If You Mashed Together Some of Your Favorite Books...

Let's do this for fun, shall we?

I have 106 books on my Must-Read list at Goodreads. I'll assign a number to each title. Let me use the Random Number Service to choose five sets of two numbers and let's see what books we can mash up.

Here goes the spin....

#71 and #103: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Franz Kafka's The Castle

Plot of ZAMM: The book is the author's fictionalized autobiography of a 17-day journey he made on a motorcycle from Minnesota to Northern California along with his son Chris. The trip is punctuated by numerous philosophical discussions.

Plot of Kafka's The Castle: A protagonist known only as K. arrives in a village and struggles to gain access to the mysterious authorities who govern it from a castle. 

Mashed-up Plot:  A man known only as K and his son ride on a motorcycle from Minnesota to a village in Northern California, with numerous philosophical discussions along the way, and struggle to gain access to the mysterious authorities who govern the village from a castle.

In Short: Mysterious Castle + Philosophical Discussions + Motorcycle Ride

#19 and #15: For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Wrinkle in Time

Plot of For Whom the Bell Tolls: It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to a republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia.

Plot of A Wrinkle in Time: Thirteen-year-old Meg Murray travels with three supernatural beings, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which, across time and space to a dark planet to rescue her father who is captive there.

Mashed-up Plot: Thirteen-year-old Meg Murray and a young American man, Robert Jordan, travel with three supernatural beings, across time and space to a dark planet in order to blow up a bridge to rescue Meg's father who is held captive during the Spanish Civil War.

In Short: Witches + Bombs + Bridge + Dark Planet + Spanish Civil War

#86 and #71: Old Yeller and Millions of Cats

Plot of Old Yeller: The Coates family reluctantly takes in a stray old yellow dog who soon proves his worth by rescuing family members from a bear, a bunch of wild hogs, and a wolf.

Plot of Millions of Cats: An elderly couple are lonely, so the husband wanders far from home and finds a hillside covered with "millions and billions and trillions of cats." The cats follow him home.

Mashed-up Plot: It is pretty clear what will happen when an old yellow dog, who easily dispensed with a bear, a bunch of wild hogs, and a wolf, meets up with millions and billions and trillions of cats.

In Short: Dog + Millions of Cats

#76 and #102: Frankenstein and The Three Musketeers

Plot of Frankenstein: Frankenstein is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley (1797–1851) that tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a grotesque but sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment.

Plot of Three Musketeers: It recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard and befriends the three most formidable musketeers of the age—Athos, Porthos and Aramis.

Mashed-up Plot: A young man named d'Artagnan and the three most formidable musketeers of the age---Athos, Porthos, and Aramis---are joined in their journey to Paris by a grotesque but sapient creature from in an unorthodox scientific experiment.

In Short: Musketeers + Monster + Journey to Paris

#104 and #25: Don Quixote and How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Plot of Don Quixote: The story follows the adventures of a noble named Alonso Quixano who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world, under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Plot of How the Grinch Stole Christmas:  It follows the Grinch, a grouchy, solitary creature who attempts to put an end to Christmas by stealing Christmas-themed items from the homes of the nearby town Whoville on Christmas Eve. Despite his efforts, Whoville's inhabitants still celebrate the holiday, so the Grinch returns everything that he stole and is the guest of honor at the Whos' Christmas dinner.

Mashed-up Plot: A noble named Don Quixote and a grouchy, solitary creature named the Grinch set out together to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, bring justice to the world by stealing all the Christmas-themed items from the homes of the nearby town of Whoville on Christmas Eve.

In Short: Nobleman + Grinch + Stealing 

What do you think? Would you read any of these mash-ups?

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.