Black Gold: The Story of Oil in Our Lives, by Albert Marrin
The vast majority of the books we receive here at Wordcandy are fiction, but every few weeks the odd nonfiction title turns up. I usually choose to review the ones on subjects I enjoy reading about (read: food preparation and money management, both of which I love... in theory, anyway, if not in practice), but Albert Marrin's informative-yet-totally-readable Black Gold: The Story of Oil In Our Lives is the kind of thing everyone should read...
Fever Moon, by Karen Marie Moning
First, a word of warning: Fever Moon is the only Karen Marie Moning book that I have ever read, so while I'm finally capable of evaluating a graphic novel without a boatload of preconceived notions about how everyone should look and behave, I'm flying blind when it comes to the series' larger story arc...
Dust Girl, by Sarah Zettel
Sarah Zettel's Dust Girl has been criticized for its cover art, which several reviewers felt failed to convey an important element of the book—that the heroine is biracial. I wasn't hugely bothered by this, as the character is supposed to be able to “pass” as white and the cover model resembles the book's description, but I do have my own objections to the cover: A) it doesn't do much to evoke the book's Dust Bowl-era setting, and B) it's ridiculously boring...
That is some low-budget cover art, too.
According to E!Online, some e-book company called Clandestine Classics has taken a bunch of classic novels and sexed 'em up. The article name-drops the Brontes, Austen, Melville, and Conan Doyle as potential subjects (victims?)...
Eat like Holden Caulfield
Flavorwire recently featured a several images created by graphic designer Dinah Fried. The photo series, entitled Fictitious Dishes, features recreations of famous meals from classic novels, including The Catcher in the Rye, Moby Dick, and, of course, the gruel from Oliver Twist...
Unleashed, by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
First of all, I'd like to congratulate whoever designed the cover art for Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie's Wolf Springs Chronicles: Unleashed for finding a model who so closely resembles Buffy Summers. Well played, cover designer, well played indeed. Nothing says “smart paranormal fiction” like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so this book was off to an excellent start before I'd even opened it...
80s TV revival?
According to a THR interview with the lead actors, the CW's upcoming Beauty and the Beast adaptation is "close" to the late-80s CBS TV series of the same name, but with some sci-fi (the Beast is the product of a military experiment gone wrong) and police procedural elements (Beauty's a cop) tossed in....
Texting Jane
Following up their Texts from Scarlett O'Hara and Texts from Sweet Valley High posts, The Hairpin has produced a series called Texts from Jane Eyre. They're very Hark! A Vagrant in style...
Disney goes old-school
The trailer is out for Disney's adaptation of Oz The Great and Powerful, and they've clearly spent a boatload of money on it. It looks very 3D-friendly and boasts plenty of big-name actors, but when it comes to Oz sequels and prequels my heart will always belong to the ultra-creepy 1985 movie Return to Oz...
Flogging a dead horse
Wow: apparently there was a bidding war for Zenescope's ultra-classy-looking Wonderland graphic novels, and THR informs me that Lionsgate TV won. I haven't read this series (although I've made some snide comments about Zenescope's projects in the past)...
Digital storytime
When we first heard about the Reading Rainbow app, details were pretty limited, but now this sucker has hit (virtual) stores. According to CNN, the free app contains 150 books and 16 video field trips, but the "full experience" will cost parents $9.99 per month...
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: not quite perfect, but awfully fun
I've finally gotten fully caught up on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (a professionally acted, modern-day retelling of Pride and Prejudice told via twice-weekly YouTube videos), and while I'm finding them at least 90% adorable, I think the writers are making a couple of mistakes. Mostly, they need to make Lydia less charming, because right now she's kind of making Lizzie seem like a judgmental bitch...
Swashbuckling!
The full-length trailer has been released for the upcoming Rurouni Kenshin movie adaptation, and I am so excited. The trailer looks outstanding (apart from the poorly-chosen pop-rock song that kicks in around the one-minute mark), the action scenes seem well-choreographed...
Lies, damned lies, and statistics (I hope)
I'd like this eye-catching poster more if it conveyed less depressing information. I always find the sales figures for The Da Vinci Code and the Twilight books depressing, but seeing them totally trump The Diary of Anne Frank like that is heartbreaking....
