Hard pass
If you (unlike me) are anxiously awaiting Guillermo del Toro's upcoming film adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, apparently there's a documentary about Schwartz's work freshly out on DVD. Needless to say, I'll be skipping that, too...
This is the world we live in now
If you're suddenly more interested in presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, Entertainment Weekly has helpfully rounded up a list of her many books, ranked from "mild to wild". I can't believe we have a presidential candidate who has written an off-brand take on The Secret and...
Stephen King, version 3.0?
According to Collider, there are a lot of big-name actors rumored to be signing up for CBS All Access's upcoming 10-episode miniseries adaptation of Stephen King‘s The Stand...
He's got kids to feed.
According to Variety, David E. Kelley has signed on to create a TV adaptation of Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer. The book was already made into a 2006 feature film starring Matthew McConaughey, but I'm assuming he won't be back for the TV show. On the other hand...
The Quiet American, by Graham Greene
It's been nearly twenty years since I read Graham Greene's The Quiet American, but a flurry of recent mentions in the news convinced me that it was time to revisit it. I'm still not familiar with the First Indochina War (which I've been meaning to learn more about since, uh, high school), so I can't weigh in on the accuracy of Graham's war descriptions, but...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Quiet American, by Graham Greene
After seeing it mentioned in several news articles about Mayor Pete Buttigieg, I decided it was time to re-read Graham Greene's The Quiet American. A full review will follow shortly, but here's a spoiler for you: nearly every speaking character in this novel is totally awful. This giveaway will run through 8/15/19...
What a charmer
Okay, this is definitely one of those "laugh so you don't start crying" things, but if you're looking for a (possibly microscopic) silver lining to Boris Johnson becoming the British Prime Minister, at least we're getting to enjoy this delightfully scathing review of Johnson's "novel" Seventy-Two Virgins...
THAT COVER!
Classic sci-fi nerds take note: there is both an awesome-sounding new audio drama and a comic book adaptation based on Neuromancer author William Gibson's never-filmed script for Alien III...
Best of luck, dude.
With the recent publication of the final issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore has officially retired from comics, according to Screen Rant. His work spanned decades (and included perhaps DC's most beloved comic book of all time, The Killing Joke), won loads...
Stop trying to make Henry Cavill happen.
Hmm. They're doing their best to emphasize the "based on a book series" angle, rather than the "muuuuch better known as a video game" approach to promote The Witcher, but this doesn't look like Netflix's answer to the high-minded fantasy of Game of Thrones...
Nightmare fuel
If you haven't already seen the trailer for the upcoming movie adaptation of the musical Cats, get ready to pinch yourself: don't worry, you're not high (I mean... I assume) and you're not having a nightmare...
That Ain't Witchcraft, by Seanan McGuire
That Ain't Witchcraft is the eighth novel in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, and the author deserves all the fun-book awards: she keeps trotting out installment after installment, each just as lively, imaginative, and entertaining as the others. I've read more impressive standalone fantasies, but I can't remember another series delivering so consistently and fast...
Weekly Book Giveaway: That Ain't Witchcraft, by Seanan McGuire
This week's Book Giveaway is That Ain't Witchcraft, the eighth installment in Seanan McGuire's ridiculously entertaining InCryptid series. A full review will follow shortly; this giveaway will run through 7/26/19...
Back to the Future
According to Deadline, Amazon is taking their questionably-gotten Prime Day gains and buying a full season adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan's comic Paper Girls...
I'd rather watch the V.C. Andrews movies, and that's saying something.
Well, this is handy. If you're a Neil Gaiman superfan and you've dreamt of seeing America as portrayed via his (frequently extremely yucky) novel American Gods, the SyFy Channel has designed a road trip for you...
Not a sustainable business model
And in other soap-tastic movie news, "The Hustlers at Scores", Jessica Pressler's 2015 longform article for The Cut, has been turned into a movie, and the first trailer looks pretty great. Apparently there's been some pushback from the real women...
Grooooooss
How is there still demand for this? HOW? There is going to be another round of Lifetime movies inspired by V.C. Andrews books. This time it's the Casteel series, and the trailer looks like the filmmakers were working with a clear checklist...
The Delinquent Housewife! Vol.1, by Nemu Yoko
Nemu Yoko's The Delinquent Housewife! is a four-volume manga, originally published in Japan in 2015 and now fully available in English from Vertical Comics. It's an amusingly far-fetched tale about a young woman who has recently been introduced to her in-laws. When Komugi's husband-to-be Tohru deposits her with his family and leaves on a business trip...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Delinquent Housewife! Vol.1, by Nemu Yoko
This week's Book Giveaway is the first installment of Nemu Yoko's four-volume manga The Delinquent Housewife!. A full review will follow shortly, but I can already tell you that, alas, there are some cultural things that have confused the hell out of me. This giveaway will run through 7/22/19...
Creepy
And this is why I prefer paper books: Microsoft has announced that they're getting out of the e-book business, and will be deleting every title ever purchased via their store. Customers will get refunds, and even a small credit ($25) for notes that were made in the digital editions, but I don't care...
I thought it was already gone, TBH
It's the end of an era: according to the Smithsonian Magazine, after a 67-year-long run, MAD magazine will stop publishing new issues, although they will apparently still be printing vintage...
Take heed, friends
Just a reminder: July is the American Library Association's first "Graphic Novels in Libraries Month", so you should definitely check out your local library to see what, if anything, they're doing to celebrate. This event has some A+ sponsors...
Either way, probably not.
According to Variety, George Clooney is going to star in an adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton’s novel Good Morning, Midnight for Netflix. There's a hideously gloomy Jean Rhys novel with the same name, but I'm hoping the stories have nothing else in common than their titles: Rhys's book is about a...
There will be limited opportunities for theater if we're all UNDER WATER.
Deadline informs me that Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance has resigned from the UK’s Royal Shakespeare Company, protesting the theater’s ongoing sponsorship deal with oil company BP. Rylance has been associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company for thirty years, but he also one of several artists who object...
The Lovely and the Lost, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
In the note at the end of her most recent book, The Lovely and the Lost, author Jennifer Lynn Barnes acknowledges the debt this story owes to two of her earlier series: The Naturals and Raised by Wolves. Of course, lots of writers recycle their own work, although I was a little taken aback...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Lovely and the Lost, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Our latest Book Giveaway is Jennifer Lynn Barnes's The Lovely and the Lost, which sounds like a soap opera and I am sincerely hoping is not a standalone. (I am much more invested in this book than in Barnes's previous effort.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 7/22/19...
My hopes are medium-low.
The biggest film adaptation news of the week has arrived: according to THR, Netflix is making a TV series version of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and apparently money is no object...
As long as it's not Lifetime
According to Deadline, Netflix is making a TV series adaptation of Sherryl Woods’s Sweet Magnolias series of romance novels. The show will star Jamie Lynn Spears and Chris Klein. There's no word on how they'll split the books up (will everyone straighten out their lives while falling in love simultaneously?), but I'm always pleased when...
Ka-BOOM!
Oooh, there's a plot twist coming for fans of Robert Kirkman's comic The Walking Dead. I won't spoil it for you here, but curious fans should head over to The New York Times for the announcement. A recent plot development...