cast in the film adaptation of George Feifer's novel of the same name. Не chanced upon a copy of the book someone had left on a park bench, so he swiped it. It turns out that was Feifer's personal copy with handwritten notations.

Battlefield Earth

John Travolta TERL CRACKED.COM After a Tarantino-fuelled resurgence in Pulp Fiction, Travolta went down a dark road starting with the 2000 L. Ron Hubbard adaptation Battlefield Earth.

A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess thought that the film adaptation of his book was a damned nuisance. After only getting paid $500 for the rights to the story, he spent years dealing with accusations about violence being on the rise due to the movie that he had almost nothing to do with. CRACKED.COM

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