READ TO YOUR KIDS.
There is a great article on WHYY about "Reach Out and Read", a program that hands out free books to parents of young children at well-child checkups, starting at six months of age...
That will be a big HELL NO.
Okay, even the trailer for IT: Chapter Two was waaaay too creepifying for me, so I will be skipping this movie. If I can't handle mediocre child actors looking scared...
A little adjustment
HAH: according the Huffington Post, Tony Schwartz (the man who ghost-wrote Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal) recently suggested that Random House either take the book out of print...
Boo, but also yay?
I was originally bummed to see an announcement on The Wrap that Disney was pushing back their Artemis Fowl movie update by nearly a year. But while I'm sorry to have to wait, a May release...
When a Duchess Says I Do, by Grace Burrowes
It's been several months since my last attempt at finding a new-to-me historical romance novelist whose work I actually like, so once again I'm choosing an author at random off a bookstore shelf. Sure, Grace Burrowes's When a Duchess Says I Do is covered in glowing testimonials from her fellow writers, but I've been misled before...
Weekly Book Giveaway: When a Duchess Says I Do, by Grace Burrowes
Our latest Book Giveaway is When a Duchess Says I Do, the second book in Grace Burrowes's Rogues to Riches series. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/15/19...
Printing money
Sick of Game of Thrones getting all that sweet, sweet merchandising tie-in money, Vans has just announced a Harry Potter-themed line of sneakers. Details are non-existent, but they seem to be modeled after the Hogwarts houses...
Promising combo
According to Tor.com, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (the duo behind Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End) are adapting Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series for TV...
Solid suggestions from a guy who knows
There's a great tip buried in this New York Times interview with James Holzhauer, the dude who has been busily cleaning up on Jeopardy! during the past few weeks...
Very cute
The official trailer is out for Lifetime's Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta, and it looks good—way less obnoxious than, say, this offering from the Hallmark Channel. I'm standing by what I said, though: this...
The Casket of Time, by Andri Snaer Magnason
More books are published in Iceland per capita than anywhere else in the world. A disproportionate number seem to be indistinguishable gloomy thrillers, but a few stand out. Admittedly, Andri Snaer Magnason's The Casket of Time is both thrilling and frequently gloomy, but in an impressively idiosyncratic way...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Casket of Time, by Andri Snaer Magnason
Our latest Book Giveaway is The Casket of Time, written by Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason and translated by Björg Árnadóttir and Andrew Cauthery. A full review will follow shortly, but the cover art offers an excellent sense of the contents: 70% prettily imaginative, 30% creepy. This giveaway will run through 5/15/19...
More lost books
If you're in the market for more reflections upon violent misery, the BBC is reporting that a previously unseen manuscript for a sequel to Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange has been unearthed in his archive...
Unlooked-for treasures
There's a fascinating article on NPR about a lost book: the Libro de los Epítomes, a catalog of the massive library of Hernando Colón, Christopher Columbus's illegitimate son. It's a massive book—2000 pages—designed to help a user find books in Colon's collection...
Mourning
After the April 15th fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (in French, Notre-Dame de Paris) has leapt to the top of France’s online bestseller list. According to...
The Mystery Knight, by George R. R. Martin
With all the hype and thinkpieces and merchandising tie-ins, I sometimes wonder if I should be watching Game of Thrones, even though I have thoroughly disliked the bits of the books that I've read and I can't stomach depictions of sexual violence. Still, the fan reaction to the show is so enthusiastic and thoughtful that I almost caved—but then I was sent a copy of The Mystery Knight, and it was a helpful reminder of why I've bowed out...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Mystery Knight, by George R.R. Martin
This week's Book Giveaway is The Mystery Knight, a graphic novel adaptation of one of the Dunk and Egg novellas from George R. R. Martin’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. (It's a distant prequel to the events in Game of Thrones.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/15/19...
There's a hair/heir pun here somewhere...
Man, I gotta start watching Antiques Roadshow. It sounds exciting: according to Jezebel, a recent episode featured a woman who found a ring in her recently-deceased father-in-law’s attic, locked inside a "mysterious-looking" box. The ring was inscribed with Charlotte Bronte's name...
Ouch.
Remember when I was surprised by the intensely negative fan reaction to the Hellboy trailer? Well, if this Tor review is accurate, the trailer did what it was supposed to do...
Impressive
There was a staggering article published on Mental Floss about how important it is for parents to read out loud to their children. According to a recent study...
NO THANK YOU
If you are a braver person than I am, feel free to check out the teaser trailer for Guillermo del Toro's upcoming film adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark...
The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer
First published in 1936, Georgette Heyer's The Talisman Ring is a story built around a MacGuffin, with a theatrical setting and a highly mannered cast of characters. It's a tribute to the author's skill that she manages to transform such a slight, silly confection of a story into one of her most endearing books...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer
Our latest Book Giveaway is Georgette Heyer's The Talisman Ring, one of the author's most delightfully ridiculous books (and my favorite of her non-Regency historical novels). A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/15/19...
Congratulations?
In honor of April Fools' Day, The New York Times has put together a list of their favorite literary hoaxes of the 20th century. James Frey made the list...
As ever, I have Notes.
And speaking of Jane Austen, Lifetime has made a movie called Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta, which will air on June 1st. It's a contemporary retelling featuring an African-American cast, and I'm definitely checking it out, but I can't let go of my one bone-deep...
It's about... them?
The trailer is out for the upcoming animated Addams Family movie, and, while it conveys absolutely no sense of the plot, it does look like...
Emma, again
According to Screen Daily, there's going to be another movie adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, and this one has quite a cast...
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman
While browsing through a stack of battered paperbacks at a used book sale, I was delighted to run across a very old copy of Dorothy Gilman's The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax. I had read it—and loved it—as a kid, but I had concerns about how well it would hold up, and felt that a $1 copy in readable condition was the perfect way for me to revisit the story...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman
This week's Book Giveaway is Dorothy Gilman's 1966 novel The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, arguably the platonic ideal of an airplane book (clever, amusing, and enjoyably far-fetched). A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/15/19...