May 8 2018

Maybe...

Entertainment Weekly just rounded up 14 recent or currently-airing TV series based on books, in case you're looking for something cinematic to read. I'm mildly interested in Luke Jennings’s Codename Villanelle...

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May 8 2018

Lies in advertising

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The reviews for this movie adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull have been glowing, but the trailer is not enticing, despite the big-name cast. What's up with that music? And that font?!? Anyone...

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May 7 2018

Not If I Save You First, by Ally Carter

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Ally Carter's Not If I Save You First sounded like a PG-13 version of Meg Cabot's 2002 romance novel She Went All the Way, and since that's one of my favorite contemporary romances, I was pretty stoked to read it. Carter's take isn't quite as funny as Cabot's, but there's more than enough charm and action to satisfy her many fans...

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May 7 2018

Weekly Book Giveaway: Not If I Save You First, by Ally Carter

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This week's Book Giveaway is Ally Carter's latest YA thriller, Not If I Save You First. I usually like Carter's books, but I'm a little confused about this cover art. Are those letters... popsicles? Candy? Jello shots? It's a mystery. A full review will be posted shortly...

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May 3 2018

A bit of a stretch

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The title of this Dangerous Minds article ("MEET THE PRIEST WHO WAS OSCAR WILDE’S LOVER AND PARTLY THE BASIS FOR ‘DORIAN GRAY’") is a little misleading. The guy in question became a priest well after his alleged affair with Wilde, and he doesn't seem to have had much to do with the character of Dorian Gray...

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May 3 2018

Helpful!

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GQ recently put together a list of 20 classic novels you can totally skip reading, with suggestions for books you should read instead. I don't agree with all of their alternate picks, but I love how nasty some of their initial descriptions are...

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May 2 2018

"Upending" is still more of a goal, I think.

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Yesterday, Buzzfeed published an article called "Meet The Black Women Upending The Romance Novel Industry". I read the whole thing with tremendous interest: it's an interview with author Alyssa Cole, editor Esi Sogah, and art director Kris Noble...

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May 1 2018

Wow

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According to The New York Times, Zora Neale Hurston's first book, a nonfiction title called Barracoon, was rejected by publishers in 1931. Barracoon was the story of Cudjo Lewis, believed to be the last living person captured in Africa and brought to America on a slave ship...

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May 1 2018

No no no

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Is the world truly ready for stained-glass versions of Robert Crumb's comics? (I'm not, but I'm still not over watching the 1994 documentary Crumb, and I saw it 20 years ago.) Regardless, back in 2010 artist Joseph Cavalieri apparently made a handful...

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Apr 30 2018

The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, by George Saunders

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The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip is a fable written by George Saunders and illustrated by Lane Smith. It's a story about the tiny village of Frip—consisting of three families and a bunch of goats—which is infested with gappers: tiny, orange, goat-loving puffballs. Every night the gappers crawl out of the sea and terrorize Frip's goats with their screams of affection, and every morning the children of Frip spend hours picking them off and tossing them back into the ocean...

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Apr 30 2018

Weekly Book Giveaway: The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, by George Saunders

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This week's Book Giveaway is The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, a children's fable (...sort of) written in 2000 by George Saunders, and featuring the artwork of the inimitable Lane Smith. Don't let that eyeball-y thing on the middle of the book cover scare you: it's actually a very wholesome story. A full review will follow shortly...

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Apr 26 2018

I'm a pop culture sloth

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I've never heard of The Expanse, despite the fact that it's based on a series of novels by James S. A. Corey (the pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), it's already three seasons in, and this Pajiba article has devoted approximately one million words to its alleged awesomeness...

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Apr 26 2018

Eating my words

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Okay, the full trailer for Marvel's Venom has hit, and it looks considerably less dorky than I exected. (Plus, Riz Ahmed is pretty.) I'm not sure why I'm so surprised by this—if Marvel can translate Ant-Man into...

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Apr 25 2018

Tacky, sure, but...

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Last week, an author on LitHub posted a very lyrical essay about Lucy Maud Montgomery's landscapes, and the way her writing has mythologized Prince Edward Island. It's a nice bit of writing, but the whole time I read it I found myself wondering: do they have Anne Shirley impersonators? Are there...

