Apr 15 2009

Chaucer's England, revisited

The literary connection is negligible, but I've really been enjoying NPR's "The New Canterbury Tales", a five-part series that takes listeners on an audio tour of the same path Geoffrey Chaucer's ...

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Apr 15 2009

Seriously, how big are these kids' allowances?

According to Cinematical, Twilight fans at a Florida convention were willing to pay thirty dollars to get their picture taken with Kimbra Hickey, the apple-clutching hand model featured on the fir...

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Apr 14 2009

Takahashi title announced!

The Japanese manga magazine Shonen Sunday has revealed the title of the latest manga from Rumiko Takahashi: Kyōkai no Rinne. The story (lit. "The Boundary of Rinne") will center on Sakura Mamiya, ...

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Apr 14 2009

Colette on the big screen (again)

Huh. I didn't even know they were making a movie of Colette's Cheri:Despite being extremely pretty, that trailer conveys almost nothing.

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Apr 13 2009

Tribute, by Nora Roberts

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When I channel-flipped past Lifetime’s made-for-television adaptation of Nora Roberts’ novel Tribute a few days ago, I thought it looked ridiculous—the TV equivalent of spray-can cheese, with...

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Apr 13 2009

Man, what a bummer.

GYAH! British actor Michael Sheen has signed on to play one of the Volturi vampires in the upcoming adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's New Moon. Do you guys realize how I feel about one of the stars ...

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Apr 13 2009

More from Vonnegut

The AP Wire is reporting that Delacorte Press will be publishing a posthumous collection of short stories by Kurt Vonnegut. The book, entitled Look at the Birdie, contains 14 stories by the author...

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Apr 10 2009

The Mighty Queens of Freeville, by Amy Dickinson

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Amy Dickinson is the author of “Ask Amy”, an advice column that began in the Chicago Tribune in 2003 and now appears in more than 150 newspapers nationwide. In her bestselling memoir The Mighty Queens of Freeville...

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Apr 10 2009

An Offer You Can't Refuse, by Jill Mansell

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Jill Mansell’s An Offer You Can’t Refuse opens up with a plot device straight out of a cheesy fanfic: teenage lovers Lola and Doug are separated by Doug’s wealthy, manipulative mother, who bribes ...

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Apr 9 2009

I can't believe I'm saying this...

...but thank you, Stephenie Meyer.MSN Money is reporting that someone, at least, is doing well in this economy, and it's all thanks to you: sales of Twilight-themed merchandise helped Hot Topic's ...

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Apr 9 2009

Napoleon = cinematic gold?

According to Cinematical, there are two very different movies based on Napoleon's time in exile on St. Helena coming down the pike: Napoleon and Betsy, a historical romance starring Harry Potter's...

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Apr 8 2009

The Lab, by Jack Heath

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In his bio on the back flap of The Lab, first-time Australian author Jack Heath mentions his love of Milla Jovovich films. Trust me, this little tidbit was unnecessary—anybody’s who has ever seen ...

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Apr 8 2009

Who knew?

Several news outlets have written posts in honor (uh... kinda) of the recent DVD release of George Lucas's movie Howard the Duck. I've never seen this film, but I read the Slate article "Wauaugh!"...

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Apr 7 2009

Book sculpture

I'm torn, dear readers. Normally, I hate it when people destroy books (even really bad books), but I have to admit this hand-folded Cone Book Sculpture looks kind of cool. Hard to dust and, at $...

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Apr 7 2009

The World Without Us... the movie?

Huh. According to THR.com, Fox Pictures has acquired the film rights to Alan Weisman's The World Without Us. They plan to transform the bestselling nonfiction title into "a fictional feature [film...

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Apr 6 2009

Michael Crichton books on the way

The AP Wire is reporting that readers can expect two more novels from the late Michael Crichton, who died of cancer last year at age 66. HarperCollins will release Pirate Latitudes, an adventure s...

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Apr 6 2009

Georgette Heyer smackdown

Okay, one last piece of Heyer coverage and we're done (...for awhile). I went to the bookstore last night, and what to my wondering eyes did appear but TWO new Heyer releases—one from Sourcebooks...

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Apr 3 2009

Oooh, delicious cheese...

Check out this promo for Harper's Island. This upcoming CBS "mystery event" is loosely based on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None:Heh. At first I thought it was so cheesy it must be fan-m...

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Apr 2 2009

Contest follow up

We just sent out notices to the winners of our Georgette Heyer Giveaway, so if you entered that contest, please check your e-mail.As always, we'd like to send our sincere thanks out to both Source...

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Apr 2 2009

Have they failed to notice that we are collectively broke?

Brace yourselves, fantasy fans, because the fine people at Tor Books have decided to split the late Robert Jordan's final work into three pieces.The three releases combined make up A Memory of Lig...

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Apr 1 2009

A teeny-tiny vampire on the loose

Have you guys been following the adventures of Pocket Edward?Best thing to come out of the Twilight fandom yet.

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Apr 1 2009

This not an April Fools' joke.

...but it might as well be:Some lucky Slashfood writer picked this charming 1974 cookbook up at a New Jersey booksale, and I am so jealous.

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Mar 31 2009

Spanking Shakespeare, by Jake Wizner

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Jake Wizner’s debut novel Spanking Shakespeare is the literary equivalent of a Woody Allen movie directed by Judd Apatow: five times as self-centered, sex-obsessed, and painfully neurotic as it is...

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Mar 31 2009

The Scarlet Letter goes high school

Frankly, the story has always struck me as being fairly juvenile, so this seems like a pretty good fit.Variety is reporting that Will Gluck is directing a film called Easy A, a "modern, high schoo...

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Mar 30 2009

City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare

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Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, the first book in her Mortal Instruments trilogy, has a lot going for it: the twists and turns of the plot make sense, the dialogue is lively, and—unlike so many...

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Mar 30 2009

Borders no more?

There's been a fair amount of depressing-sounding Borders news floating around lately (not to mention the obvious shutting down/downsizing of its CD and DVD divisions), and it sounds like we might...

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Mar 28 2009

Behold, Here's Poison, by Georgette Heyer

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Behold, Here’s Poison features one the most creative weapons in murder-mystery history, and is my favorite of the three Heyer novels we’ve reviewed in the past week. Why Shoot a Butler? and...

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Mar 27 2009

Georgette Heyer resources

We're wrapping up our week of Georgette Heyer coverage (although our Heyer giveaway runs through Tuesday), so we thought we'd close with a list of additional references. If you'd like to know mor...

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Mar 27 2009

Wordcandy odds and ends...

They've cast the three main characters of the upcoming CW adaptation of L.J. Smith's Vampire Diaries.The anime adaptation of Skip Beat is winding down. People always want another season of popular...

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Mar 26 2009

Wordcandy chats with the Sourcebooks graphic designer!

As longtime readers of the site know, we care (maybe more than we should) about cover art. It's all very well to say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover... but, hello, there are a lot of books...

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