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...
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"...
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...
They'll get my $9.50
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
At long last?
The Guardian has confirmed that Neil Gaiman is working on a 6-part TV miniseries adaptation of Good Omens, the 1990 comedy/fantasy novel he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett. (This is not the first time the idea of a TV adaptation of Good Omens has been floated around, but it seems more official now.) I've always thought of...
Bad idea
According to the Tennessean, Tennessee librarians are urging Gov. Bill Haslam to veto a measure that would designate the Bible as the official book of Tennessee. I can think of a number of excellent reasons why they might want to choose another text, but Susan L. Jennings, president of the Tennessee Library Association, came up with...
Uncomfortable.
The teaser trailer is out for Marvel's upcoming Doctor Strange, and it looks glossy and entertaining, just like we've come to expect from the studio. I'm sure it will earn a bazillion dollars, but now that I've seen the footage I'm even more irritated with Marvel's decision to transform the Tibetan-born character The Ancient One into Bald Tilda Swinton...
Maybe one more
Okay, the adult coloring book market has gone from over-saturated to revoltingly soggy, but this is so, so gorgeous: Vogue has released Vogue Colors A to Z, a coloring book featuring "a Jazz Age–inspired alphabet, as well as 26 iconic Vogue covers from 1912 to 1932." The images...
A milestone
In honor of Beverly Cleary's 100th birthday, NPR put together a lovely tribute to her life and work. My godparents' house is one street over from Klickitat Street in Portland, Oregon...
The Serpent King, by Jeff Zentner
Jeff Zentner's debut book The Serpent King reminds me of a teen-friendly version of Grace Metalious's infamous novel Peyton Place. Both stories feature small-town settings, twisted family lives, and dark secrets, but Zentner's book is approximately 1,000,000 times better-written...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Serpent King, by Jeff Zentner
This week's Book Giveaway is Jeff Zentner's debut novel The Serpent King, which I chose based on its attractively gritty cover art and my mother's recommendation. (She has a terrible habit of reading the last chapter of books first, and assures me that Mr. Zentner's book ends really well.) A full review will follow later today...
Expanded (but not enough)
The more I think about Common Sense Media's list of 50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12, the more I quibble with it. They chose a lot of great books, sure, but others range from flawed (Ender's Game) to age-inappropriate (The Fellowship of the Ring) to straight-up unworthy (The Bad Beginning: A Series of Unfortunate Events)...
Moderately impressed
*Common Sense Media put together a list of 50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12, and while I don't agree with all of their choices (or missing choices—um, where's Harriet the Spy? Or anything by Diana Wynne Jones? Lloyd Alexander? Jeff Smith's Bone series?), they...
With bells on
Thanks to io9, I am now aware of the existence of The Curse of Sleeping Beauty, a totally ridiculous-looking fantasy movie that makes the upcoming The Huntsman: Winter’s War film look like Spirited Away...
Goofy! Hopefully on purpose!
LaineyGossip recently posted several pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch and Chiwetel Ejiofor in the upcoming movie adaptation of Marvel's Doctor Strange. I've never read Doctor Strange, but I cannot believe how well Cumberbatch's face lends itself to a comic book character...
Booze and time travel
If you're a big Outlander fan, TheKitchn recently posted a collection of four French cocktail recipes inspired by the TV adaptation's second season, which will be set in 18th century France. From what I understand, alcohol (well, alcohol taxation, anyway) was...
The Story of Hong Gildong, translated by Minsoo Kang
The Story of Hong Gildong is a classic Korean novel, widely—but perhaps inaccurately—attributed to the 17th century author and courtier Heo Gyun. The character of Hong Gildong is so widely known in Korea that his name is routinely used as the instructional example on forms (à la “John Doe”). Western readers can now judge his story for themselves, as Penguin Classics has recently released a new translation of the text...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Story of Hong Gildong, translated by Minsoo Kang
This week's Book Giveaway is the new Penguin Classics edition of The Story of Hong Gildong, featuring a new translation by Minsoo Kang. For all you k-drama geeks out there, this the Korean classic that inspired this TV show. For everyone else, just look at that cover! How could anyone pass that up...
Nah.
ProgrammingInsider just announced that A&E TV and Harlequin Books have formed a creative partnership to produce original scripted movies, web series, books and digital content. They're promising "several scripted dramatic movies based on original stories and bestselling novels that will include a narrative of mystery, romance, thriller, suspense and more." My hopes are not high...
It would also make an excellent gift... for me.
I recently ran across artist Kristjana S. Williams's The Wonder Garden: Wander through 5 habitats to discover 80 amazing animals. Much like this, this, and...
Geek tourism alert
The BBC informs me that Norton Conyers, a medieval manor house in North Yorkshire thought to have been the inspiration for Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, is set to reopen to the public after 10 years of restoration...
Arena, by Holly Jennings
Holly Jennings's novel Arena looks and sounds like a sci-fi novel, but it's really more of a near-future sports story. I'd like to think that the idea of virtual gaming tournaments watched by millions of rabid fans is pure fantasy, but apparently the future is now...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Arena, by Holly Jennings
This week's Book Giveaway is Arena, by Holly Jennings. I'd like to think that an "exciting coming-age-story [set] against the backdrop of a world where virtual competitive gaming has become the most popular form of entertainment" would qualify as pure science fiction, but I live with people who listen to livestreams of South Korean League of Legends matches. Willingly...