I tried! I got the book (along with some other "classic" literature of the period) for a birthday. I read about 3 full pages before giving up and throwing the book across the room. Which was funny, because my mom had been telling me how much she enjoyed reading the book when I was her age, so I tried for her sake. And then her reaction was "...yeah, I should have expected that."

ANYWAY, I think the idea of people being assigned one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems to write a fic on would be awesome. Kind of like the alphabet soup?

Pretty much! I'm thinking any fandom. Get assigned or pick one from the list of the Thirty-Six Stratagems. Interpret it as you want. Write [n] words.

I'm sure people could come up with some awesome ideas.