We Are Never Meeting In Real Life, by Samantha Irby
I have never understood why people buy crappy stuff to read on airplanes. I need something great to read on a plane—a book instantly absorbing enough to distract me from the many, many things that suck about flying. A People article about Chris Pratt is not going to cut it, so I was delighted to run across an A+ plane book recommendation for this upcoming holiday season: Samantha Irby's essay collection We Are Never Meeting in Real Life...
Wow.
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I'm both amused and horrified by this Buzzfeed headline: "An Ivy League Food Scientist Is Retracting Yet Another Paper". According to the article, Cornell University food behavior scientist Brian Wansink has been forced...
Hug a librarian
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The Guardian recently posted an article about an open letter to the UK's Education Secretary, written by a bunch of literary bigwigs (Neil Gaiman, Antonia Fraser, and Philip Pullman, among others). The letter was written to protest the decline in support for school libraries...
Science!
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GeekWire recently put together their Holiday Science Book Guide for 2017, and their choices look amazing. I'm particularly attracted to Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke's Magnitude: The Scale of the Universe. As a person with literally no sense of physical perspective...
I've finished my shopping for other people, so...
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I was stoked to recently run across this review of Mary Stewart's The Wind Off the Small Isles, a "long-lost novella" that has recently been republished for the first time in 40 years...
Bubbly on Your Budget, by Marjorie Hillis
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For a book written in 1937, Marjorie Hillis's Bubbly on Your Budget has some surprisingly timely advice. Sure, the details might need to be adjusted for a 21st century lifestyle, but her basic message—that you should spend your money on what you actually value—is just as valid today as it was 80 years ago...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Bubbly On Your Budget, by Marjorie Hillis
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In honor of this season of furious consumerism, this week's Book Giveaway is Marjorie Hillis's Bubbly on Your Budget, a reprint of a financial advice guide first published in 1937 under the title Orchids On Your Budget. This volume is used (and looks it), but still an unexpectedly modern and entertaining read. A full review will follow shortly...
Edward Gorey-esque
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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.
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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.
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Gift Idea #7: Asymmetrical Harry Potter earrings ($48)
We love these, particularly in sterling silver...
Holiday Gift Pick #6
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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...