May 16 2016

Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal

The back cover of Mary Robinette Kowal's novel Shades of Milk and Honey describes it as “precisely the sort of tale we would expect from Jane Austen”. That comment is... a little hyperbolic, to put it mildly, but Kowal's book has its own virtue...

More »

May 16 2016

Weekly Book Giveaway: Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal

2016-05-16-weekly-book-giveaway-shades-of-milk-and-honey-by-mary-robinette-kowal

This week's Book Giveaway is Mary Robinette Kowal's fantasy novel Shades of Milk and Honey, which the back cover describes as "like wandering onto a secret picnic attended by Pride and Prejudice and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell". That sounds like a very tall order, but hopefully Ms. Kowal's book is up to the challenge. A full review will follow later today...

More »

May 12 2016

Mini-reviews: Lady Renegade, Forest of Ruin, and The Case of the Fire Inside

2016-05-12-mini-reviews-lady-renegade-forest-of-ruin-and-the-case-of-the-fire-inside

Today we are introducing a new feature here at Wordcandy: mini-reviews of the various sequels/series installments/comic books we've read during the week. Basically, I get tired of recapping everything that's happened in, say, the previous seven books in a particular series, but I still might want to complain or enthuse about book number eight...

More »

May 12 2016

On the edge

2016-05-12-on-the-edge

I got an email this morning about Book Mail, an upcoming "mystery box" offer from Book Riot and Out of Print Clothing. According to the official description, the box is a one-time thing (not a subscription service), will cost $60, is guaranteed to be worth more than the purchase price, and will contain...

More »

May 11 2016

Sticker shock

2016-05-11-sticker-shock

The Daily Mail just reported on a Texas couple's Harry Potter-themed wedding, which was lavish, expensive, and admittedly pretty amazing-looking. (They had a trained owl fly the wedding rings to the best man!) The shindig cost $65,000 and took a year and a half to plan. Sadly, the article fails to...

More »

May 10 2016

That's a full-length-novel-worthy cover, though.

2016-05-10-thats-a-fulllengthnovelworthy-cover-though

io9 informs me that there is a short film adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson’s Pinocchio-goes-scifi story The Nostalgist, and it's now available (for free!) online. Here's the official plot description...

More »

May 10 2016

Salacious! (But not really.)

2016-05-10-salacious-but-not-really

THR recently posted a juicy excerpt from Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich's recently-released book Moguls, Monsters and Madmen: An Uncensored Life in Show Business. It's well-worth checking out, particularly if you enjoy behind-the-scenes gossip...

More »

May 9 2016

The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle, by Rick Riordan

2016-05-09-the-trials-of-apollo-the-hidden-oracle-by-rick-riordan

While I thoroughly enjoyed Rick Riordan's 'Heroes of Olympus' series, I was dismayed by the way the author handled Nico di Angelo, his first major gay character. I applauded Riordan's efforts to be more inclusive, but Nico seemed downright tortured by his sexuality, which—considering both modern attitudes towards sex and other, far more pressing problems in the poor kid's life—felt unnecessarily overwrought. I'm assuming I wasn't the only person to complain, because...

More »

May 9 2016

Weekly Book Giveaway: The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle, by Rick Riordan

2016-05-09-weekly-book-giveaway-the-trials-of-apollo-the-hidden-oracle-by-rick-riordan

This week's Book Giveaway is Rick Riordan's new book The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle. Riordan has a gift for making total Mary-Sues into appealing, sympathetic characters, but humanizing an actual god might be a tall order, even for him. Our review will follow later today...

More »

May 5 2016

Gothic romance dialed up to 11

2016-05-05-gothic-romance-dialed-up-to-11

The trailer is out for director Park Chan-wook's film Agasshi (The Handmaiden), and it looks incredible—dramatic, artistic, and creepy as hell. It's a loose adaptation of Sarah Waters's 2002 novel Fingersmith, and will debut at the Cannes Film Festival next week. Park, who is best known for his 2003 movie Oldboy, has...

More »

May 5 2016

Original-flavor dystopia

2016-05-05-original-flavor-dystopia

Nightmares, ahoy: according to THR, Hulu is planning a 10-episode-long miniseries adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. The series will air in 2017 and star Mad Men actress Elizabeth Moss. I've never been able to finish The Handmaid's Tale...

More »

May 4 2016

Gross, but maybe better than normal fruitcake

2016-05-04-gross-but-maybe-better-than-normal-fruitcake

The Guardian recently posted Kate Young's tribute to the early Philip Pullman series The Ruby in the Smoke, complete with a recipe for a fruit cake mentioned in the series. I wasn't a huge fan of the Ruby series, and I'm even less...

More »

May 3 2016

Selfish

2016-05-03-selfish

Okay, I really, really want this $14 notebook from the Whitney Museum gift shop, but why is it so tiny? What if the list of people I'd like to punch in the face is long? And why is it unlined? What if...

More »

May 3 2016

Done and done

2016-05-03-done-and-done

According to io9, Robert Jordan's widow Harriet McDougal has announced that the weird legal situation surrounding the TV rights to Jordan's Wheel of Time series has been resolved, and an approved adaptation is on its way...

More »

May 2 2016

The Wallflower, by Tomoko Hayakawa

2016-05-02-the-wallflower-by-tomoko-hayakawa

Tomoko Hayakawa's The Wallflower ran from 2000 to 2015, spanning 36 volumes. That's at least twenty volumes longer than the actual storytelling could support, but there is no denying that the series' main character is one of the most memorable heroines in manga...

