Holiday Gift Guide! (And Gift Pick #1)
It's one of my favorite times of the year: vicarious shopping week! Yes, dear readers, it's time for our Annual Holiday Gift Guide, where I feature eight book-related items that I would personally quite like to receive as gifts. This year I've been trying to focus on buying less new, single-use stuff, so everything on this list will be either A) used/vintage, or B) consumable...
Frank Miller will 100% find a way to make Nimue a stripper.
I'm mildly interested in the recently released "illustrated novel" Cursed, written by Thomas Wheeler and illustrated by Frank Miller. It's a retelling of Arthurian myth centered around Nimue, and set to become a Netflix series in 2020. (The show was announced more than a year ago, but I'm assuming the novel was published now in order to give it more real-book—versus "novelization" or "companion book"—cred.) It might work, too, but...
Jane Austen's taste in snacks
The Spruce recently posted a recipe for Jane Austen's Favorite Bath Buns. I'm not sure how I feel about caraway seeds in a sweet bun (as a Czech person, I'm used to caraway seeds in stuff like cauliflower soup or braised cabbage), but my love...
65+ melodrama
I just saw the trailer for The Good Liar, a new film (based on a book of the same name by Nicholas Searle) starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen. I definitely want to support movies starring older actors that aren't about them facing imminent death...
Blowout, by Rachel Maddow
Reading Rachel Maddow's Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth is like listening to an exceptionally long monologue for her MSNBC show. Her voice is genial, her subject important, and her arguments carefully researched and informative—but her laid-back, rangy, coolest-professor-on-campus style undermines the urgency of her subject...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Blowout, by Rachel Maddow
This week's Book Giveaway is Rachel Maddow's latest book, Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth. (Nothing but good times ahead!) A full review will follow shortly, and this review will run through 11/17/19...
We hardly knew ye
According to Slashfilm, the upcoming X-Men solo movie about Kitty Pryde is dead. They're blaming it on the failure of the Dark Phoenix movie, but I don't think anyone is surprised that when things get even remotely dicey, Disney/Fox/Marvel...
I've been burned before.
I have never liked Peter Pan much, and I am by no means certain that this new, Wendy-centric film adaptation of the story will make me feel any more positive about it. It certainly looks beautiful and wild, but I can sense the angst...
Single season for the WIN!
Ooh, according to THR, ABC is rebooting Revenge, their (very, very loose) TV adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. I fully approved of the glorious soapiness of Revenge when it premiered; sadly, it...
Better than all those made-for-TV musicals, I suppose.
The first trailer is out for the BBC's upcoming adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, and it looks creepy as hell. Were people really clamoring for more authentic Victorian horror with their...
I'm sure they'll find a new dude to handle this woman-centric story.
So much drama for such a young series! According to THR, HBO Max has fired Jon Spaihts as the showrunner for Dune: The Sisterhood, an upcoming TV offshoot of the (also upcoming) feature film. They haven't found a new showrunner to replace him yet, but apparently they weren't happy with his early plans for the "female-focused take" on...
Detection Unlimited, by Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer wrote some memorably creative mystery novels, and some memorably terrible ones. She also wrote Detection Unlimited, which I can only assume she threw together to meet an urgent deadline...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Detection Unlimited, by Georgette Heyer
This week's Book Giveaway is Georgette Heyer's Detection Unlimited. I know I've read this before, but I have absolutely no memory of what it's about—even after reading the description summary on the back. I suspect this is a bad sign, but we'll see. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/09/19...
You don't deserve it, sir.
Well, it's almost Halloween, and this seems more than adequately horrifying to me: there are loads of rumors going around that Andrew Davies will be allowed to write a second season of Sanditon, his racy fanfic continuation of the unfinished Jane Austen novel...
Romance recs
In a recent "Entertainment Self-Care" post, one of the writers at Lainey Gossip rounded up some solid romance novel picks, including my beloved Georgette Heyer. I'm not as enthused about some of the author's other choices...
Too soon
NPR recently posted an enthusiastic review of Danny Fingeroth's new biography of comics legend Stan Lee, A Marvelous Life. I'd be more interested in this, but A) I've been burned by their reviews before, and...
Snow & Rose, by Emily Winfield Martin
Emily Winfield Martin is best known as a visual artist, but her recent novel Snow & Rose proves she's a competent writer, as well. Inspired by the little-known “Snow White and Rose Red” fairytale, Martin has reworked it into a full-length children's book that is greatly enhanced by her delicate, richly colored illustrations...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Snow & Rose, by Emily Winfield Martin
This week's Book Giveaway is Snow & Rose, a fairytale retelling written (reasonably well) and illustrated (extremely well) by painter Emily Winfield Martin. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/09/19...
At least there's no clowns
Another day, another Stephen King adaptation. Here's the trailer for the upcoming adaptation of King's The Outsider, premiering January 12th on HBO. The series is based on King’s 2018 novel of the same name, and...
True, but unromantic
If you have $100,000 lying around, you could own an original and authentic piece of Jane Austen's writing. Unfortunately, this particular bit of writing is a description of how much going to the dentist sucks...
Throwdowns
This Twitter thread devoted to the greatest literary feuds in history is amazing. I don't know who Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was, but anyone who would brave a dissing contest with Jonathan Swift gets my vote...
Surely he has enough money?
The trailer is out for the new Robert Downey Jr. adaptation of Dolittle. This production has been beset by rumors of strife and drama, but it's apparently a...
0 for 25
NPR recently posted a complete list of the 25 finalists for the 2019 National Book Awards, and once again, I have not read a single one of them...
Bloody Business, by H.P. Jeffers
I purchased my copy of H. Paul Jeffers's Bloody Business: An Anecdotal History of Scotland Yard solely because of its Edward Gorey-illustrated cover art. True Crime is not my preferred style of nonfiction, but I started flipping through the book one evening and found myself unexpectedly absorbed—for a small island, Britain has seen a lot of famous evildoing...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Bloody Business, by H.P. Jeffers
Our current Book Giveaway is H.P. Jeffers's 1992 book Bloody Business: An Anecdotal History of Scotland Yard. (Is this the first true crime book we've reviewed here in 10+ years of blogging? Possibly.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/09/19...
Spooky on a budget #4: Literary pumpkin carving
Idea #4: Literary pumpkin carving
Okay, so you do need to shell out for the pumpkin, but imagine how impressed your neighbors will be when they see something like these...
Spooky on a budget #3: Decorate with free printables
Idea #3: Hit up the internet for free, literary-themed printable masks, then tape them to any face-based art in your house.
Yes, that portrait of your great aunt will look 1000% more festive...
Spooky on a budget #2: Hit up your local library
Idea #2: Hit up your local library
Forget classic horror and the lists of spooky new releases, those books are going to be checked out until December. Instead, wade through the comments here. There are...
Spooky on a budget #1: Edward Gorey fonts
In honor of the season (and in light of the shorter week), we've gathered up a collection of free or extremely inexpensive literary-themed suggestions to enhance your Halloween experience.
New bit of an old story
According to the Japan Times, a manuscript containing a missing scene from The Tale of Genji was recently discovered among the heirlooms of the family of a former feudal lord...