The Elemental Challenge: Should You Choose to Accept it:
Water:
1. Find a book with water on it.
2. Find a book with blue on it.
Fire:
1. Find a book with fire on it.
2. Find a book with red on it.
Earth:
1. Find a book with something related to earth on it.
2. Find a book with green on it.
Air:
1. Find a book with air on it.
2. Find a book with white on it.
Spirit Bonus:
Find a book with the colors blue, red, green, and white on it.
I spotted The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion a mile away and knew I wanted it to represent blue / water right away both because of the gorgeous blue and the fact that I’m extremely anxious to read it having adored The Rosie Project. I’ve had Fluke by Christopher Moore on my shelves for years and still haven’t finished it. Unlike some of his other books (Lamb continues to be one of my all time favorites), this one didn’t grab me right away and I have a tendency to pick it up only to put it back down again. Someday…
I don’t think I have any books that are more vibrantly red than Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel which my book club discussed last month. I didn’t finish the book though I kinnnnda enjoyed it. Honestly, it just seemed to drag a bit too long and too often for me despite some really great writing and wonderful moments. Of course for an actual symbol of fire, I knew I was going to need something dystopian. Divergent by Veronica Roth definitely does the trick, visually, and is also a fantastic book to boot.
I probably have more green books than The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown but I loved the vines shooting out of the letters and thought it fit the concept of “earth” brilliantly. I haven’t read this one yet but I’m looking forward to it. Then of course there is the terribly literal interpretation of “earth” – A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is one of those books that I feel I must read at some point but keep putting off for unknown reasons (probably that aforementioned sense of self obligation – I don’t like it when I tell myself what to do).
This might have been the hardest one. I have books that are more literally white but they are kind of boring to photograph. And what is more iconically white than a wedding dress? Thus American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld wins for sure. I read Prep but haven’t read this one yet – time will tell if it’s equally brilliant. And then there is the idea of “air” being present in a book. I mean technically any book with a picture on it also has air in the picture, right? I finally settled on The Fault in Our Stars by John Green because of the clouds on the cover and further justified the choice because it’s such a fantastic book.
I actually found two and coincidentally they are both written by Jasper Fforde. Leave it to Fforde’s all encompassing all consuming imagination to produce covers that contain every possible color. I’m OBSESSED with the Thursday Next series and seriously adored One of Our Thursdays is Missing. I haven’t read Shades of Grey yet but I’m expecting great things.
Mommablogsalot 