More »

May 2 2016

Weekly Book Giveaway: The Wallflower Vol. 36, by Tomoko Hayakawa

2016-05-02-weekly-book-giveaway-the-wallflower-vol-36-by-tomoko-hayakawa

This week's Book Giveaway is the last volume of The Wallflower, the long-running romantic comedy manga by Tomoko Hayakawa. The Wallflower has always been a little flimsy (there was enough story for a ten-volume series, tops, but it ran for thirty six), but it also brought me one of my all-time favorite manga heroines, so I will always have a soft spot for it in my heart...

More »

Apr 28 2016

Good luck

2016-04-28-good-luck

And in one last bit of movie-adaptation news, Emily Blunt and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda have been confirmed as the stars of a sequel to Disney's Mary Poppins. I've never actually seen the original Mary Poppins, but just typing the name is enough to get some of the music stuck in my head, so...

More »

Apr 28 2016

Sorry, Meg.

2016-04-28-sorry-meg

In news that will undoubtedly traumatize Wordcandy staff member Megan (who hates the book with a fiery passion), the Guardian is reporting that there will be a new film adaptation of Richard Adams’s 1972 novel Watership Down. The movie will be a co-production of the BBC and Netflix, and features...

More »

Apr 27 2016

Yes, that's really what they call themselves.

2016-04-27-yes-thats-really-what-they-call-themselves

Ugh: once again, the Hugo Awards have been hijacked by two groups known as "Sad Puppies" and "Rabid Puppies". While there are slight differences between the Puppy factions, both are determined to defeat what the Guardian tactfully refers to as "a perceived bias towards liberal and left-wing science-fiction and fantasy authors". Put less tactfully, the Puppies are...

More »

Apr 26 2016

Isn't this already a Japanese movie?

2016-04-26-isnt-this-already-a-japanese-movie

The trailer is out for The Cell, the movie adaptation of the 2006 novel of the same name by Stephen King. I've never read it, but I treasure that dated cover and delightfully cheesy tagline. ("YOUR NUMBER IS UP!") Plus, I like John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, so...

More »

Apr 26 2016

Surprisingly elegant

2016-04-26-surprisingly-elegant

According to the website Disney Style, Neff Headwear has partnered with Disney on a Pinocchio-themed collection of "classic surf tees and Hawaiian shirts, as well as... snapback and boonie [hats]." I have no idea what boonie hats are, and I find the Pinocchio story to be creepy as hell, but...

More »

Apr 25 2016

Night Shift, by Charlaine Harris

2016-04-25-night-shift-by-charlaine-harris

Night Shift, the third book in Charlaine Harris's highly entertaining Midnight, Texas series, has the same strengths and weaknesses as its predecessors. With each installment, I grow more invested in the personal lives of Harris's characters... and with each installment, I grow more pained by her idea of what serves as romantic chemistry...

More »

Apr 25 2016

Weekly Book Giveaway: Night Shift, by Charlaine Harris

2016-04-25-weekly-book-giveaway-night-shift-by-charlaine-harris

This week's Book Giveaway is Charlaine Harris's Night Shift, the third book in her excellent Midnight, Texas series. (Our reviews of the first two are available here and here.) While I would never call Harris "the Mark Twain of things that live under your bed"...

More »

Apr 21 2016

Down and possibly out

2016-04-21-down-and-possibly-out

Comic Book Resources posted an article yesterday about a major shake-up at DC's Vertigo Comics, which will apparently involve "re-examining the direction and focus of the Vertigo imprint" and cutting loose their longtime Executive Editor...

More »

Apr 21 2016

They'll get my $9.50

2016-04-21-theyll-get-my-950

And in other trailer news, they're releasing yet another Bourne thriller, this one simply called Jason Bourne. Thankfully, they're back to Matt Damon in the title role. Apparently casting Jeremy Renner in a Bourne spin-off that felt like a slap-happy take on Flowers For Algernon didn't work out...

More »

Apr 20 2016

Possible soapy fun?

2016-04-20-possible-soapy-fun

The first trailer is out for the upcoming film adaptation of The Girl on the Train, the best-selling 2015 novel by author Paula Hawkins. It looks very melodramatic (and a bit like they really wanted to make Gone Girl 2: This Time She's British!), but...

More »

Apr 19 2016

Um...

2016-04-19-um

In honor of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, NPR is planning a series of stories exploring the link between his plays and food. The first post—"50 Shades Of Shakespeare: How The Bard Used Food As Racy Code"—goes into the many times Shakespeare used food as...

More »

Apr 19 2016

It looks like it would chafe, too.

2016-04-19-it-looks-like-it-would-chafe-too

Hark! A Vagrant author Kate Beaton recently produced an absolutely glorious flurry of tweets about the upcoming TV adaptation of Marvel's Cloak and Dagger, a comic book series about a crime-fighting duo consisting of a man in an enveloping cloak and a woman in a skin-tight bodysuit with a deeply impractical dagger-shaped cutout...

More »

Apr 18 2016

Northanger Abbey, by Val McDermid

2016-04-18-northanger-abbey-by-val-mcdermid

Val McDermid's Northanger Abbey is the second installment in the Austen Project, HarperCollins's much-maligned attempt to produce modern re-workings of Jane Austen's six novels, each written by a popular current author. As I mentioned in my review of Alexander McCall Smith's take on Emma, this is an exceptionally tall order: while many aspects of Austen's books are timeless, not...

More »

Apr 18 2016

Weekly Book Giveaway: Northanger Abbey, by Val McDermid

2016-04-18-weekly-book-giveaway-northanger-abbey-by-val-mcdermid

This week's Book Giveaway is Val McDermid's Northanger Abbey, a modern retelling of the Jane Austen novel of the same name. I'm only a few chapters in (a full review will follow later today), but thus far I don't actively long to push anyone down a well, so it's already a vast improvement over Alexander McCall Smith's Emma...

More »