Cities and suburbs, real and imaginary.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

dear oprah, or a reading "app" for readers

make me this: a libraryville. i wander the stacks of the application library, earning points for reading different things. my tiny avatar wanders the stacks of literature and non-fiction, browsing shelves to build up points as a reader, unlocking new books, new authors to fill your beautiful shelves that you can share with others and wander at will, along with unlockable perks for your avatar and your library: gothic shelves, sparkling librarian glasses, owls, spiders, various book-related attire.

the books would each load a chapter at a time, thereabouts, upon the screen. one merely has to read the page, and click completed. occasionally, there would be an easy q&a to fill in about the chapter just read to, you know, keep people honest.

begin with the simple classics: frankenstein, a christmas carol, twelfth night, then as you unlock points by reading, you earn points that unlock new libraries: a season in hell, elric of melnibone, i know why the caged bird sings, brave new world. get enough points to unlock contemporary classics: beloved by toni morrison, burning chrome, middlesex. keep at it, adventurous reader and unlock enough points for house of leaves or haunted or vellum.

the library changes to reflect your reading taste: gothic for goths, cambridge for classicists, modern for modernists, and potter-esque for potter-esques.

if you run out of points, by blowing it on costumes and pets for your avatar or limited edition book covers for your personal library, you have to go back to classics to rebuild your pyramid of points: illiad, don quixote, borges, dickens, dumas. then, fair reader, you can use points for vandermeer, kathy acker, aime bender, miranda july.

share your books with friends for half points off every page they read. level-up by sharing your library with other readers.

dear oprah, please put this together for us. facebook would be fine. iphone,too. whatever. send your lawyers after all the rights involved, and secure the developers and artists for the task.

it could be bigger than farmville, you know. it could be the foundation of the future of school.

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