Apr 6 2011

Extra cheesy

Meg and I went to the bookstore last night and encountered this:According to Lynsay Sands's promotional blurb, this novel is an "absolute delight". I don't know about that, but Meg and I certainl...

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Apr 5 2011

Not gone after all

The Times has posted an article about the final typescript of the last four chapters of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. The chapters—which were mistakenly believed to have been burned in ...

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Apr 5 2011

Good Omens to hit British TV

Someone is adapting Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's novel Good Omens into a TV show? But how will they include all the footnotes? Those are my favorite parts!

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Apr 4 2011

Nostalgia with a dollop of gore

A new musical from singer John Mellencamp and horror writer Stephen King will make its world debut next year at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. Ghost Brothers of Darkland County is described as ...

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Apr 4 2011

Truth in advertising

I don't know who Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thinks they're fooling: you can dress up a Catherine Jinks novel with all the scowling hot guys you want, but nobody who's read five pages of her writing...

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Apr 1 2011

Silver linings

While I'm still totally bummed over the death of Diana Wynne Jones, I was pleased to note that her publishers are sitting on two yet-to-be released books. According to the author's official websi...

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Mar 31 2011

Diana Wynne Jones: 1924 to 2011

I was deeply saddened to learn that Diana Wynne Jones, author of the Chrestomanci books, Howl's Moving Castle, and about a thousand other insanely awesome and profoundly weird children's and YA fa...

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Mar 31 2011

A thorough knowledge of drawing

AustenBlog is giving their readers a heads-up about another Jane Austen-related contest: there's going to be an art competition focused on Stoneleigh Abbey, an English estate that belonged to Aust...

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Mar 30 2011

Next up: Hercule Poirot, pre-mustache?

According to Deadline, Disney is planning a new film version of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. This (possibly modern-day?) update would star Jennifer Garner, so they're obviously going for a youn...

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Mar 29 2011

Sailor Moon returns!

On March 18th, Kodansha Comics sent out an e-mail announcing the return of Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon manga, which originated in Japan in 1992 and became the first successful shôjo manga in the ...

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Mar 29 2011

Getting my hopes up

I was all excited when I ran across this book in the clearance section of Barnes and Noble:I'm not a big fan of Charity Girl, but I like Lady of Quality, and the cover design is pretty. Plus, the...

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Mar 28 2011

Jessica and Elizabeth ride again

This in-depth look at Francine Pascal and her Sweet Valley High books is a fascinating read. (No joke.) My parents never let me read the Sweet Valley books when I was in middle school, and I hav...

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Mar 28 2011

Yes, I'm sure the 3-D special effects will make it extra special.

Wow, Matthew Macfadyen has really been working on developing that purring baritone:The voice is good. The look... not so much. At thirty-six, he's a little young to be letting himself go to this...

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Mar 25 2011

Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2 brings the pain

At first I was surprised to hear that they'd made a sequel to last year's excruciating Diary of a Wimpy Kid adaptation, but then I read some reviews that tossed around phrases like "has 'straight ...

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Mar 24 2011

Read, burn calories, and shop, all at the same time!

I think this is so cool: Washington's King County Library System is offering a series of "Book Cover Walking Tours". The tours turn eight Seattle-adjacent communities into outdoor galleries for b...

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Mar 24 2011

RIP, Dune movie (for now, at least)

Aw... apparently the Dune film reboot is toast. While they dithered over the project for four years, Paramount has finally chosen to let their option expire. The film isn't totally dead (the prod...

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Mar 23 2011

Michael Buckley has gone AWOL

The last several times I've checked Amazon for news of the ninth and final Sisters Grimm book, the only thing that's turned up has been a book about Capital Tax Acts. I've managed to remain calm,...

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Mar 22 2011

Torment, by Lauren Kate

3-22-2011-torment-by-lauren-kate

As I turned over the final page of Torment, the second book in Lauren Kate's best-selling Fallen series, my first thought was Aw, man... now I'm totally gonna need to read the third one. Not the ...

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Mar 22 2011

Odd Thomas on the big screen

BuzzSugar has posted their spring list of Books To Read Before They're Movies. Most of these film adaptations have already been extensively covered here and elsewhere, but I was excited to discov...

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Mar 21 2011

A would-be Jane Bond?

According to the Times, former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson has signed a book deal with Penguin to co-write (with mystery author Sarah Lovett) a series of "international suspense" novels. T...

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Mar 21 2011

Imagine a Japanese Nancy Drew paired with a demonic Sherlock Holmes

I was delighted to discover that the deeply weird horror/mystery/comedy anime Neuro has turned up on Hulu. I don't think the manga is available in English and it's not the kind of show that comes...

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Mar 18 2011

Skipper Barbie, with a bow, in a cage fight...

Well, Katniss Everdeen has been cast. And while Jennifer Lawrence is a lovely young woman and (from what I hear) a very talented actress, and I know Hollywood hair and makeup will go a long way t...

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Mar 17 2011

Sherlock Holmes (as portrayed by Justin Bieber)

Ever since I heard about this project, I've been keeping an eye out for the first book in a new series featuring Sherlock Holmes as a teenager. The Times liked Andrew Lane's Death Cloud, and it's...

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Mar 17 2011

Knit Your Own Royal Wedding

I don't care about knitting or England's royal family, but Fiona Goble's new how-to book Knit Your Own Royal Wedding is undeniably adorable:How's that for a wedding souvenir? She even got the pri...

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Mar 16 2011

RASL on the big screen?

According to The Beat, Jeff Smith's trippy sci-fi/noir series RASL is being developed into a feature film. Several things about this idea concern me: A) The film adaptation of Smith's infinitely ...

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Mar 15 2011

A stroke of genius

PopEater is reporting that Bradley Cooper hopes to play Tom Buchanan in the upcoming Baz Luhrmann adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Sadly, the article makes it clear that Luhrmann has never express...

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Mar 15 2011

Shout-outs via snail mail

According to The Mirror, the U.K.'s Royal Mail recently unveiled their 2011 "Best of British"-themed stamps. The designs include a collection called "Magical Realms", all of which pay tribute to ...

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Mar 14 2011

So very unnecessary

Remember how creeped out everyone was by that sorta-realistic-looking animation technique they used to film the The Polar Express? Well, they've made an equally disturbing adaptation of Berkeley ...

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Mar 14 2011

Earthquake and Tsunami relief

AnimeNewsNetwork is offering special coverage of the horrific earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on Friday, including information on the status of artists and writers in Japan and suggestions a...

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Mar 11 2011

39 Clues on a budget

If you've never read the best-selling 39 Clues series, I noticed a "buy one, get the next for half price" deal at my local Barnes and Noble. I don't know if the deals will get better or worse as ...

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