This month’s prompts are drawn from the books on NPR’s most recent list of Great Reads.  Sometimes it was the title that drew my eye (how could I resist the creative lure of The Book of Difficult Fruit?!), sometimes it was the book description (All That She Carried, for example).   This month I hope to accomplish two goals: to inspire you creatively and to encourage you to add at least one of these titles to your reading list for the upcoming year.

There is only one rule to my prompt challenge: the poem or book title should serve as the title of your piece OR all the words of the title should be integrated into your piece somehow.   

I LOVE posting your prompt responses on Brave & Reckless.  I welcome your poetry, prose, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essay, and art.  I will accept responses to any of the Great Reads prompts on any day before February 28th.

Email your prompt responses with a short bio (if you have not recently submitted to me) and a suggested image to her.red.pen.wordsmithing@gmail.com.

You can also participate on Instagram by tagging your writing/art with:

• #GreatReadsPromptChallenge
• #dailyprompt
• @stitchypoet

---

Build Your House Around My Body begins with the disappearance of a young woman named Winnie, and works its way backwards through time, telling a story of unfinished business and long-delayed revenge. Some of its set pieces are familiar from Hollywood horror movies and Brothers Grimm fairy tales – there’s an exorcism and a haunted forest. But because this book is set in Vietnam, the forest is an overgrown rubber tree plantation and the exorcism doesn’t have crucifixes or holy water. It’s a sprawling novel that tells a ghost story spanning generations, drawing the reader into its supernatural world.— Ari Shapiro, host, All Things Considered

---

Ten years ago, Aarav’s mom vanished. He awakened to a piercing scream on a stormy night and saw the taillights of his mom’s Jaguar fade into the darkness. Now, authorities have discovered his mom’s skeleton entombed inside her Jaguar in the dense bush of New Zealand’s Waitākere Ranges Regional Park. Someone on his parents’ affluent cul-de-sac knows what happened – and Aarav is scrutinizing all the neighbors. In this thriller whodunit, we even start questioning the memory and mind of our narrator, loyal son Aarav. Read this mystery to pass the time on a rainy winter weekend when it’s too nasty to leave home.— Preeti Aroon, copy editor, Digital News Desk