I'd use it
A Singapore-based design studio has created a project called "The Missing Dining Table", which explores a variety of futuristic dining tools, all aimed at the solo eater. This book/dish holder made me laugh, but...
Choice vacation reading
Ooh, I see there's a new book coming out next week in Elle Kennedy's Off-Campus series (we reviewed the first three books in the series earlier this year). I still feel like the musclebound cover art fails...
Brighter future
According to The Verge, orders for comic books have hit a 20-year high. The surge seems to be currently benefiting DC Comics, which sold nine out of the 10 best-selling issues released last month (Harley Quinn #1 was the top seller), but...
Worth it?
No matter what I do, any Harry Potter quiz or online generator always sorts me into Slytherin. I've accepted my snaky nature, and am therefore tempted by this Elhoffer Design sweater. (All four houses are available.) They're a little pricey ($50), and they're still...
Betrayals, by Kelley Armstrong
Betrayals is the fourth book in Kelley Armstrong's Cainsville series. It is also her publishers' third attempt at finding the right cover art style for these books. (The first two installments were American Gothic; the third was modern and geometric.) I really like both the look and the contents of Betrayals, so I'm hoping the ever-changing cover design...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Betrayals, by Kelley Armstrong
This week's Book Giveaway is Betrayals, the fourth book in Kelley Armstrong's Cainsville series. I see we're on cover art style attempt #3. Won't anyone think of people like me and Megan, who need our books to match? A full review will follow shortly...
Okay, sure.
Slate recently posted an article called "The New Powers That Be: Harry Potter, the triumph of fandom, and the future of creativity". The essay dives into the impact of Harry Potter as the focus of the first major internet-born fandom...
"Wake Up Pretty!" v. "Explore Your Future"
There was a lot of buzz earlier this month about the unfortunate contrast between the covers for two magazines: Boys' Life and Girls' Life. A business owner and mother of five named Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll took to Facebook to...
Um...
NPR recently featured an article about Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure, the recent attempt to update Betty MacDonald’s beloved (albeit decidedly dated) Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books for the modern era. I'm just not feeling this idea: I still get creeped out when I think about the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle story about the little girl who refused to take a bath...
Cute
Okay, I kind of want this "Too Due" notepad (recently featured on the design blog Swiss-Miss). I'm normally the kind of person who tries to discreetly correct misspelled signs...
Olivia Twist?
How nice: according to THR, NBC is planning to transform Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist into a "Contemporary Female-Driven Procedural". I'm having some trouble picturing this (apparently, it's going to be "sexy"), but...
The Creeping Shadow, by Jonathan Stroud
In The Creeping Shadow, the fourth book in Jonathan Stroud's spine-tingling Lockwood and Co. series, the heroine has left her friends at the Lockwood and Co. ghost-hunting agency. Lucy is now a freelance Listener, hiring herself out to the big London agencies. But when her former teammates request her help with the ghost...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Creeping Shadow, by Jonathan Stroud
This week's Book Giveaway is Jonathan Stroud's The Creeping Shadow, the fourth book in his delightfully creepy Lockwood & Co. series. Trust me, dear readers, this is pretty much the perfect way to kick off the fall season. Our review will follow shortly...
Updates
Next week will feature the release of Berkeley Breathed's The Bill the Cat Story: A Bloom County Epic (a picture book), and September 27th will see the release of Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope (the first collection of the strips Breathed has been releasing on his Facebook page since 2015). As lifelong Bloom County fan, I...
Gun-slinging robots
A new trailer has been released for Westworld, HBO's remake of the 1973 sci-fi/western/horror film written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton. This new version appears to shift the primary focus to a female character (played by Evan Rachel Wood), which...
Shh.
I am fascinated by the idea of this suggested writing class, proposed by Basecamp founder and CEO Jason Fried. I'd sign up to take it in a hot second...
Chaos Choreography, by Seanan McGuire
After a two-book-long detour, the fifth installment in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series brings the action back where it belongs: on ballroom-dancing, ass-kicking cryptozoologist Verity Price. In Chaos Choreography, Verity has set aside her dancing career in favor of full-time cryptozoology... but when she gets a call from the producers of the reality TV series Dance or Die, she decides...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Chaos Choreography, by Seanan McGuire
This week's Book Giveaway is Seanan McGuire's Chaos Choreography, the fifth book in her InCryptid series. I am resigned to the hideous covers at this point, but I'm really hoping this book fixes McGuire's unfortunate habit of ending the books in this series on a damsel-in-distress note. A full review will follow shortly...
Out to lunch
We will be on vacation next week, and returning the day after Labor Day. See you on September 6th! Enjoy the dog days of summer, whether they be of the hotter-than-hell variety (as my brother is experiencing) or the "Welcome, fall!" version...
Clash of the Titans
Heh: Lainey Gossip informs me that Sean Penn and Mel Gibson are going to star in a movie adaptation of The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester’s book about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary...
I can promise a glowing review!
According to NPR, the mysterious, never-successfully-translated 15th-century document known as the Voynich Manuscript is going to be published in replica for the first time. Unfortunately, it's not the kind of publishing run that leads to them sending me a review copy...
No waiting!
THR has an update on the (possibly ill-advised) Anne of Green Gables remake. Apparently, Netflix has picked up the rights to the eight-hour-long miniseries, which hopefully means we'll be able to nitpick the entire thing all at once, rather than watching it over a matter of weeks on our local PBS affiliate...
Ew.
So, some dude is auctioning off Truman Capote's ashes, in case you're in the market for some truly creepy literary memorabilia. According to Vanity Fair, Julien’s Auctions has announced that Capote’s ashes will be sold in late September...
Remembrance, by Meg Cabot
Remembrance, the fifth and final book in Meg Cabot's 'Mediator' series, is her third attempt at transforming one of her YA series into a story for grown-ups. The end result is vintage Meg Cabot—brash, funny, and just a little bit lazy—but now with more swearing, violence, and sex...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Remembrance, by Meg Cabot
This week's Book Giveaway is Meg Cabot's Remembrance, the long-awaited final book in her (formerly YA) Mediator series. Based on Missing You, Cabot's first attempt at translating one of her teen series into a book for adults, I'm expecting a lot of humor and charm, plus wee bit of swearing and maybe a legit sex scene. A full review will follow shortly...
Harder to kill than a zombie
According to the Atlantic, J. K. Rowling's recent announcement that there would be no more Harry Potter stories after Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was by no means an indication that she was done with the Potter 'verse...
No theme parks, though
Publishers Weekly informs me that we can look forward to a new dinosaur-themed book by the late Michael Crichton. HarperCollins is planning to publish Dragon Teeth in May of 2017...
Heyer on the cheap
According to Dear Author, in celebration of Georgette Heyer’s 114th birthday on August 16th, all of Heyer’s books will be dropped to $2.99 across e-retailers...
Sign me up
The full trailer for Arrival, the upcoming movie adaptation of Ted Chiang’s 1998 short story “Story Of Your Life” is out, and it looks awesome. People frequently talk about Amy Adams's long history as an Oscars also-ran...
Bat country
According to Jezebel, Hunter S. Thompson's widow, Anita Thompson, has returned the elk antlers that her husband once "secretly stole" from Ernest Hemingway’s home in Ketchum, Idaho. I guess that's a nice gesture and all (although both men are dead, but whatever), but...