Weekly Book Giveaway: Where the Water Goes, by David Owen
It's been a while since we've reviewed any nonfiction, so this week's Book Giveaway will be David Owen's Where the Water Goes. I'm only a few chapters in, but thus far it's interesting, although Owen (or his editor) appears to be a little confused about how commas work. A full review will follow shortly...
I like it, though!
I was delighted to see a review of Jean Webster's 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs on the website Dear Author, and even more pleased by what a great job the author did of summarizing the book's strengths and weaknesses...
Suppressed passion... and bees
Variety informs me that Anna Paquin will star in a movie adaptation of Fiona Shaw's 2009 novel Tell It To The Bees. According to the article, the story is set in the 1950s, and Paquin will play a doctor who returns to her hometown to take over her late father’s medical practice. Her situation grows complicated when...
This will not be G-rated.
According to Deadline, A Wrinkle in Time director Ava DuVernay, Charles D. King, and director-writer Victoria Mahoney have bought the rights to make a TV adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s 1987 sci-fi novel Dawn...
With bells on
I was just asking for another TV or movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and the universe has responded: according to Radio Times, ITV is planning an new TV version of the novel that will "tease out the story's 'darker tones'". My first reaction is: do the darker tones take take much teasing? I mean, this...
Expanding
I'm not always a fan of Yen Press's translation work (I think they sometimes make the mistake of hewing too closely to the original language, even when such a direct translation takes readers out of the story), but they're one of the more reliable and high-quality manga publishers, so I was pleased to hear that they are planning...
Hero in the Highlands, by Suzanne Enoch
I rarely pick up Scottish romance novels. I have no beef with Scotland, but I have never understood what makes it such a rich source for romance novel fetishization. (I mean, why not Ireland? Or Wales? Is it the kilts?) But my inability to appreciate the appeal of itchy, smelly, difficult-to-clean wool skirts is offset by my faith in Suzanne Enoch, one of the few romance novelists I find consistently entertaining, so I decided to give her recent novel Hero in the Highlands a shot...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Hero in the Highlands, by Suzanne Enoch
This week's Book Giveaway is Suzanne Enoch's Hero in the Highlands, the first book in her No Ordinary Hero series. I'm not usually a huge fan of Scottish romance novels, but Enoch is a reliable writer, so I'm hoping for the best. A full review will follow shortly...
Maybe people buy them as odd Christmas gifts?
According to io9, Chuck Palahniuk is once again blending original fiction with coloring pages, releasing a book called Legacy: An Off-Color Novella for You to Color. Clearly, his short story anthology/coloring book hybrid Bait sold well...
Makes sense
If you have mixed feelings about the upcoming movie adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, there seems to be a TV series in the works, too. It's unclear if version will have much (if anything) in common with the movie, but TV certainly seems like a more logical medium...
All spiders would need to be carefully transferred outside
If you have $3.7 million stuffed under your mattress and you're a big fan of famous children's tearjerkers, today's your lucky day: the house that inspired E.B. White's Charlotte's Web is currently up for sale. In addition to (presumably) boasting an infestation of spiders, the property...
Is it a giant... pug?
How did I miss all this news about Marvel's latest TV series attempt, The Inhumans? And more importantly, why does it look so cheesy? (That wig!) Seriously, if you told me this...
Sorry, but no.
Check out this juicy article over on Pajiba: "Truman Capote and the Confessed Killer He Might Have Murdered". A word of warning, however: the story behind that eye-catching title is both tragic and of obvious interest to Capote fans, but...
Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire
After reading the laundry list of awards won by Seanan McGuire's 2016 novel Every Heart a Doorway, I was expecting something spectacular. What I got, sadly, was a stylishly packaged novella that is long on atmosphere but distressingly short on plot, payoff, or fully-developed characters...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire
This week's Book Giveaway is Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway. I'm inclined to look suspiciously upon books that cost $18 but weigh in at well under 200 pages, but this book has won, like, all the awards (seriously), so I'm looking forward to reading it. A full review will follow shortly...