Vampire fashion
Speaking of the intersection between literature and fashion, HBO and HSN have created a makeup line inspired by True Blood. The collection will include a perfume by Givaudan, Deborah Lippmann-designed nail polish and lip color, and undefined "luxury home goods" from D.L. & Co...
Cinderella goes a little Vegas
Shoe designer Christian Louboutin has created a new (and non-glass) version of Cinderella's famous slipper. The shoe, which won't be available for mass sale, was created in honor of the upcoming Blu-ray release of Disney's Cinderella, and 20 pairs will be given away world-wide this fall. I'm unclear as to how, exactly, the recipients will be chosen...
Please do Alice in Wonderland next.
Much to my delight, Penguin has released three more "Penguin Threads" editions. The new titles, which feature a variety of styles of embroidery-inspired cover art, are Little Women, The Wizard of Oz, and The Wind in the Willows, and they're all so gorgeous I'm even tempted to buy Little Women (and you guys know how I feel about that book)...
Anna Karenina meets Mad Men
I'm having difficulty picturing this, but InStyle informs me that Banana Republic is planning a capsule collection inspired by the upcoming film adaptation of Anna Karenina, but "with more of a 50s feel"...
HBO mines bookstore shelves (again)
According to Flavorwire, HBO has hired Lost showrunner Damon Lindelof to collaborate with author Tom Perotta on a TV adaptation of Perotta's 2011 novel The Leftovers. The book (which I haven't read), apparently...
Cover art on a budget?
The cover art is out for J.K. Rowling's upcoming non-Harry Potter novel The Casual Vacancy, and it's, uh, fine. Totally underwhelming. It reminds me of these editions of Jane Austen's books...
Literary artwork at the best possible price
I'm totally in love with Mr. Printables.com, a website devoted to free printable art for kids. (I'm not part of the target audience, but nobody loves a good coloring sheet more than I do.) Anyway, the site includes...
Self-help on the big screen (again)
According to Vulture, Reese Witherspoon is going to star in a fictionalized movie adaptation of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. I'm frankly amazed that What To Expect When You're Expecting made enough money to encourage still more self-help-book-inspired movies, but I guess things could be worse...
Ew.
CasaSugar recently put together a slide show of home decor looks inspired by the hero of Fifty Shades of Grey. I'm a little taken aback by how much detail the author of that series seems to have provided (and I'm choosing to believe, for the love of all that is good and just in this world, that leather sheets aren't a real thing).
Romance-writing school
Whoa: Nora Roberts has apparently given McDaniel College a boatload of money to start a center focusing on the study of romance writing. The center will include support for a romance novel collection in the college library, the establishment of a minor in romance fiction, and an online graduate-level romance writing program, featuring PROFESSOR JENNY CRUSIE...
She's obviously not retiring any time soon
According to PublishersWeekly, Janet Evanovich has signed an eight-book deal with Random House, agreeing to churn out four more books in her bestselling Stephanie Plum series and four books in a new series that will be co-written with some dude named Lee Goldberg...
Juliet Immortal, by Stacey Jay
I set the bar low for fantasy novels—all I ask is that they follow their own rules. I'm perfectly willing to buy “It's magic!” as an explanation for something, but if the magic in question behaves a certain way, it better keep behaving that way throughout the novel....
Undoubtedly a scintillating read
Four pages of the seventh-century text De Laude Virginitatis (“In Praise of Virginity”) are going up for sale at Sotheby's next month. De Laude Virginitatis is England's earliest known book written for women. The author—an Anglo-Saxon cleric named Aldhelm—produced a book of advice for the abbess nuns of Barking Abbey, giving them specific pointers on avoiding the “untamed impulses of bodily wantonness”...
The end of an era
Yesterday, NPR posted a loving tribute to Matt Groening's weekly alt-comic Life in Hell, which ended last Saturday after 1,669(!) installments and more than 30 years...
No thank you.
Ugh. I'm not a fan of Anna Karenina, or Joe Wright, or Tom Stoppard, or Merchant-Ivory-lite literary adaptations in general. But this lavish new trailer certainly looks pretty, and I suspect the movie will win many awards (but not my hard-earned $10)...
Clear your schedule, Mr. Cronenberg. Please.
See, at first I thought Bret Easton Ellis (who recently announced that he would like to write a movie adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey) was describing the book's protagonists as "potentially great comedic characters", and that seemed fair. Sadly, I was wrong. He actually said...