Happily ever after?
The trailer is out for Disney's upcoming version of Into the Woods. I legit don't understand this movie. If the rumors are true, they're taking out a lot of the depressing bits...
Secret Society Girl, by Diana Peterfreund
While poking around in the deepest, darkest depths of our slush pile, I fished out a copy of Diana Peterfreund's Secret Society Girl. The book was originally published in 2006, but it feels much more recent than that—probably because while it was released about five years too early for the current craze for “New Adult” novels, that's totally what it is: a story for and about young people who are too old for teen books, but not yet in the market for mainstream adult fiction...
You bring the sunscreen, they provide the books.
The website TeenReads is currently offering a great book giveaway package: their eighth annual "Beach Bag of Books" contest. I don't know if you get an actual beach bag, but the chosen titles look like a genuinely fun assortment...
Shellshocked
After finally watching the first two Hunger Games movies last week, I'm slightly more invested in seeing Mockingjay. (Although I still bitterly resent the practice of splitting single books into two movies—you'll have to pry the cost of two tickets out of my cold dead hands, Lionsgate.) The teaser trailer...
The Glass Sentence, by S.E. Grove
Several people have compared S. E. Grove's debut novel The Glass Sentence to Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. I understand the comparison, but, uh, like hell: Grove is a promising writer, but she doesn't have Pullman's skill (at least, not yet). Instead, I was put in mind of a child-friendly version of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell—a truly impressive effort, but...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Glass Sentence, by S. E. Grove
This week we're giving away a copy of S.E. Grove's The Glass Sentence. I know nothing about this book except for the fact that the back cover has a quote from Megan Whalen Turner comparing it to Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. That's some seriously impressive praise from an impeccable source, so my expectations are very, very high...
Fifty Shades rolls out a trailer
So, they released the trailer for the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey movie, and I have to give the filmmakers credit: I didn't start laughing until the very end. Of course, most of that was due to the deliciously slow, creepy version of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love", which lends the story some sorely-needed dignity, but it's still a lot better than I expected...
Harriet the Spy: 50th Anniversary Edition, by Louise Fitzhugh
Before I get started, I should make something clear: this is a review of a specific edition of Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy, not the book itself. I am constitutionally incapable of saying anything about the actual story beyond “If you haven't read it, seriously, drop everything and do so IMMEDIATELY...
I do wish the cover art was better, but...
Rosemary Clement-Moore is one of our favorite YA writers (as indicated here and here). It's been quite a while since her last book, so...
The Fire Wish, by Amber Lough
My hopes were high when I picked up Amber Lough's debut novel The Fire Wish. I'm officially over books about mermaids, witches, and/or dystopian contests, and it seemed to me that a YA take on the material covered in Arabian Nights might be just the ticket to get me excited about the huge pile of teen books looming on my to-be-read shelf again. Things didn't work out quite like I'd hoped, but sincere props to Ms. Lough for originality...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Fire Wish, by Amber Lough
This week's Book Giveaway pick is Amber Lough's debut novel The Fire Wish. I have no idea if the story's any good, but I'm pleased to see an Arabian Nights-inspired teen fantasy novel (and a little surprised I haven't been sent more of them, frankly). You'd think the gorgeous clothes alone would have been enough to attract more YA authors' interest...
Scholastic strikes again
Scholastic is working on another "multi-platform action adventure property", according to Publishers Weekly. Like The 39 Clues, Spirit Animals and...
Marvel shakes things up
Big plot tweaks are on the way from Marvel: Thor is gonna be a woman, and the Captain America role is going to be handed over to Sam Wilson (AKA the Falcon, recently played by Anthony Mackie in Captain America: The Winter Soldier)...
Bad Machinery: The Case of the Team Spirit and The Case of the Good Boy, by John Allison
I picked up the first volume of John Allison's Bad Machinery because I kept seeing it described as a spectacular title for children, and I figured: what the hell, I'm pretty childish. But now that I've read every Bad Machinery strip to date, I've decided Allison's publisher is making a mistake by pushing Bad Machinery at kids—this is a story about children, but that doesn't mean it's best appreciated by children...
Jane Austen in wax
Speaking of Jane Austen, the Jane Austen Centre at Bath recently unveiled a wax figure of Jane Austen, created by sculptor Mark Richards and inspired by Melissa Dring’s forensic painting of Austen. I'm always terrified by wax sculptures...
