Books

Guess These 26 Book Titles Written in Only Emoji

by Laura Creste

Emojis have overtaken my life in a big way. As much I like sending long wordy texts, I appreciate the understatement of my favorite emoticons. Your friend flakes again on your plans for drinks? Hit him with the judgmental face. Another friend complains about her lack of romantic prospects? Comfort her with the dancing twins with antennae doing little Rockette kicks, to say, We'll both be alone forever!

Emojis are idiosyncratic, to say the least. Why is there both a camel with one hump, and a camel with two humps? When will we get emojis with more diverse skin tones? And when am I going to be able to send mermaids and witches to my friends?

The advent of Emoji has also given birth to my favorite game: Guess this book title. This level of nerdiness appeals to most of my friends (they're poets, OK?) and we can get weirdly obscure (cow, smiling poop, moon, lips, lollipop, buildings: "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, duh" my friend replied immediately.) You won't find poetry on this quiz, however; it's a mix of classic novels and popular fiction.

So, are you ready? Start guessing, emoji master:

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Answers:

1. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway; 2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen; 3. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; 4. Ghost World by Daniel Clowes;5. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee; 6. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne;7. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad; 8. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner; 9. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy; 10. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; 11. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote; 12. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy; 13. Children of the Corn by Stephen King; 14. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; 15. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann; 16. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck; 17. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt; 18. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson; 19. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel; 20. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller; 21. The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth; 22. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes; 23. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James; 24. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; 25. A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell; 26. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Images: Gideon/Flickr; Laura Creste (26)