It's manga awards season!
The results of the 32nd Kodansha Awards are out, and they've selected some really great-looking stuff this year. (The Kodansha Awards have made plenty of solid picks in the past: both Tramps Like...
Jane Austen Continuation Giveaway
To those of you who entered our Jane Austen Continuation Giveaway:The contest is now over. E-mails to the winners will go out this afternoon, and we'd like to extend our sincere thanks to both th...
Vampire Knight: the anime
I'm currently watching two K-dramas (I'm marching through Dal Ja's Spring--which is utterly fantastic, by the way--while I wait for subs for the next episodes of The Last Scandal of My Life), but ...
Easy-bake evolution
The New York Times is currently featuring an article about a publishing boom in the children's cookbook genre. According to the author, the market for books aimed at youthful cooks is increasingl...
Venus Capriccio
According to this article, the four-volume-long shojo manga Venus Capriccio has been licensed by CMX. I've really enjoyed the scanlated chapters of this romantic comedy series*, so I was chagrined...
Cheap'n'easy literary cred
Offering a hipster take on the "books by the foot" concept, Urban Outfitters is currently selling an assortment of 20th century classic novels, all obviously chosen for their awesome vintage cover...
Picture books for baby techies
Slate is currently featuring a slideshow about the frequently out-of-date portrayal of technology in kids' books.The slideshow introduced me to Sylvia van Ommen's Jellybeans, which kicks off with ...
Hollywood matchmaking
There's been action on the Bronte movie adaptation front: according to Variety, Natalie Portman will NOT be playing the heroine in the upcoming Wuthering Heights movie, and according to BuzzSugar...
Mind-bending
I was recently poking through the Art.com website, and I ran across this:This framed print of an 1894 illustration featuring Mr. Collins proposing to Elizabeth Bennet (from Austen's Pride and Prej...
Mother's Day gifts for the procrastinator (Part II)
Sadly, some of us don't have $50 to spend on our mothers (even if said mothers are worth every penny). If you're shopping for Mom on a limited budget, we suggest hitting up your local Goodwill or ...
Mother's Day Gifts for the procrastinator (Part I)
Many of us woke up this morning, glanced at our calendars, and realized: Sweet Georgia peaches, Mother's Day is this weekend. (Seriously, how did it sneak up on us like this?) So if you're in the ...
Out and about
If you're going to be in the Portland, OR area this evening, supernatural romance/horror writers Richelle Mead and Caitlin Kittredge are going to be at the Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing (...
May Book Giveaway!
Thanks to the very generous people at Sourcebooks, Inc., five Wordcandy readers have a chance to win a copy of a Jane Austen continuation:Good luck, dear readers. The contest ends next Wednesday, ...
Behold: A low-budget vampire version of the Gossip Girl cast!
Holy moly. Are they serious?What am I saying? This is the movie adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight: of course they're serious! And just because I find those poses hilarious, it doesn't mean ...
The Invention of Hugo Cabret gets even more visual
According to this, Brian Selznick's graphic novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret is going to be made into a movie:"The adaptation is being ushered into production by GK Films, whose last project was...
Picture shows
A literary movie adaptation I definitely will not be seeing:A literary movie adaptation I definitely will see:Dude, Hellboy versus Lucius Malfoy's evil alien cousin?! I can hardly wait!Although...
House of Many Ways
Behold, the cover art for the upcoming Diana Wynne Jones release: Thank you, fine people at HarperCollins Children's Publishing! I see they're selling it as a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle (even...
The Stone Gods, by Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson's novel The Stone Gods opens with the following lines:"This new world weighs a yatto-gram.But everything is trial size; tread-on-me tiny or blurred-out-of-focus huge. There are ...
Maximum Ride goes manga-esque
The Free Comic Book Day offering from the up-and-coming group Yen Press was a sneak preview of their manga-style adaptation of James Patterson's Maximum Ride series. I've been excited about this s...
Wordcandy Bookshelf: the sequel
As readers of our newsletter know, starting today we will be increasing the number of daily posts on the blog. We're continuing to post Monday through Friday, but upping our post count from one p...
In a word: awesome
Behold, a video of a cartoon cat named Nibbles reading aloud the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice:I didn't realize it, but I've waited my whole life to watch this.[Via AustenBlog]
Absolute Boyfriend: the drama version
I am not a fan of Yuu Watase's work (a friend made me watch all 8,000 episodes* of Fushigi Yugi in high school, and I've never fully recovered), but she's certainly enormously popular. Her series ...
The Poem I Turn To: Actors and Directors Present Poetry That Inspires Them, edited by Jason Shinder
Today is the last day of National Poetry Month, so here’s a last-minute offering: a review of The Poem I Turn To: Actors and Directors Present Poetry That Inspires Them, edited by poet Jason Shind...
The Sisters Grimm: Tales from the Hood, by Michael Buckley
Tales from the Hood, the sixth entry in Michael Buckley’s impishly funny Sisters Grimm series, is just as enjoyable as its predecessors—but the increasing darkness and complexity of the Sisters Grimm world has us wondering if Buckley is losing control of his own mythology...
Anime fans take note:
VIZ Media has announced that they have partnered with the entertainment division of National CineMedia to present Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody. The film (accompanied by exclusive interview...
Just a reminder...
Don't forget, gentle readers, this upcoming Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, which means you're going to want to shop early and shop often!Click here for more details--there's some good stuff this...
Books to inspire budding eco-geeks
Nonfiction books about the deterioration of the planet are great for inspiring nightmares about the melting polar ice caps, but the fiction aisle has something to offer, too. The following YA book...
Go Green: How To Build An Earth-Friendly Community, by Nancy H. Taylor
Nancy H. Taylor’s Go Green: How To Build an Earth-Friendly Community offers a concise, well-organized guide to a more sustainable lifestyle. Taylor examines everything from green building to loca...
Cooking for a Small Planet
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."-Albert EinsteinSome of us are vegetarians, some of us are flex...
Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living, by Doug Fine
Hoping to reduce his carbon footprint, journalist Doug Fine purchased a sprawling ranch in New Mexico, along with a couple of goats, some solar panels and a truck that runs on vegetable oil. He th...