RIP, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, author of the bodice-ripper classic The Flame and the Flower (book #1 on our Worst So-Called "Fun" Books Ever list) died Friday, July 6, 2007. She was 68.While Ms. Woodiwis...
Harry Potter Activities, Part V
So now it's Friday, and you haven't made a single plan. You haven't ordered your copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. You didn't make arrangements to hang out with your fellow book geek...
Harry Potter Activities, Part IV
While there are great HP-release party options on the East and West Coast, Midwesterners might be having the most hardcore HP shindigs. Two Ohio towns, Wilmington and Hudson, will be turning thei...
Harry Potter Activities, Part III
If you're within a hundred miles of Portland, Oregon, the Harry Potter release party at Powell's Bookstore sounds like an event not to be missed.Starting around 4PM, Couch Street will be closed to...
Harry Potter Activities, Part II
If you're going to be in New York this weekend, and for some reason you can't make one of the midnight parties, the Strand Bookstore in New York City (the "18 miles of books" place) is having a Ha...
The Night of the Solstice, by L.J. Smith
If L. J. Smith’s reputation rested solely upon her first novel, 1987’s The Night of the Solstice, and its sequel, 1990’s Heart of Valor, she might have been ranked among the classic children’s aut...
Harry Potter Activities, Part I
This week we'll be focusing on various Harry Potter-related activities scheduled around the country. If you're not a HP fan... uh, sorry. Check back next week.But if you ARE a HP fan, and you're g...
Harry Potter Toolishness, Part II
CURSE YOU, SIENNA MILLER!!!When will British girls learn? I don't care HOW cute you are, Emma Watson, NO ONE is cute enough to carry off this kind of outfit. Those BOOTS! That SATIN! Those... dang...
New Bond book
According to the Associated Press, the estate of the late Ian Fleming has selected British author Sebastian Faulks to write a new James Bond story. Faulks' novel, Devil May Care, is due to come o...
Deck yourself out
If you like Harry Potter shirts, but don't want to actually set foot in a Hot Topic, there are still some pretty awesome options out there:Support Buckbeak:I really like this one--very wearable, n...
Young Harry looks a little toolish
Details magazine is currently featuring an oh-so-saucy interview with Daniel Radcliffe, star of the Harry Potter movie franchise. I didn't read the whole thing (I get tired of Details' tone of co...
Avalon High Coronation: The Merlin Prophecy, by Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot’s books are pure escapist fun. Shojo manga—well, some of it—is also pure escapist fun. So combining the two should create some kind of super pure escapist fun, right? TOKYOPOP ho...
Yet another vamp series rec
My mother suggested that I check out Marta Acosta's vampire/romance series. Acosta's first book is Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, followed by Midnight Brunch, with a third book due to be released in...
Books on demand?
According to this, patrons of the New York Public Library will soon be able to use the machine at left to "print off books free of charge, the end result of which is supposedly 'indistinguishable...
Crusie and friends, part II
Well, here's the cover art for Jennifer Crusie's upcoming collaboration with Bob Mayer, Agnes and the Hitman:And here's the official publisher's description:"Agnes Crandall, a food columnist bette...
Lovely Complex
Viz Media is set to release their translation of the first volume of the shojo comic Lovely Complex tomorrow (they've retitled it Love*Com). Lovely Complex is an exceptionally cute odd-couple lo...
The Boys Next Door, by Jennifer Echols
It’s clear that Simon and Schuster hasn't exactly pulled out all the PR stops for YA novelist Jennifer Echols. Both of her books (2006’s Major Crush and the just-released The Boys Next Door) are ...
Mr. Spock! How COULD you?!
I was at work the other day, minding my own business, when a co-worker mentioned in passing a song about Bilbo Baggins sung by Leonard Nimoy. "How can it be that I haven't heard of this before?" I...
Evildoers beware
Mark your calendars--The Tick Vs: Season Two is due out on DVD on August 7th! Its $34.99 price tag is a little painful, but this gloriously strange mid-nineties cartoon is totally worth it.
Hocus pocus... with a little hanky-panky
The release of The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, Jennifer Crusie's newest collaboration (with authors Eileen Dreyer & Anne Stuart) totally snuck up on me this week. I think between anticipating the i...
WHHHHYYYY????
Slate has posted an essay about the upcoming movie adaptation of Richard Yates's 1961 book Revolutionary Road, described by the essayist as "one of the most depressing novels ever written". Why i...
The Last Summer (of You and Me), by Ann Brashares
I have spent years avoiding books like Ann Brashares's novel The Last Summer (of You and Me). Everything about it--the dreary cover art, the tasteful font, even the artistically placed paren...
Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman
At first glance, Austin Grossman’s debut novel Soon I Will Be Invincible has a lot in common with Ben Edlund’s The Tick. Both are witty stories about superheroes and their villainous counterparts attempting to make a name for themselves in cities that are overrun with muscle-bound do-gooders...
Holy cats!
HarperCollins Canada will apparently be offering a new edition of Susan Juby's Alice, I Think, aimed at adult readers. This book (due out in early August) is a perfect fit for the adult market--le...
Have we been missing out again?
Operating on a reader recommendation, I've put in a request for the 2005 Tor reprints of Michael de Larrabeitti's Borribles trilogy (originally published between 1978 and 1986). This is yet anoth...
Seems a little tacky.
Romance author Julia Quinn is offering what she calls "second epilogues" through her website. Each epilogue is about 30 pages long, and is available as an $1.99 HarperCollins e-book. Ms. Quinn h...