To Kill A Mockingbird
by mefnj

Comment:
A hauntingly beautiful memento mori. The title of the novel derives from an old folk wisdom that it is immoral to kill a mockingbird because they do nothing but sing and bring goodness to our lives. Atticus says as much in one of his monologues to Scout. And this is a central theme in the book, because there are individuals in the town, especially Boo, who are feared and reviled and mocked when all they want to do, is good.

As such, I take the imagery here to be sort of a post-mockingbird conceit, as it were, a commentary on how we've gone and sucked all the beauty and good out of life in our post-modern times. It's MY conceit of course: no reason it has to be yours. But it ties the whole thing together fabulously for me, and I have no technical nits to pick, being a lover of photographing dead things on slate myself.

9 from me.

The Water Babies ~ Charles Kingsley
by Ja-9

Comment:
I like this very much. I can see the koi as metaphors for the water babies. I like the feel of it and the color of it. Nice job! 8

The Sun Also Rises
by Marfun

Comment:
It's an absolutely gorgeous, misty sunrise. I'm having a hard time figuring out if it's possible to have that color water under that color sky, though, and that bothers me some.

I'm more bothered by the fact that it has absolutely nothing to do, emotionally, with the Hemingway novel. But you're far from alone in having taken this approach, working from a title only.

6 from me.

Arabian Nights
by ecmguy

Comment:
Not to pick nits, but "The Thousand Nights and a Night" isn't a novel, it's a collection of stories woven together.

That said, clearly the image IS from the Middle East and it IS night, and it's nicely put together technically. Looks like a magical place. 6 from me.

The Old Curiosity Shop-Charles Dickens
by Mona

Comment:
Technically I don't much care for this; the framing is awkward, the light is kind of blah, it's just so matter-of-fact. But the Old Curiosity Shop was a magical place, layer upon layers of remarkable things. So this is just a disconnect for me.

I'll give it a 4.

Catch Her in the Rye
by IrvineJames

Comment:
Well, it's a nice pun :-) Technically the image is pretty accomplished, though I'm seeing an odd disconnect between face color/tones and the rest of her skin that really bothers me.

In the end, it doesn't connect for me. I need more, at some level. 5.

Damn Dust - The Grapes of Wrath
by Rmac

Comment:
This works for me as having been inspired by the novel. I've spent a lot of time in "Steinbeck Country", Salinas and environs, and this scene feels faithful to the rundown farm buildings (and run-down people) we used to see a lot of, and maybe still do for all I know. There's a nice sense of hopeless foreboding ("What's the world gonna throw at me NEXT?") in this shot, and that works.

I'm not sure all your processing choices really work for me, but I can see why you made them. I do like the granularity of it. 7 from me.

Don Quixote (de la mancha)
by Harlequin

Comment:
Windmills? Check! Tilting? Check! Of course, when they talk about Don Q "tilting at windmills" they are describing him attacking with a lance, as in "jousting", but what the heck. I'm amused.

Photographically, sort of "meh" but still intriguing in a matter-of-fact way.

You get a 6 from me...

Snow White
by PennyStreet

Comment:
Such an intriguing image in its own right, but only the most tenuous connection to the fairy tale "Snow White", which isn't a novel in any case. I'm gonna take a leap of faith and assume you are referencing Donald Barthelme's modernist classic version of Snow White, which indeed makes numerous "absurdist" leaps in the narrative. Fits THAT one to a tee, it does, because this image is absurd :-)

Give ya a 7.

Fanny Hill
by disassociation

Comment:
This isn't working for me at all. Chalk it up to latent prudery if you want, but I find the image profoundly unappealing. The expression, especially, is quite disturbing. I suppose the image meets the challenge, in the sense that the book's about a prostitute and it's quite bawdy, but for me "bawdy" inspires a sense of rough-and-tumble fun (the book displays a tremendous amount of risque humor), and this doesn't incorporate that element.

Regardless, the image is not technically especially well done, either in lighting or in pose, IMO. I'll give it a 5, which is what I give any image in this challenge that seems to me to MEET the challenge.