New heights
There is a fascinating article in the current issue of Vanity Fair about the ongoing battle between The New York Times and the Washington Post. The venerable papers have taken the election of President Trump as a opportunity to continuously out-scoop one another, producing a steady stream of stories...
I dunno...
The trailer is out for Netflix's adaptation of Margaret Atwood's 1996 novel Alias Grace, which was inspired by the life of Grace Marks, an Irish-Canadian maid who was convicted in 1843 of murdering her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery. The adaptation looks extremely well-made and acted and everything...
Asking for us all.
I'm kind of surprised by how few pithy one-liners (or catchy musical cues) are featured in this trailer for Marvel's The Defenders, but my mind was busy with a more urgent question: what the hell does Sigourney Weaver use for moisturizer?
Women in refrigerators (or snow, in this case)
The trailer is out for the upcoming film adaptation of Jo Nesbo's The Snowman. I have a policy of avoiding movies with trailers that start off with an attractive young woman being chased through a dark/snowy/isolated landscape by an unseen assailant*, so...
Scrambling for cash
Chawton House Library, the “Great House” once owned by Jane Austen's brother Edward, is seeking to raise around £150,000 over the next 18 months to stay open after a longtime backer withdrew support. (The £150,000 is just to keep the doors open while they apply for millions in capital grants...
Faro's Daughter, by Georgette Heyer
After slogging through last week's highly irritating historical romance, I picked up Georgette Heyer's Faro's Daughter as a literary palate cleanser. It might be one of her weaker efforts, but even C-grade Georgette Heyer still stands head and shoulders above most historical romances...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Faro's Daughter, by Georgette Heyer
This week's Book Giveaway is Georgette Heyer's novel Faro's Daughter. I don't think anyone is going to pick this as their all-time favorite Heyer, but it falls somewhere in the middle of her body of work—not perfect, but still featuring the kind of charm, wit, and historical detail that most other romance novelists can only dream of achieving. A full review will follow shortly...
Persuasion = The Shallows
There's a mildly amusing essay over on the Guardian website that compares Jane Austen's Persuasion to a kung-fu movie. I think the analogy is a stretch (if you're talking about the characters being hemmed in and surrounded by potential dangers, why stop at kung-fu films? There are lots of horror films that play up claustrophobia and danger. Why not a shark movie?), but...
Okay, WOW.
74-year-old Argentinian artist Marta Minujín has built a spectacular replica of the Greek Parthenon using copies of banned books. "The Parthenon of Books" in Kassel, Germany is the centerpiece of the Documenta 14 art festival. With the help of students from Kassel University, Minujín...
I'm assuming these ladies are critical to the plot.
Yesterday, io9 published an exciting round-up of a number of upcoming book-to-TV adaptations, at least half of which I want to check out. (This is a pretty good ratio, as far as I'm concerned.) I'm most excited...
Skipping this.
Aaaand in completely different film news: check out the trailer for Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, the upcoming biopic inspired by the polyamorous relationship between William Marston (the creator of Wonder Woman, his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston, an attorney and psychologist, and...
I'm gonna need to buy Amazon Prime for this, aren't I?
The trailer is out for the upcoming live action reboot of The Tick, based on Ben Edlund's cult comic series. The Tick has never quite hit it big (despite Patrick Warburton's truly immortal turn as the title character in the earlier TV series), so...
Duels and Deception, by Cindy Anstey
I picked up Cindy Anstey's Duels and Deception in hopes that it would be an improvement on Avon's True Romance line, a short-lived attempt to write Regency romance novels for teens. I found the Avon books to be amusing but flimsy (even by romance novel standards), but assumed that Anstey's book—with its eye-catching cover and breathless promotional quotes—would be more impressive. Sadly, I was wrong...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Duels and Deception, by Cindy Anstey
This week's Book Giveaway is Cindy Anstey's Duels and Deception. There's a promotional quote on the back that claims Anstey's writing is "BETTER than Georgette Heyer", which is, uh, high praise, to say the least. Personally, I'd be satisfied to find something that's better than Avon's short-lived attempt at producing Regency romances for teens...
Noooo, thanks.
If you're in the market for a profoundly uncomfortable-looking chair that also manages to make large sections of your bookshelf space non-functional, Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto...