Mar 1 2007

Glorious 3-D

Amazon.com is currently having a sale on this mega-cool-looking Alfred Hitchcock pop-up book. According to the publishers, this book "pays tribute to the great filmmaker and features seven of his...

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Feb 28 2007

HBO to mix Rogue, Charlaine Harris.

Apparently, HBO is producing a TV version of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels, and it will star Anna Paquin, an actress I actually like! She's perfect for the role of a young, vulnerab...

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Feb 27 2007

Ilium, by Dan Simmons

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Plenty of science fiction writers get so dazzled by their own ideas that they sometimes forget about developing a decent plot. This is not the case with Dan Simmon’s novel Ilium. It has plot coming out of its ears—in fact, most of the story is based on tried and true literary classics. While his overarching storyline is based on Homer’s Iliad...

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Feb 27 2007

World Book Day

March 1st is the 10th annual World Book Day. There are loads of activities and charitable opportunities (including some Harry Potter-related stuff) associated with this event, so please swing by ...

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Feb 26 2007

Judging books by their covers

I can't believe how much better children's book cover art has gotten in the past ten years. When I was a kid the majority of children's book covers were terrible--lots of cheesy, semi-realistic d...

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Feb 25 2007

Dan Simmons

While Dan Simmons is probably best known for his Hugo-Award-winning sci-fi novel Hyperion, we here at Wordcandy prefer his sprawling, Greek-mythology-influenced novel Illium, the subject of one of...

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Feb 22 2007

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

...but I am actually about to recommend a Marvel comic book.Runaways is unexpectedly awesome. This series, about a group of teenagers who discover that their respectable California parents are le...

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Feb 21 2007

From Russia, with love

At long last, someone has translated Sergei Lukyanenko's novel Nightwatch. (Thank you, Andrew Bromfield and Miramax Books!) If you haven't seen the movie based on this bizarre, elaborate, spraw...

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Feb 21 2007

Un Lun Dun, by China Miéville

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I confess: I didn’t expect to like China Miéville’s Un Lun Dun. Preconceived dislike is a terrible thing for a book reviewer to admit, but there’s no denying it. I opened Miéville's book hoping to give it a fair shake, but A) I’m still recovering from reading certain scenes in Perdito Street Station...

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Feb 20 2007

Northanger Abbey

Artist Anne Timmons and writer Trina Robbins are doing a graphic novel adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey as part of a collection for the Graphic Classics line. Details are sketchy, but...

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Feb 19 2007

Hot contest action

Jennifer Colt is featuring a "Bookapalooza" contest on her site, giving away 100 copies of The Butcher of Beverly Hills, The Mangler of Malibu Canyon, and The Vampire of Venice Beach. For details...

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Feb 16 2007

Coffee table art for bibliophiles

If you're in the market for some truly beautiful comic books, I suggest you take a look at Chris Ware's stuff. Not only is it jaw-droppingly gorgeous, but it's also remarkably entertaining. Here...

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Feb 15 2007

So wrong!

I went to pick up Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips this week and boy, was I wrong about the background color on this cover art! On my computer screen it's this really warm salmon/...

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Feb 15 2007

Tantalize, by Cynthia Leitich Smith

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I have loads of horror/fantasy novels on my shelves—everything from Carmilla to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell—but Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Tantalize is unique: it stands alone as the only book that has ever inspired me to genuinely freak out. I’m a pretty unflappable person, but when I saw the words “chilled baby squirrels, simmered in orange brandy, bathed in honey cream sauce” on the restaurant dessert menu featured on page 174, I needed to lie down...

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Feb 14 2007

Worcandy loves John Donne's poetry

In honor of Valentine's Day, here's a bizarre little love poem from John Donne. (Please note: This may not be to everybody's taste. If you're looking for something a little more conventional, t...

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Feb 13 2007

A Nancy Drew movie, too?

The trailer is out for the new Nancy Drew movie and I have to say: I am not sure that I'm going to enjoy this film. Maybe it is all of the Veronica Mars I've been watching for the past few years, ...

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Feb 12 2007

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of the YA dark fantasy novel Tantalize, the subject of one of our Book of the Week reviews, is an Austin, Texas-based author noted for her stories’ cultural diversity...

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Feb 12 2007

Richard North Patterson

Richard North Patterson is a writer with a cause. Lots of causes, actually. He graduated from Case Western Reserve Law School in 1971 and served as both an Assistant Attorney General for the sta...

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Feb 12 2007

Exile, by Richard North Patterson

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Richard North Patterson clearly put a hell of a lot of work into Exile. He spent countless hours on research, he did his best to be fair to both sides of an extraordinarily complicated issue, and he tried to minimize his own biases. Unfortunately, all that effort seems to have drained some of the storytelling juice out of him...

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Feb 12 2007

Jennifer Colt appearances

Beloved Wordcandy author Jennifer Colt has two appearances scheduled for April: one on Saturday, April 7th at 6:00PM at The Mystery Bookstore in LA, and one on Saturday, April 21st at 4:00PM at My...

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Feb 9 2007

Movie news

We're rarely happy about Wordcandy movie adaptations, but we've found that if we play it safe and keep our expectations very, very low, we can usually get through them without too much trauma. Un...

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Feb 8 2007

Valentine's Day options

Valentine's Day is nearly upon us, and, as always, the Wordcandy staff is on the lookout for appropriate holiday reading. We understand that this is a holiday that evokes a wide array of emotion...

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Feb 7 2007

Bleagh.

I have tried to ignore this story, but I can't escape it. I am sorry to report that Del Rey is going to release a manga in conjunction with the dread Avril Lavigne. You can read the press releas...

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Feb 6 2007

Manga review

Brigid at MangaBlog has an interesting, largely positive review up of two interconnected manga volumes from the UK's Sweatdrop Studios: Blue is for Boys and Pink is for Girls. Both books feature ...

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Feb 5 2007

How To Abduct a Highland Lord, by Karen Hawkins

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Karen Hawkins had a good thing going when she began How To Abduct a Highland Lord. The story had solid dramatic potential, the characters were appealing, and she’s a decent writer. Unfortunately...

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Feb 5 2007

Further Pullman movie action

Masterpiece Theater has made a film adaptation of Phillip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke. It debuted last night, but chances are good you can catch it on repeats. The Ruby in the Smoke is not m...

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Feb 2 2007

Odds and ends.

A few reactions, some Harry Potter bits, and another anime/manga rec:1. I have now seen the first episode of the the Wallflower anime, and yes, the artwork is awful. (Plus, they chose a disturbi...

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Feb 1 2007

If you haven't already heard...

J.K. Rowling made the big announcement today: the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be published on July 21. Make reservations at your local book stor...

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Jan 31 2007

The Wallflower anime

Thanks to Wordcandy reader Kayleigh, I am now aware of the existence of the anime version of Tomoko Hayakawa's Wallflower series (Japanese title: Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge). This is one of my ...

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Jan 30 2007

Vivian Vande Velde

Vivian Vande Velde has written dozens of excellent fantasy novels and short stories for children and teenagers, including Heir Apparent (one of our Book of the Week picks) and Companions of the Ni...

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