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...
The Bride Test, by Helen Hoang
I have spent the past few weekends hate-watching two “romantic” Chinese dramas*, switching between them whenever a particular plot development became unbearably stupid. In the midst of this cinematic garbage fire I paused to read Helen Hoang's The Bride Test, and—at least in contrast—it felt like one of the great love stories of all time...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Bride Test, by Helen Hoang
Our first July Book Giveaway is Helen Hoang's The Bride Test, which sounds like a very ambitious romance novel: there's an arranged marriage! Multicultural characters! A hero on the autism spectrum! I have no idea how it will turn out, but I applaud Ms. Hoang for going big. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 7/5/19...
Nicely dull
And in another bit of TV adaptation news, Town & Country informs me that PBS's Masterpiece program will be remaking James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small as a six-episode miniseries. I remember watching reruns of the 70s TV show as a child—I thought it was boring, but in a weirdly soothing, pleasant way...
He'll be fine
This a change of pace: according to THR, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon is taking over as the primary showrunner for CBS All Access's Star Trek: Picard. I have no idea what kind of showrunning experience Chabon has, but he's apparently a hardcore Trekkie...
Such a letdown
Damn: I absolutely loved Daniel O'Malley's The Rook, but if this scathing review is to be believed, the new television adaptation has removed nearly all of what I enjoyed about the book and replaced it...
Future so bright
I really enjoy these photographs of the cast of the upcoming "adaptation" of Jane Austen's Sanditon. I have no idea how the actual film will turn out...
Money was spent
Vanity Fair recently revealed an exclusive first look at Gretta Gerwig's upcoming film adaptation of Little Women, which will star Saoirse Ronan as Jo. As longtime readers of the site know, I can't stand Little Women, but I can admit that this looks like a very handsome, well-cast production...
Shelter in Place, by Nora Roberts
In many of her recent standalones, Nora Roberts has minimized the tropes of romance writing in favor of straight action/suspense. That's fine—the romantic elements of her books are the bits she is most prone to recycling—but I do wish she wasn't so fond of really lingering on the POV of her villains. I don't need to read an additional hundred pages of manufactured drama between her protagonists, but...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Shelter in Place, by Nora Roberts
Our latest Book Giveaway is Nora Roberts's Shelter in Place. It's definitely one of her more impressive recent offerings (which, admittedly, isn't saying much), but skip it if you are in any way triggered by scenes of mass shootings. A full review will follow shortly, and this review will run through 7/5/19...
Just charge more!
LitHub recently posted a promising-looking article about the development of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks in Florida. I'm always interested in logistics, so I was excited to learn more about merchandising tie-ins and ride development, but then I ran across this staggering fact...
That'll be a no
The trailer is out for the upcoming movie version of Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, the sequel to his classic novel The Shining. Ewan McGregor plays a grown-up Danny Torrance, 40 years after his terrifying stay at the Overlook Hotel. He's a solid actor, but they're clearly making a lot of references...
They're cute~
I have now seen the entire line of Vans' Harry Potter-inspired shoes, and I've decided that for once I am glad that I always, always get sorted into Slytherin...
Neat!
Thankfully, I just read another, non-eye-roll-inducing thinkpiece about one of my favorite books: Jia Tolentino's “The Westing Game, a Tribute to Labor That Became a Dark Comedy of American Capitalism". I actually don't think that title does a great job of encapsulating the article, but...
WhatEVER
A recent article on The Independent has arrived at the (apparently astonishing) conclusion that Jane Austen's life wasn't all sunshine and roses. I'm always quick to roll my eyes at this kind of thinkpiece, and my eye-rolling muscles got an extra workout today...
Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea, by Alice Waters
In 1995, celebrated chef Alice Waters joined forces with the principal of a public middle school in Berkeley to found The Edible Schoolyard, an on-site organic garden that allowed students a chance to explore food as a scientific and social experience. This process was documented by Waters in Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea. Ignore that lofty subtitle...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea, by Alice Waters
Our latest Book Giveway is Alice Waters's Edible Schoolyard, which, should you be in need of one, would make an awesome coffee table book. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 7/5/19...
I can wait. Forever, if need be.
There's a good interview over on Collider about the recent Amazon adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's classic novel Good Omens. The article sounds pretty gushy, and I watched the first few episodes of the show with mild interest, but...
BOOOO
For the second year in a row, The Guardian and The Observer have conducted a research study on diversity in children's picture books, and the results are extremely disappointing. According to the newspapers' research, the 100 best-selling picture books published in 2018...
Unexpected opposition
Huh: according to Curbed, the Strand Bookstore in New York has been designated as a New York City landmark. This sounded like a good thing to me (bear in mind, I know nothing about New York real estate laws), but apparently the 92-year-old bookstore's owner feels very strongly...
Soapy!
I have watched the first four episodes of Netflix's new show The Society (billed as a modern YA take on The Lord of the Flies, but with a supernatural twist), and I am giving it a somewhat wobbly thumbs-up. It took me two full episodes to be able to tell most of the characters apart (the Elle and Allie actresses were particularly confusing), and...
I'm so proud
I don't know how I missed this, but I was delighted to discover that Simon Armitage—author of my all-time favorite poem, "I am very bothered"—was announced last month as the UK's next Poet Laureate...
Yotsuba&!, Vol. 14, by Kiyohiko Azuma
It's been years since I read a volume of Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba&!, and even longer since I've reviewed one. Part of that is due to the author's extremely intermittent publishing schedule (there was a three-year gap between his last two books), but a lot of it was because it took me a long, loooong time to adjust to the editorial changes that took place between the fifth and sixth volumes...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Yotsuba&!, Vol. 14, by Kiyohiko Azuma
This week's Book Giveway is the 14th volume of Kiyohiko Azuma's universally beloved Yotsuba&!. It's taken me years, but I've finally adjusted (mostly) to the new publisher and their translation style, so I think I can give this a fair shake. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 7/5/19...
Hadn't she already suffered enough?
NPR just posted a fascinating article about Life With Picasso, a memoir written by French painter Françoise Gilot, who served as Pablo Picasso's "muse, manager, and support system" during a decade-long relationship. Apparently, while it was A-okay for Picasso to use Gilot in his work (he used her likeness in hundreds of paintings), many...
Hmm
I'm not sure how I feel about these angled bookshelves, which were recently featured in a home decor article on The Cut. They give off a vibe of fanciness for fanciness's sake, which I usually dislike, but...
Yes spoilers
And in sharp contrast to our earlier post, the trailer for the upcoming movie adaptation of Vertigo Comics' miniseries The Kitchen gives away pretty much the entire plot. On the other hand, the presence of Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss...
No spoilers
Good job, trailer editors: I have literally no idea what this film adaptation of Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Goldfinch is about, other than an explosion in a museum, a rather depressing painting of a chained bird...
The Wind Off The Small Isles, by Mary Stewart
If you, like me, consider yourself to be a Mary Stewart fan, you might be concerned that you have never heard of her book The Wind Off The Small Isles, which her publisher describes as a “beloved modern classic”. But take heart, dear readers, because it turns out this description is utter garbage—Stewart produced several beloved modern classics, but this isn't one of them...