It's not how I'd choose to spend my weekend, but...
If you have the time, inclination, or need, you should check out the Moby Dick Big Read, a free online version of Melville’s masterpiece. Each of the book's 135 chapters is to be read aloud (featuring a mixture of famous and unknown readers) and broadcast online in a sequence of 135 publicly accessible downloads...
Camp classic in the making, perhaps?
The trailer is out for the upcoming adaptation of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's Beautiful Creatures, and I don't know, you guys. This movie looks like it takes itself super seriously, and the source material might not bear such close examination...
So many puns
Another day, another Fifty Shades of Grey parody–this one's a poultry-focused cookbook from "an established food industry professional". And yet another cover artist who put in the effort to far outstrip whoever designed the original series...
Weirdly, he does resemble Anthony Perkins.
When I saw a THR article about casting news for a new Psycho, I assumed the author was talking about Hitchcock, the upcoming movie adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, the nonfiction book by Stephen Rebello. But no: clearly, the world needs another new Psycho-related project...
Hopefully they shell out for better cover art
Speaking of the erotic-novel publishing frenzy ignited by Fifty Shades of Grey, Publishers Weekly informs me that Penguin's Berkley Books imprint has picked up an erotic trilogy from romance novelist Maya Banks...
Uselessness is no barrier to cute
I have no idea what I'd do with these, but they're adorable nonetheless. The author of How About Orange used a tutorial from Paper Kawaii to make 1.5" square mini origami blank books...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Beautiful Disaster, by Jamie McGuire
This week's giveaway selection is Jamie McGuire's Beautiful Disaster, which we just reviewed this morning. If you absolutely must read this book, we definitely recommend doing so for free, so we're putting our copy on offer...
Beautiful Disaster, by Jamie McGuire
Now that E. L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has established itself as the new sales standard to beat, the publishing world is scrambling to fill bookshelves with titles that are as similar to the Grey series as possible, no matter how ridiculous they are. (After all, rampant ridiculousness was no barrier to the success of either Fifty Shades of Grey or its source material, Twilight.)...
An unrestful place
This is craziness: according to the BBC, British archaeologists may have found the bones of Richard III buried underneath a council car park. Nothing has been confirmed, but the remains indicate spinal abnormalities, a "cleaved-in skull", and an arrow head near the spine, all of which connect to what is known about Richard's death...
That's where all the fun books are.
In a not-particularly-shocking bit of news, Publishers Weekly just posted an article about a new study on so-called "Young Adult" books: according to Bowker Market Research, 55% of buyers of YA books are 18 or older...
Wonder Woman at last?
Well, NBC's attempt at a Wonder Woman TV series didn't work out, but that hasn't daunted the CW. According to Vulture, the CW (along with Warner Bros. and DC Comics) is working on a Wonder Woman origin story, currently called Amazon...
Still stupid
A trailer has been released for director Andrea Arnold's film adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, and, while I have no desire to actually watch the movie, even I have to admit that this version looks beautiful...
Bits and pieces, manga edition
I have some manga-related odds and ends to cover, but none of 'em seem quite worthy of their own posts, so I'm settling for a quick and dirty list...
A brilliant notion
Okay, I love this transformation: when Wal-Mart ditched their original store in McAllen, Texas in favor of a larger property, the city transformed the abandoned space into a gorgeously colorful and beautifully designed 123,000-square-foot public library. Speaking as someone who lives in a city (Olympia, WA) that has needed a larger library for, oh, my entire lifetime...
Book-to-movie round up
The fine people at BuzzSugar have put together a helpful guide to the current crop of books being made into movies this fall...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Don't You Wish, by Roxanne St. Claire
Our current Weekly Book Giveaway selection is Roxanne St. Claire's Don't You Wish, which we reviewed here. Our review pretty much boils down to "...meh", but...
Anastasia Forever, by Joy Preble
I rarely participate in blog tours, because I'm so disorganized I break out in a cold sweat at the mere thought of having to meet a specific deadline. And Wordcandy typically only reviews series installments if we've already read all of the earlier books in the series, because we feel like we need to know the story's background in order to give the newest installment a fair shake...
Superheroes in cross-stitch
I'm always impressed by people with handicraft skills, as I was not blessed with A) hand-eye coordination, or B) patience. However, those of you who WERE blessed with the above should totally check out this free cross-stitch pattern from Kitschy Digitals inspired by The Avengers...
Cognitive skills vs. character
There's been a lot of online buzz recently about Paul Tough's new nonfiction book How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. You can listen to a NPR interview here...
Hansel and Gretel: now with more leather corsets
The trailer is out for the upcoming Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters movie, and it looks truly, impressively terrible. I'm not sure if it will be terrible in a fun Underworld kind of way, or just straight-up terrible in an embarrassingly hokey Van Helsing kind of way, but let's face it: I'll probably see it regardless...
Best of luck, Ms. Blume
According to People magazine, author Judy Blume has (had?) breast cancer, but underwent a successful mastectomy on July 30th, and won't need chemotherapy. The article goes into some of Blume's health history as well...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Wolf Springs Chronicles: Unleashed, by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
This week's book giveaway pick is Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie's Wolf Springs Chronicles: Unleashed, which we reviewed here. Unleashed was blessed with a cover model who looks like Buffy Summers, and it has the distinction of being the only werewolf/King Lear mash-up we've yet to encounter...
Tasty and a conversation piece!
If you're looking for a new recipe to try this weekend, you should check out the free Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Cookbook, produced by Epicurious.com and sponsored by Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign and the Departments of Education and Agriculture...
Nothing says high fashion like zombies and aliens
Last summer, Threadless trotted out a reader-designed t-shirt based on The Day The Saucers Came, a story written by Neil Gaiman. Threadless is currently holding one of their frequent sales, so if you're in the market for this t-shirt it's available in a wide variety of guys' sizes for a mere $12.95...
Fifty sheds
I'm torn: is the twitter feed @FiftyShedsofGrey so wrong it's right, or just, you know, straight-up wrong? I'm torn, but leaning toward option B. These are painful (and they're just a tiny, tiny sampling of the available options)...
Don't You Wish, by Roxanne St. Claire
To mangle a phrase from Jane Austen, Roxanne St. Claire's novel Don't You Wish is one of the many YA books whose existence inspires no other emotion than surprise at there being sufficient reader demand to publish it. It's not that the novel is straight-up terrible (I'll even give it a solid “reasonably entertaining”), but it's been done before—and done better...
Book art in 3-D
Check these very cool three-dimensional book sculptures from Oklahoma-based artist Kelly Campbell Berry. Campbell Berry maintains an Etsy shop, which means you could easily buy a piece of her surprisingly affordable (read: under $200) work...
It's International Read Comics in Public Day! (No, really.)
Today, dear readers, is the third annual International Read Comics in Public Day. So we encourage you to stop by your local comic store and pick up something awesome, and then proudly exhibit your excellent taste at the closest coffee shop (or equivalent)...
Geriatric superhero romance
Well, it's finally happened: DC Comics has announced the official romantic pairing of Superman and Wonder Woman. I'd worry about the feelings of Lois Lane and... whoever that dude was that Wonder Woman has been stuck with for decades, but let's face it: I don't care...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Behold, Here's Poison, by Georgette Heyer
Hi, all. The newest Wordcandy Weekly Book Giveaway selection is one of my favorite Georgette Heyer mysteries: Behold, Here's Poison, which we reviewed here...