Edward Gorey-esque
io9 recently featured a bunch of pages from Brian Coldrick's new book Behind You, a collection of fragmentary, single-page ghost stories. I usually prefer anything I read to come with a plot pay-off, but I actually love this idea: it blends Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick with...
More mustache
According to Entertainment Weekly, the recent movie adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express has already made enough money to justify making a sequel, this time of Christie's Death on the Nile...
Red Sister, by Mark Lawrence
Let me start with a word of warning: Mark Lawrence's latest fantasy novel Red Sister is really, really violent. Scenes include (but are by no means limited to) the execution of a child, the torture of an older woman, and the fatal beating of an animal. There's a lot to admire about this book, but readers with delicate sensibilities should take heed...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Red Sister, by Mark Lawrence
This week's Book Giveaway pick is Mark Lawrence's Red Sister, the first installment in his new Books of the Ancestor fantasy/adventure series. I'm only a few chapters in, but thus far things are looking promising (albeit massively grim). A full review will follow shortly...
A rare bit of great news (in a week that could use it)
There was a lovely article on NPR recently about Books From Birth, a D.C. Public Library program that mails a book a month, every month, to enrolled children from birth to age 5...
Don't get hit by cars, please.
According to The AV Club, the tech company that created Pokémon Go is partnering with Warner Bros. to create another augmented-reality game, this time based on the world of Harry Potter. The description makes it sound pretty much exactly like...
This looks massively stressful.
There's a new trailer out for the upcoming miniseries Waco, which apparently is relying heavily on the accounts of two nonfiction books: Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator, by Gary Noesner, and A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story, by David Thibodeau...
Intriguing
I'm tempted to buy this Pride and Prejudice-inspired board game, but I've been burned by many an Austen-themed novelty item before...
Wait, what?
How did I miss this? Apparently, Starz is making a miniseries adaptation of E.M. Forster's Howards End. This new version will star Hayley Atwell as Margaret Schlegel and Matthew Macfadyen as Henry Wilcox, which is a nice change from the 90s adaptation, which tried (and failed) to...
A Spoonful of Magic, by Irene Radford
I frequently evaluate books like recipes, and it feels particularly appropriate in the case of Irene Radford's new novel A Spoonful of Magic, as it's a story filled to the brim with cooking. Unfortunately, while this particular literary recipe has some interesting ingredients, the finished product is a big ol' mess...
Weekly Book Giveaway: A Spoonful of Magic, by Irene Radford
This week's Book Giveaway is Irene Radford's latest novel, A Spoonful of Magic. I haven't even opened it yet, but the cover art features a smorgasbord of all the stuff I need to get through what is turning out to be an extremely wet, blustery day: a plaid shirt, glitter, and the suggestion of potential baked goods. A full review will follow shortly...
Holiday Gift Pick #8
Gift Idea #8: Festive Fiction Ornament ($16)
Sure, this is technically both the last and least item on our holiday shopping guide, but it's a solid option for any book-lovers on your list...
Holiday Gift Pick #7
Gift Idea #7: Asymmetrical Harry Potter earrings ($48)
We love these, particularly in sterling silver...
Holiday Gift Pick #6
Gift Idea #6: Guns, Germs, and Steel: 20th Anniversary Folio Society edition, by Jared Diamond ($73.95)
Grade-A dad present...
Holiday Gift Pick #5
Gift Idea #5 Asgard Twill Ladies' Jacket ($59.99)
Okay, so we weren't big fans of the first two Thor movies (to say the least), but...
Holiday Gift Pick #4
Gift Pick #4: Stained Wooden Mountain Bookends by Spilled Milk Designs ($24)
Etsy is awash in beautiful, handmade bookends, but we fell in love with the simple elegance of these mountain-shaped options...
Holiday Gift Pick #3
Gift Idea #3 The Hogwarts House Throw Blanket of your choice ($69)
This is one of two Harry Potter-themed picks this year...
Holiday Gift Pick #2
Gift Idea #2: Any of these amazing cookbooks (prices vary)
It feels like a boatload of beautiful, inspiring cookbooks written by the creators of some of the internet's most popular cooking sites have recently been released, but here are our favorites...
Holiday Gift Pick #1
It is once again that special time of year, dear readers: the week we feature the various book-nerd-specific treasures we're putting on our holiday wish lists. As ever, these gifts may vary widely in style and price point, but they're all pretty neat...
Yet another one (yay)
Enchanted with all the money IT has been raking in, Paramount has decided to remake Stephen King's Pet Semetary, too. They've hired Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer as co-directors. Kolsch and Widmyer previously...
Seems like a solid pick
There's an interview over on Slate with Lin-Manuel Miranda about his next big project: adapting Patrick Rothfuss's epic fantasy series The Kingkiller Chronicles into a TV show for Showtime...
Sure...?
I know The New York Times is infamous for their out-of-touch "trend" stories, but I'm going to have to take their word on this: according to the paper, Arnold Lobel's classic 'Frog and Toad' stories have become a popular meme. I'm...
Ouch
Bon Appétit magazine recently posted a great review of France Is a Feast, a new book of Paul Child’s personal photographs taken between 1948 and 1954, when he and his wife, the famous Julia Child, were living in Paris and Julia was mastering the art of cooking French food...
Sad that I can't hear her thoughts on the Trump casino, though.
I had wondered if the controversy surrounding Go Set a Watchman would cast a shadow over Harper Lee's legacy, but it appears she's still a money-maker, at least: a collection of her letters recently fetched more than $12,000 at auction...
Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero
Edgar Cantero's novel Meddling Kids is clever, creative, and funny. It is also profoundly self-indulgent and only occasionally creepy. Individual readers' mileage will vary, based on their tolerance for pointless stylistic quirks and their love for the book's many pop-culture sources...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero
This week's Book Giveaway is Edgar Cantero's Meddling Kids, which has a great cover and an even greater hook: it's being sold as a subverted, grown-up version of works like Scooby-Do, The Hardy Boys, and Enid Blyton's "Famous Five" series. I have no idea how well that combination will actually work, but it sounds like my idea of note-perfect Halloween reading. A full review will follow shortly...
Envious
Man, every time I read about a cute-sounding Korean webtoon, a fresh wave of resentment rolls over me. I hate missing out on fun stuff, and I have a strong suspicion that my inability to read Korean is holding me back from a lot of Wordcandy-friendly stories...
I can hold myself back.
Great news, guys: you can now read Stephen Hawking's 1966 Ph.D. thesis! For free! And people were so excited by this news (or optimistic about their own ability to understand a 134-page-long paper on "“Properties of Expanding Universes”) that...
This woman's accomplishments merited a BIG tombstone.
I was listening to The Writer's Almanac today, and Garrison Keillor's soothing voice introduced me to the wonder that was Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor and poet who is widely credited with successfully campaigning to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Hale was also a major force behind...