Mar 16 2006

Stephanie Plum!

It looks like we finally have a date for the twelfth book in the Stephanie Plum series. Twelve Sharp will be released June 20th! For those of you who can't wait to see what trouble Stephanie gets ...

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Mar 15 2006

Hollywood doesn't know what to do with Heyer, either.

So, it turns out that there IS actually an American film version of one of Heyer's books. Check out these charming pictures from the 1951 movie "The Reluctant Widow", AKA "The Inheritance":Okay, I...

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Mar 14 2006

Alan Moore + Hollywood = ...meh.

Brace yourselves, gentle readers, there's another Alan Moore film adaptation coming out. Why? Why does Hollywood keep doing this to us? Was From Hell any good? No. Was The League of Extraordina...

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Mar 14 2006

Wordcandy loves the poetry of T.S. Eliot

The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockS'io credesse che mia risposta fosse A persona che mai tornasse al mondo, Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo Non torno ...

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Mar 13 2006

Wordcandy does NOT love Peyton Place.

From the AP Wire:Sandra Bullock to star in film about "Peyton Place" author Grace Metalious(AP) - NEW YORK-Sandra Bullock has agreed to star in a film about "Peyton Place" author Grace Metalious, ...

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Mar 12 2006

Tim Powers

Awarding-winning sci-fi/fantasy writer Tim Powers is the author of The Anubis Gates, one of the few time travel stories that I can honestly say didn’t make my head hurt. The Anubis Gates is a “se...

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Mar 12 2006

Carolyn Keene

Carolyn Keene is the pen name used by the series of authors who have produced the various Nancy Drew books. Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, and Tom Swift were all the creations of ...

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Mar 12 2006

Franklin W. Dixon

Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by the series of authors who have produced the various Hardy Boys books. The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, and Tom Swift were all the creations...

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Mar 12 2006

Allen Kurzweil

A former teacher and freelance journalist, Allen Kurzweil is the author of two books for children, Leon and the Spitting Image and Leon and the Champion Chip, as well as two books for adults, The ...

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Mar 11 2006

Lauren Willig

Lauren Willig’s The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (and its sequels) feature two ongoing parallel stories: one about a modern-day scholar, and one about the people that she’s researching. T...

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Mar 11 2006

Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen

2006-03-11-mansfield-park-by-jane-austen

As everyone who spent any time around me in the fall of 2005 knows, I couldn't stand the most recent film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It played up the dramatic aspects of the story and played down everything else. I thought it was too short to do the story justice. The casting was all wrong. (I’m not saying Mr. Darcy wasn’t very pretty, because he totally was, but prettiness isn’t everything.) The whole thing felt like a commercial for a longer, better movie...

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Mar 6 2006

The great bookshelf quest!

I always seem to be on the lookout for a bookshelf. I spend months looking for the ideal balance of function and design. When I finally find one that works, I bring it home, it's instantly filled...

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Mar 5 2006

Wordcandy Weekly Book Snippet

Jim, the neighbor who lives in the three-story colonial down the block, has recently turned 50. You know this because Jim's wife threw him a surprise party about a month ago. You also know this b...

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Mar 4 2006

Judy Blume's feminine protection: redux

Judy Blume's groundbreaking novel Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret has apparently been updated for today's readers. All mentions of the "pink belt" (Margaret's great coming-of-age landmark) h...

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Mar 4 2006

Keeping our bookshelves safe...

...from the horrors of gay penguin love. Thank you, fine parents in Savannah, MO! Way to keep your eyes on the important stuff! From the AP Wire:"Parents Complain About Book's UndertonesMarch 0...

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Feb 20 2006

I can't believe that Meg's biggest complaint was the cover art...

When she could have been complaining about the TITLE.EW!

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Feb 20 2006

Wordcandy loves Lewis Carroll's poetry

The Walrus and the Carpenter"The sun was shining on the sea,Shining with all his might:He did his very best to makeThe billows smooth and bright--And this was odd, because it wasThe middle of the ...

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Feb 19 2006

Wordcandy Weekly Book Snippet

A new feature for the blog- snippets of Wordcandy goodness!"Did you know," he said, "my cousin said that in America there's shops that sell thirty-nine different flavors of ice cream?"This even si...

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Feb 19 2006

Readers 14 and under, take note!

If you're under 14 years of age and into creative writing, Wordcandy author Michael Buckley (author of the Sisters Grimm series) is holding an awesome contest through his website. Write your own ...

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Feb 18 2006

Nora Roberts movies?

LOS ANGELES, February 1: Four bestselling novels from Nora Roberts will be adapted into original TV movies through a deal announced today between the author, Peter Guber's Mandalay Television and ...

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Feb 18 2006

Elizabeth Peters

Elizabeth Peters is one of the three pen names used by the author known as MPM. (She has also written books under her real name, Barbara G. Mertz, and the name Barbara Michaels. However, we are ...

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Feb 18 2006

Megan Whalen Turner

Megan Whalen Turner is the author of the excellent (possibly ongoing?) children’s fantasy series featuring The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. Borrowing freely from Greek my...

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Feb 18 2006

Mervyn Peake

The works of Mervyn Peake, poet, illustrator, and author of the children’s story Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor and the fantasy/horror Gormenghast trilogy, fall somewhere between Edward Gorey...

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Feb 18 2006

Peter Abrahams

Peter Abrahams has written several intelligent, entertaining mystery/suspense novels for adults, and two phenomenal mysteries for teens, 2005’s Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery and its ...

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Feb 18 2006

Michael Buckley

Michael Buckley is the author of the Sisters Grimm books, a highly enjoyable series that has some striking similarities to Bill Willingham’s Fables series. So if you’re not old enough for Willing...

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Feb 7 2006

Wordcandy loves Russian poetry (even when the translation is iffy)

I don't know if you're alive or dead.Can you on earth be sought,Or only when the sunsets fadeBe mourned serenely in my thought?All is for you: the daily prayer,The sleepless heat at night,And of m...

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Feb 2 2006

More Casting Choices - Harry Potter

Well, kids, we have some new casting announcements for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Er... you kind of have to imagine these actors' potential. (Thought not so much in the case of ...

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Feb 1 2006

Bad Casting Choices

I am told that Marilyn Manson is to play Lewis Carroll in an upcoming film. Let's examine this casting choice, shall we?Marilyn Manson:Lewis Carroll:Hmm. Not exactly a perfect fit- Mr. Carroll d...

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Jan 29 2006

Sadly, now my birthday is over...

...but on the up side, I made out like the proverbial bandit! Thanks, everybody!Julia's Birthday Reading List: The Sisters Grimm series, by Michael Buckley. I was a little taken aback to find...

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Jan 28 2006

Christina Rossetti

More than one critic has compared the English poet Christina Rossetti to Dorothea Brooke, the heroine of George Eliot’s Middlemarch. (A character, by the way, that I have always longed to kick in...

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