Call Me Ishmael

My sister, Lisa, is the human equivalent of a cornucopia for great websites, reviews, and resources for anything you might have           a hankering to know.  I’m convinced she lifted Hermione’s time turner; there’s no other way she could  amass what she does in        a mere 24 hours.

Last week she shared callmeishmael.com. Pure brilliance. From the site: “Call Me Ishmael is an online project that invites readers to celebrate the books they love. Anyone can call and leave a voicemail message about their favorite book; thousands of bibliophiles have already called and over a million readers have listened to this library of stories.”

The concept is cool enough. The execution is over the top creative. You visit the website and choose a voicemail. As the story is being told, it is also being typed line by line. It’s all there: the sound of the keys against the platen roll; that unmistakable font, soon to become a relic; the sense that the sheet of paper is bending as the (unseen) return lever advances; little swipes of Wite–Out®. Looking at the ribbon feed, I found msyelf getting antsy and rubbing my fingertips clean of imagined ink. Oh, it was marvelous!

Ishmael gives tips on how to create a good message. All voicemails are anonymous, so if Naked Came the Stranger was your book, go for it. I’m thinking of recalling A Wrinkle in Time. Or The Gift or Rain. Or….

Here’s the YouTube channel. Dive in.

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