As yet, the marketplace has failed me.
Thanks to a recent digression on Twitter about literature-inspired nail polish, I've been obsessed with the idea of a Jane Austen-inspired line of polishes, and it appears I am not alone: last summer, the website Loving Books wrote a lengthy post on the colors they would choose for the various characters...
Sparrow Hill Road, by Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire's Sparrow Hill Road began life as a series of short stories published on The Edge of Propinquity. The author reworked the material into a single novel, mashing it into one mega ghost story, with enough free-ranging creepiness to fuel a dozen camp outs...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Sparrow Hill Road, by Seanan McGuire
We've expressed mixed (but mostly positive!) feelings about Seanan McGuire's writing in the past, but we're pretty excited about this week's Book Giveaway pick, Sparrow Hill Road. It appears to be a classic ghost story told from the ghost's point of view, and what could be more summertime campfire-friendly...
Step One: Avoid the bulls entirely.
In a move that will, ironically, probably raise his book's profile and generate way more sales, writer Bill Hillmann, co-author of the how-to-not-get-gored-by-a-bull advice guide Fiesta: How To Survive The Bulls Of Pamplona, has been gored by a bull...
Ridiculous, but kinda funny.
I was totally oblivious to the kerfuffle over Dinesh D'Souza's accusations that Costco and Google where somehow trying to depress the success of his recent movie and book America (due to their liberal political leanings, I guess) until I read this Seattle Times article. D'Souza's suggestions sound pretty flimsy...
Mortal Danger, by Ann Aguirre
I have trouble imagining the pitch for Ann Aguirre's new novel Mortal Danger. ”It's like a supernatural Revenge, but in high school, and the heroine is suicidal... but there's a really hot guy in it! And a makeover scene! But also tons of people die.” The end result melds together better than I expected, but there's no denying that some of those elements work better than others...
HOW IS THIS STILL A THING?
While trotting past the book section at Target, my head nearly exploded at the sight of yet another book in Jamie McGuire's Maddox Brothers series. GROSS. I wrote a vitriolic review of the first book in the series a few years ago (sample line: "I can't sign off on a happily-ever-after featuring a guy who is always just one break-up away from full-blown cirrhosis of the liver"), and...
G-rated Charlaine Harris
According to THR, Hallmark is planning to adapt author Charlaine Harris's eight-book Aurora Teagarden series into an unknown number of movies for their "Original Mystery Wheel Franchise". The films will star and be co-produced by former Full House actor Candace Cameron Bure...
Seconds, by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Still riding high from the resounding success of his Scott Pilgrim series, Bryan Lee O'Malley's new standalone graphic novel Seconds is a fantasy/horror/humor hybrid about Katie Clay, a young, talented chef at a popular restaurant. Katie is trying to open a new restaurant (one that she will co-own), but the process is slow, so she's stuck in limbo, hanging around her former kitchen and pestering her ex-employees. When a moment of inattention leads to a waitress being injured...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Seconds, by Bryan Lee O'Malley
This week's Book Giveaway title is Bryan Lee O'Malley's new graphic novel Seconds. People have often suggested that I review O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series, but I couldn't get past the first volume, which opens with the books' 23-year-old protagonist dating a 17-year-old girl...
A+ for craftiness
I'm really impressed by these recent reprints of Koushun Takami's Battle Royale from Haikasoru Books. Not only are they eye-catching as hell, but I'm assuming their vague resemblance to the packaging materials for The Hunger Games is 100% intentional (and smart)...
RIP, Walter Dean Myers
Critically acclaimed YA author Walter Dean Myers died this week at the age of 76. Myers (whose motto was apparently "Reading is not optional") served as the 2012/2013 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, and campaigned tirelessly against the extreme racial imbalance featured in children' literature...
Questionable, but mostly pretty fun.
As of yesterday, visitors to London can relax on one of the 50 "BookBench" sculptures. Designed by local artists, the unique benches are meant to "celebrate London’s literary heritage and reading for enjoyment". Frankly, I find the art on these suckers... well, variable in quality...
Enterprising!
According to the Huffington Post, the Amsterdam bench featured in John Green's The Fault in Our Stars has gone missing, but before any European-bound mega-fans demand a refund for their plane tickets, city spokesman Stephan van der Hoek has promised the city will correct the situation...