Online Fun With Literary Giants

I recently stumbled upon two fun online tools that bring your favorite classic authors into the digital age.

The WorldCat Identities Network is 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' for the library world. Authors, actors, fictional characters and organizations, referred to as 'identities', are linked graphically. I was able to go from Shakespeare to Tori Spelling in six steps.  Still haven't made it to Kevin Bacon though. He should do more movies based on books. Fun aside, its an interesting way to see relationships between your favorite literary figures.

Mashable.com recently listed its favorite Literary Fakes on Twitter.  These are Twitter profiles that spoof famous authors from beyond the grave. You can find out what William Shakespeare thinks about Lady Gaga, how Edgar Allen Poe feels about Boy George and what problems Laura Ingalls Wilder would use 21st century technology to solve. 

And don't forget, thanks to Project Gutenberg, you can get almost all the classics as e-books for free. Just ask a librarian how to do it!