Take a hilarious crash course in literature--just three pithy lines--from a bestselling haiku humorist.
Why spend weeks slogging through The Iliad when you could just read the haiku? From Homer to Faulkner to Lao Tzu, the Great Books are now within the reach of even the shortest attention spans. Show off your literary prowess at cocktail parties with minimal prep time, thanks to the author of the popular Haikus for Jews.
In the sixteenth century, Zen monks in Japan developed the haiku, a poem consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Little did they know that their ancient art form was destined to become a handy tool for today's time-crunched Western reader!
Reducing eyestrain and deforestation, Haiku U. distills dialogue and plot, capturing the essence of our favorite literary classics, seventeen syllables at time: Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past: Tea-soaked madeleine-- a childhood recalled. I had brownies like that once. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre: O woe! His mad wife-- in the attic! Had they but lived together first. Just in time for graduation, Haiku U. gives the gift of an entire literary canon, packed into one hilarious gem.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Haiku U, a book / For all seasons and reasons / Aristotle, all:
I'm a list-lover. Show me a list of must-read books or must-see movies and I've got a pen out forthwith. So when I saw David M. Bader's selection of 100 great books, that was enough to "hook" me and I had to flip the pages. What a great idea: "Condensed into haiku, the 'great books' are now within the reach of even the shortest attention spans." It's the next best thing to a Kindle, and in the case of some of these books, better. The selections are weighty overall, or at least the originals are;... more info
Haiku Review:
Haiku review
How very clever in synthesizing a large piece of literature to a few words, AND in prescribed Haiku format. I laughed, jumped ahead, jumped back--fun, fun, fun. If you have read even half of the Great Books, you will enjoy this take on them--or if you haven't read any, you might want to after these 17 syllable synopses.
Silly and funny, but only for a minute.:
The problem with this book is the fact that most of the pieces they have Haikus for are obscure. You truly need to be an English major and a History major just to recognize the titles. Sure, I laughed, but they got old quick. Guess it's just the nature of the Haiku. And again, not recognizing half of them (as I'm an English major only) made it hard to "get the joke."
Haiku Who? Haiku U!:
This is a fantastic book. The work is delightful----very, very good---
hard work well done
