Rather Be Reading and the Loch Ness Monster

I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and loving them. Now, you may or may not have previously heard about Little Women and Werewolves, but this third book in the 'literary mash up trend', as it appears to be called, is stirring up some controversy. Take the article below, for example.

‘Little Women and Werewolves’: a step too far? csmonitor.com
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Now, I wouldn’t be so hard on this, and similar, novels. I, personally, am loving them, and I hope they don’t stop anytime soon. (I think it’s be great to remix some Dumas with some evil creatures.)

Okay, so, maybe the concept does have the propensity to get old. But as long as they keep things fresh and unique, it could stick around for a while. Ad if you think about it, it’s the adult equivalent to Children’s Illustrated Classics. The addition of crazy monsters makes the book more accessible to reluctant readers of classic literature, by adding concepts more appealing to them. Maybe after reading the parody, or mash up, or what have you, they’re more interested in reading the original, to compare?

I can see how some people could somehow be offended by this destruction or demeaning of a classic novel. (Which really doesn’t make that much sense, cause they didn’t write it.) It’s how the co-authors (which you notice they call themselves, as well as list their name second) pay tribute to these works. I think that if the original authors of these classic pieces of literature knew about, and understood the motives behind, these works, they would probably think it was hilarious, even appreciate that their novel was famous enough to deserve a parody.

I think this just bight be blown out of proportion a little bit. But, what do you think?

By the way, did I mention that Seth Grahame-Smith, co-author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, is currently working on a new title? Yep. It’s called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. And I can’t wait to read it.