One of the greatest novels in all of American literature was originally titled Catch-18. Then Joseph Heller found out that a novel about World War II called Mila 18 already existed. So he changed his book to Catch-22. And guess which American...
“They shot the white girl first.” That’s how Toni Morrison’s novel, Paradise, begins, and it’s a great example of an irresistible first line. Martha shares others sent in by listeners. She also reads from a Michael Cunningham essay about why a first...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a literature quiz based on descriptions of characters in novels. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Literary Character Quiz” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett. And I’m Martha Barnette...
Some novels grab you from the get-go. “I am an invisible man.” “Call me Ishmael.” “The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.” Martha and Grant discuss some of their...
Grant shares some favorite bad first lines from novels. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bad First Lines” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette. And I’m Grant Barrett. Martha, we were talking about great opening...