Dec 13 2010

Travel in style to fictional locations

Okay, I'm adding an addendum to our Holiday Gift List. Check out these "Comic Travel Location" posters from artist Justin Van Genderen:Are they not awesome? There are more on Mr. Van Genderen's ...

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Dec 10 2010

Code: Breaker Vol. 1, by Akimine Kamijyo

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Volume one of Akimine Kamijyo's series Code: Breaker is not for the faint of heart. And as the first few pages indicated the story was going to be an all-ages-friendly shounen mang...

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Dec 10 2010

The Flappers: Vixen, by Jillian Larkin

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Vixen, the first book in Jillian Larkin's new Gossip Girl-meets-Thoroughly Modern Millie young adult series, has a lot going for it. The cover looks great, Larkin has a wonderful time with period slang, music, and clothing, and flappers are totally hot right now...

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Dec 9 2010

$30 of pure cuteness

Well, I've decided what I want for Christmas:In addition to being totally adorable, 15% of the gross sale of this "Alice" print by artist Katie Kirk goes to benefit the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation.

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Dec 8 2010

Real award, (thankfully) fictional sex

The 18th annual Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction award was announced a few days ago, and the dubious honor was given to Irish author Rowan Somerville for The Shape of Her, which apparently inclu...

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Dec 7 2010

I Am Number Four, by Pittacus Lore

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Before we begin, a small disclaimer: I have never read James Frey's notorious “memoir” A Million Little Pieces, but any man who compares writing a falsified autobiography to Picasso...

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Dec 7 2010

Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher, by Wendelin Van Draanen

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We adore Wendelin Van Draanen's books, but we understand why the director of the recent film adaptation of her novel Flipped re-set the plot in the 1950s—Ms. Van Draanen's unif...

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Dec 7 2010

Plus after plus

Finally, some e-book news I'm genuinely excited about: Google has launched an online e-book retail store. Their e-books aren't fancy (no 3-D pictures or dictionary definitions on demand), but the...

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Dec 6 2010

Odd Is On Our Side, by Dean Koontz and Fred Van Lente

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Odd Is On Our Side is the second graphic novel to feature Odd Thomas, a twenty-year-old fry cook living in the fictional Californian town of Pico Mundo. Odd—a character first intro...

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Dec 6 2010

Tron 1.5

I've never grasped the appeal, but fans of Disney's Tron franchise might want to pick up a copy of Tron: Betrayal, the graphic novel prequel to the upcoming Tron: Legacy movie. Apparently, the bo...

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Dec 3 2010

Stone Rabbit #5: Ninja Slice, by Eric Craddock

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Eric Craddock's Stone Rabbit #5: Ninja Slice is a boisterous, colorful read aimed squarely at reluctant male readers ages 7-10. The plot (what little there is of it) is simple: whe...

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Dec 2 2010

Zen Ghosts, by Jon J. Muth

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Unlike the book we featured yesterday, Jon J. Muth's Zen Ghosts is an example of kid-friendly surrealism done absolutely right. It's short on words, but overflows with thought-prov...

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Dec 2 2010

Dry your tears, Buffy fans.

I've only been keeping half an eye out for news about the proposed Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, but I did see an article on the MTV Movies Blog that (gently) chided series creator Joss Whedon—...

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Dec 1 2010

The Memory Bank, by Carolyn Coman and Rob Shepperson

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The Memory Bank (text by Carolyn Coman, illustrations by Rob Shepperson) is the story of two sisters. When Hope's evil parents banish her baby sister Honey for breaking the family'...

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Dec 1 2010

Major (by our standards, anyway) announcement:

Well, dear readers, after nearly six years of our current layout, Wordcandy.net is finally getting a full site redesign, and we're building up for the changeover by having a month-long book giveaw...

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Nov 30 2010

Wordcandy's Holiday Gift List: 2010 Edition

It's that time of year again, dear readers—time for our annual list of Wordcandy-friendly gift suggestions! Behold ten of our favorite book-related goods ranging in price from $10 to $100:1.Jonat...

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Nov 29 2010

One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding, by Rebecca Mead

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Do not give Rebecca Mead's 2007 book One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding to anyone who has recently had a wedding*. Trust me, it will only depress them, and who wants to embark o...

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Nov 29 2010

Happily Ever After, by Nora Roberts

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Earlier this month, Nora Roberts released Happy Ever After, the final novel in her Bride Quartet. I've grown fonder of this series with each book, so I trotted out to my local bookstore—this ti...

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Nov 19 2010

One-stop holiday shopping

Well, this should make Megan happy (she loves these editions): for a limited time, Powell's Books is selling Penguin's "Hardcover Classics" line—designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith and featuring "g...

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Nov 18 2010

Check your fairy godmothers at the door

Salon's Laura Miller has posted an article about the National Book Award's stipulation barring "collections and/or retellings of folk-tales, myths, and fairy-tales" from entering the contest. I h...

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Nov 18 2010

Cookbooks lie.

Jesse Wegman has posted an article on Slate.com about the inaccuracy of cooking times advertised in cookbooks. The author explores a variety of theories, including three possibilities suggested b...

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Nov 17 2010

"You better watch yourself." Seriously, film?

Behold, the dark-and-sexy new film take on Little Red Riding Hood:Okay... that looks hilarious, and unintentionally so. I am so there.P.S. Is it just me, or did they steal most of their costumin...

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Nov 16 2010

Save the words!

The fine people at Oxford English Dictionaries have started SaveTheWords.org, a website devoted to reviving thousands of gloriously obscure English words that have fallen out of daily use. Visito...

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Nov 15 2010

Michael Buckley for an older crowd

I caught an episode of Robotomy over the weekend, and while this series was co-created by best-selling children's author Michael Buckley and appears on Cartoon Network, do not assume it is safe fo...

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Nov 15 2010

Jumping the gun?

Deadline is reporting that Fox 2000 has bought the rights to a projected YA trilogy written by Julianna Baggott. The series doesn't actually have a publisher yet, much less a release date or cove...

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Nov 12 2010

Weak. Sauce.

Oh, for crying out loud:They're doing zombie/children's poem crossovers now? And they're charging nearly $13 for them? Seriously, the minute I see someone trying to splice a monster joke into a ...

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Nov 10 2010

Smelling like Charles Dickens

Artisan candlemaker Paddywax has released a line of author-inspired candles. At $25 per 9oz. glass container, you can now scent your home with candles named after Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, He...

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Nov 9 2010

It's still not April 1st, right?

Huh. NPR informs me that the 4th Annual Quidditch World Cup is taking place at De Witt Clinton Park in New York City this very weekend, and will feature more than 60 different teams from high sch...

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Nov 9 2010

And look! She's *not* shaped like Barbie!

Jezebel has posted a couple of advance images from the upcoming Marvel Comics reboot of the "Spider-Girl" character. (This version of the character has no connection to Peter Parker, apparently.)...

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Nov 8 2010

Not bad, not bad at all.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is apparently planning on giving away several advance-reader copies of her upcoming book Call Me Irresistible over the next few months, so if you're a fan of hers you migh...

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