Weekly Book Giveaway: Emma, by Alexander McCall Smith
This week's Book Giveaway is Alexander McCall Smith's Emma, a modern re-telling of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. I have my doubts about the wisdom of this project, frankly. Not only is Smith inviting comparisons with the original novel, he's also inviting comparisons with Clueless, and that seems like a really stacked deck. Our review will follow shortly...
Books on demand
There's a cool article in The Orange County Register about a book-dispensing vending machine located inside the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center and run by the Anaheim Public Library System...
Cheese plays more of a supporting role
Okay, I'm not 100% sold on the idea that Heidi is primarily about cheese, but I totally believe that great children's literature is nearly always improved by a memorable food description, from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe's tea party with Mr. Tumnus to...
This seems... risky.
Canada's CBC just announced that Emmy-winning producer and writer Moira Walley-Beckett (best known for Breaking Bad) is working on a new TV adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic children's novel Anne of Green Gables...
Revived!
According to io9, BBC America has announced an upcoming TV adaptation of Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Of course, BBC Four tried and failed to...
The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley
For a book that pretty much goes like this: infodump, infodump, action sequence, rinse, repeat, Daniel O'Malley's debut novel The Rook is astonishingly entertaining. It strongly reminds me of Seanan McGuire's InCryptid books, although I'm happy to report that I like The Rook even better...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley
This week's Book Giveaway is Daniel O'Malley's 2012 novel The Rook, which we recently learned is being developed as a TV series by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. Meyer clearly knows what she's doing, because it's evident from the first chapter that this book is going to make for some great TV...
Be there AND be square
According to NPR, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is sending out William Shakespeare's "First Folio" (the first printed collection of all of Shakespeare's plays, published seven years after his death) on a tour of all 50 states to mark the 400th anniversary of the bard's death...
Maybe by 2020?
I don't actually care about this (not a Game of Thrones fan), but George R.R. Martin nerds everywhere were chagrined to learn that he has zero chance of finishing the next installment of his best-selling series on schedule...
Autumn's Kiss, by Bella Thorne (and Elise Allen)
Once again, I am staggered to find myself endorsing a novel “written” by teen actress Bella Thorne (along with co-author Elise Allen, whose name only appears in teeny-tiny font on the title page). This is totally damning with faint praise, but Autumn's Kiss, the sequel to...
Joy, sparked
There's been a lot of discussion about Spark Joy, the companion book to Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. We reviewed Kondo's first book last year, and while we enjoyed reading it, the best organizational/tidying-up advice I've ever encountered...
Geek love
The Conversation recently asked a group of scientists to share some of their favorite science fiction novels. The recommendations (which range from Robert Heinlein to Douglas Adams) are...
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares is the third collaboration between YA authors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. Once again, Cohn and Levithan have chosen to write about bored, too-clever teenagers, and—also once again—their story constantly veers between adorable and irritating as hell...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
One of my 2016 resolutions is to make a visible dent in the massive Wordcandy slush pile. I'm pretty good about getting rid of books we're never going to review (depressing memoirs, anything about eating disorders, and sequels to earlier books that we never received go right out the door, for example), but that still leaves hundreds of books...
Make good choices tonight, guys~
We're ending this week a little early, and want to wish all of our readers a safe and happy New Year. Here's hoping we all have a great 2016, full of fun books, non-rage-inducing movie adaptations, and (I can dream) maybe some news on a Georgette Heyer movie...
Sleeping With Her Enemy, by Jenny Holiday
Jenny Holiday's novel Sleeping With Her Enemy is currently available as a $0.99 e-book. I'm not sure I'd be as enthusiastic about it if it had cost, say, $7.99, but at its current price it's an incredible bargain...
Books and booze
According to the website GoodEReader, Barnes and Noble has applied for a liquor license in New York State. An attorney who consulted with Barnes & Noble on the license application says that select Barnes and Noble locations will begin selling beer and wine in their cafes, possibly alongside new food options...
Store-brand fantasy
Uh... it's news to me that anyone was working on a TV adaptation of Terry Brooks’ Shannara book series, much less that it will be MTV's first foray into live-action fantasy. Seriously, guys? If you wanted to horn in on a little Game of Thrones-lite action, couldn't you...
Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, by Tania del Rio and Will Staehle
Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye is a tribute to three people: Will Staehle, who created the title character, provided the illustrations, and designed the book, Tania del Rio, who wrote the story, and the unknown Quirk Books employee who agreed to publish such a detailed, gorgeous, labor-intensive work...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, by Tania del Rio and Will Staehle
This week's Book Giveaway is Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, written by Tania del Rio and illustrated by Will Staehle. I have no idea what this book is about (our review will follow later today, after I've actually read it), but with such A+++ art design, I'm not sure the story even matters...
Shopping for slackers
It's two days before Christmas, and I have a lot of experience working in bookstores at this time of year, so I thought I'd put together a quickie gift guide for my favorite kind of customer: the kind who shows up at 4:37 PM on Christmas Eve with $300 and no plan, ready to do 100% of their holiday shopping...
Sorry, try again.
Wow, this is the second time in less than a month that I am left rolling my eyes over a respected English professor's opinions about Jane Austen. (Note: Few things make me happier than hate-reading subpar Austen criticism...
Useful!
I'm totally in love with this Random Illustrated Facts Instagram, featuring artwork by children's illustrator Mike Lowery. (I already knew that thing about the national animal of Scotland being the unicorn, though, and it has always upset me. I mean, if...
Winter, by Marissa Meyer
I love Sailor Moon fanfiction and I love retold fairytales. You'd think combining the two would be an automatic win for me, but Marissa Meyer's best-selling Lunar Chronicles series proves that there's no such thing as a surefire bet...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Winter, by Marissa Meyer
This week's Book Giveaway is Marissa Meyer's Winter, the final installment in the best-selling Lunar Chronicles. I wasn't thrilled when Meyer delayed releasing the final novel in her series in favor of a quickie origin story for the antagonist (and charged eighteen bucks for it, too!), but it's probably time for me to get over it...
At least it will be better than Crimson Peak.
I'm not sure if I'll see this movie adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s novel High Rise (although I do like the "creepy sales pitch" vibe of the trailer), but it did leave me with a more pressing question...
Any excuse to use these covers
Elsewhere in The Guardian, there is a fascinating article about some new research about possible source material for Shakespeare's Macbeth. According to Dr John-Mark Philo, a lecturer at East Anglia University, there are close similarities between Lady Macbeth and two Roman queens...
No thanks.
The Guardian put together a list of the "Top Ten Uncanny Graphic Novels", for those of you with fearless natures, strong stomachs, and lots of disposable income. Their picks are all solid (and include Charles Burns's Black Hole, which I still haven't fully recovered from...
...okay, sure.
NPR recently posted an interview with Neil Gaiman about his classic Sandman comic book series. Sandman ended in 1996, but last month DC Comics released a deluxe edition of Sandman: Overture, the six-issue miniseries Gaiman wrote...
Spinning off
The "announcement trailer" is out for the hotly-anticipated (by Warner Bros, at least, who are clearly hoping that Harry Potter mania has not lost one ounce of its earlier fervor) movie adaptation of J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. I have to give the studio props...