Nov 23 2007

Black Friday

We usually encourage our readers to buy books from local, non-chain sources, but there's no denying that there are some excellent book deals to be found online today:Amazon.com has a Black Friday ...

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Nov 22 2007

Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers.

Here's a picture of the only Thanksgiving book I could think of:Frankly, that's a fairly accurate portrayal of the way I feel after a full day with the relatives.

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Nov 21 2007

Tools of the trade

As a vegetarian, Thanksgiving is fraught with peril. I don't want to be that girl who wanders around poking at everything, asking "Is there lard in this?", so it's easier if I just handle a lot ...

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Nov 20 2007

Austen don'ts

Austen fans take note: There are currently two books out entitled Mr. Darcy's Diary. One (which we are planning on reviewing in a few weeks) is by Amanda Grange, and one is by Maya Slater. We s...

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Nov 19 2007

Covetable

I wish I knew more about the Beggarstaff Brothers. Their posters were simple, eye-catching, and insanely effective--plus, they did a lot of work for theatrical literary adaptations! Check out th...

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Nov 16 2007

Freakout ahoy!

Bestselling Japanese horror/mystery author Miyuki Miyabe has a new book out. Here's the publisher's description of The Devil's Whisper:"The three deaths come in quick succession: one girl jumps f...

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Nov 15 2007

Thanksgiving is coming, people.

Check out these titles from OldCookbooks.com, which, according to its website, is "is the internet's largest [resource] devoted to out-of-print, vintage and rare cookbooks offering thousands of co...

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Nov 14 2007

The real question is: will they be buried in Westminster Abbey?

The guest bloggers for FSB’s Love of Reading Online Bookfair were given a list of suggested topics, and I picked this one:"What current authors do you believe will come to be added to the canon of...

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Nov 13 2007

Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer

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Georgette Heyer's Cotillion is romantic, hilarious, delightfully unconventional, and one of my all-time favorite books. For some unfathomable reason, Cotillion is rarely reprinted, so I was thrilled when Sourcebooks announced that this outstanding historical romance would be one of their Fall titles...

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Nov 13 2007

Why, Borders? Why?

According to this article (from the business section of The New York Times), the Borders Group is planning to install two flat-screen TVs per bookstore, allowing them to broadcast "original progra...

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Nov 12 2007

YA fantasy fans rejoice!

The publishing industry's spring catalogs are beginning to trickle in, and there is some seriously good stuff coming down the pike, dear readers.Just out:Perennial Wordcandy favorite Michael Buckl...

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Nov 9 2007

Easy come, easy go

I've spent a fair amount of time complaining about ADV. Their biggest fault, of course, was sitting on volume 4 of my beloved Yotsuba&! for the better part of two years, but they've committed ple...

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Nov 8 2007

Love of Reading Second Annual Online Book Fair

Next week (Nov. 14-16), FSB Associates will be holding the second annual Love of Reading online bookfair, and we, your humble neighborhood book critics, will be guest-blogging! Mark your calendars...

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Nov 7 2007

Wordcandy odds and ends

Well, dear readers, we're finally finished: it wasn't quite a week, but we did get through nine book reviews in eight days, so we're feeling pretty proud of ourselves. Meanwhile, though, other Wo...

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Nov 6 2007

Tales From the Teachers' Lounge, by Robert Wilder

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Robert Wilder (author of the whimsical parenting book Daddy Needs a Drink) has written another book, and it’s just as funny, profanity-laden, and stomach-churning as his first. Tales From the Teachers’ Lounge is a series of humorous essays about the questionable joys of teaching...

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Nov 5 2007

Michael Dobbs

Michael Dobbs has been a corporate executive, a political adviser, an academic, and an author. His historical novel Never Surrender, a fictionalized account of Winston Churchill's experience at t...

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Nov 5 2007

Never Surrender, by Michael Dobbs

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While we here at Wordcandy usually prefer our books to be straight-up flufftastic fiction, we periodically feel the need to broaden our horizons. Sometimes this leads to misery and regret...

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Nov 5 2007

The Chopin Manuscript, by assorted authors

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Since going live in 1997, Audible.com has become the leading provider of spoken entertainment and information on the Internet, allowing users to download digital audio editions of books, newspaper...

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Nov 1 2007

Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-To-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, by Thomas Holtz, Jr.

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Professional paleontologist Thomas Holtz, Jr. has just released Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-To-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, and dinophiles everywhere better start clearing space on their bookshelves, because this is not one of those illustration-heavy, text-light picture books. With contributions from over thirty of his fellow paleontologists, Holtz’s 432 pages...

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Oct 31 2007

Tina Grimberg

Born in the Ukraine, Rabbi Tina Grimberg now lives in Toronto with her family. Ms. Grimberg's memoir Out of Step: Growing Up Soviet is one of our Featured Book picks.

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Oct 31 2007

Out of Line: Growing Up Soviet, by Tina Grimberg

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Tina Grimberg’s Out Of Line: Growing Up Soviet is an excellent, surprisingly optimistic account of her childhood in the Ukrainian city of Kiev in the sixties and seventies. Grimberg’s book...

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Oct 31 2007

Babymouse: Skater Girl, by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

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Brother/sister creative team Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm’s Babymouse books are a series of witty, girl-friendly graphic novels starring Babymouse, a anthropomorphic young mouse obsessed with...

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Oct 30 2007

Poetry Speaks Expanded, edited by Elise Paschen and Rebekah Presson Mosby

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Poetry Speaks Expanded, edited by Elise Paschen and Rebekah Presson Mosby, is an updated version of the 2001 collection Poetry Speaks. This remarkable book features poems from 47 of the greatest ...

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Oct 29 2007

The Tokyo Look Book, by Philomena Keet and Yuri Manabe

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With text by anthropologist Philomena Keet and pictures by Yuri Manabe, The Tokyo Look Book attempts to give readers a complete tour of the Tokyo fashion scene. While it doesn’t quite manage to c...

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Oct 29 2007

Big week

We’ve got a clear mission here at Wordcandy: we promote fun, smart, critically ignored popular fiction. We beam a little love at the best romance novels, mysteries, fantasy/sci-fi stories, manga,...

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Oct 26 2007

Regency revisited

Michèle Ann Young’s No Regrets features one of the most tantalizing opening sequences I’ve seen in ages, and a plot that borrows heavily from Georgette Heyer. (Hey, if you’re going to borrow your ...

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Oct 25 2007

The Birds redux

In surprisingly positive movie adaptation news, Naomi Watts is said to be starring in an upcoming remake of The Birds. According to the article I saw, this time they're apparently trying to stick...

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Oct 24 2007

Exit Strategy, by Kelley Armstrong

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Kelley Armstrong can pack a lot of story into a 480-page paperback. Exit Strategy, the first book in her series about a hitwoman-with-a-heart-of-slightly-tarnished-gold, features more plot twists, setting changes, and major characters than you can shake a stick at...

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Oct 24 2007

New and (much, much) improved

I've been waiting a long time for somebody to give Lucy Maud Montgomery's books new cover art. I've seen a few decent-looking editions of Anne of Green Gables recently, but nobody seems to be lea...

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Oct 23 2007

Manga news

Wired magazine is currently featuring an article called "How Manga Conquered the U.S.—A Graphic Guide to Japan's Coolest Export". The article, which is told through manga-style text and artwork, ...

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