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Apr 24 2018

Don't hold your breath

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LaineyGossip recently published a get-a-grip post regarding the news that Steven Spielberg is going to make a superhero movie for DC. The whole post is worth reading, but here are the highlights...

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Apr 24 2018

If only

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If money (and bookshelf space) were no object, I would become a serious collector of Edward Gorey-illustrated book covers. As a book designer and illustrator for Doubleday Anchor in the mid-1950s, Gorey designed about fifty book covers...

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Apr 23 2018

Giles, Issues 1 & 2, by Erika Alexander and Joss Whedon

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During the past few years, Joss Whedon's reputation has taken a lot of well-deserved hits, both personal and professional. With that in mind, I assumed his much-heralded return to the Buffy comic 'verse would be something special. Sadly, I was wrong: there's nothing in the first two issues of the four-issue Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Giles miniseries that makes me miss Whedon at all...

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Apr 23 2018

Weekly Book Giveaway: Giles, Issues 1 & 2, by Erika Alexander and Joss Whedon

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Continuing our (unplanned) month-long streak of graphic novel and comics reviews, this week's Book Giveaway is the first two issues of Giles: Girl Blue, a spin-off from the popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic. The title is written by Erika Alexander and Joss Whedon, and illustrated by Jon Lam. A full review will be posted shortly...

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Apr 19 2018

And that's a low-budget cover, too.

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The fine women at GoFugYourself just posted a lengthy review of Andrew Morton's most recent royal tell-all, Meghan: A Hollywood Princess. Unsurprisingly, they sound underwhelmed. I'm still amazed this dude's books sell in hardcover...

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Apr 19 2018

Almost!

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Okay, this still isn't a trailer (and I've been waiting so patiently!), but Constance Wu just posted a teaser on her Instagram for the upcoming Crazy Rich Asians movie adaptation. I'm really hoping this movie is as fun as the book, so I'm pleased to see they've clearly spent serious money...

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Apr 18 2018

Thematically similar

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In other miniseries adaptation news, the AV Club is reporting that Westworld showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan are working on a script for an adaptation of William Gibson’s 2014 novel The Peripheral. I've never read it, but the premise sounds right up their alley..

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Apr 17 2018

In case you were wondering what happened...

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Pajiba posted an update yesterday on the upcoming HBO adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects. The series was originally slated to become a feature film in 2014, but then executive producer Marti Noxon pitched it as an 8-part series instead...

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Apr 17 2018

Ugh, lady.

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Slate recently posted an interview with author Barbara Ehrenreich, and (like nearly everything I've ever read featuring Barbara Ehrenreich) it has some Big Problems...

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Apr 16 2018

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Vol.1, by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack

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Following the success of the recent H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Afterlife with Archie series, Archie Comics decided to follow it up with a Sabrina the Teenage Witch-inspired title, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The two series don't seem to exist in the same world, but they have one major thing in common: both are remarkably effective horror stories...

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Apr 16 2018

Weekly Book Giveaway: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Vol. 1, by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack

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This week's Book Giveaway is the first volume of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which combines the first six issues of the much more horror-focused reboot of the Archie comic Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I'm only halfway through it, but I can already attest to the excellence of the art and the unpleasantness of the story. A full review will follow shortly...

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Apr 12 2018

Not totally inappropriate, though

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According the Guardian, the remains of English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge were recently rediscovered in a wine cellar. Fans of Coleridge's work had been paying their respects to the more respectable (and safely accessible) memorial plaque in the church above, but...

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Apr 12 2018

So useful!

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If you have a spare moment, I encourage you to check out this handy chart that allows you to "describe yourself like a male author would". You no longer need to think up synonyms for "voluptuous"; this chart does it for you...

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Apr 11 2018

King extravaganza

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io9 recently posted a Stephen King-inspired poster by artist Jordan Monsell. The image, titled “King Country”, apparently contains "over 170 different King characters, references, and more". (I only recognize about seven, but...

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Apr 10 2018

Anime in the springtime

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If you have the patience for their page to load, Kotaku recently posted their Spring Anime Guide. I'm mostly interested in Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku and Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi...

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Apr 10 2018

Research, people!

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Wow: actor and YouTube "star" Kian Lawley has been dropped from the upcoming movie adaptation of award-winning novel The Hate U Give after a video surfaced of him making racist comments. Riverdale star KJ Apa will take over his role...

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