Jane Austen Ruined My Life, by Beth Pattillo
Beth Pattillo’s Jane Austen Ruined My Life is the latest (and one of the more interesting) examples of the many, many novels inspired by Jane Austen’s life and work. Recently divorced American co...
Want to read a free chapter of Daniel Gross's Dumb Money?
Anyone interested in seeing the first chapter of Slate and NPR commentator Daniel Gross's new e-book Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation should send an e-mail to: du...
Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, by Chuck Dixon and Brett Booth
Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Prodigal Son is Chuck Dixon and Brett Booth’s comic book adaptation of the 2005 novel of the same name by Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson, which is in turn a modern-d...
New Absolute Witch
Huh. How did we miss the second part of Absolute Witch chapter seven? I mean, it's been out since December, and I even helped with the quality check. Seriously, how absent-minded can I be?Anyway, ...
Public Enemies
Trailer's up for Public Enemies, Michael Mann's upcoming movie adaptation of Bryan Burrough's nonfiction book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34:Looks ...
Pride and Prejudice comic book adaptation sneak peek!
Marvel's posted the first five pages, and, in a word, HOLY MOLY.I'm sorry to say this, but Mrs. Bennet looks like a drag queen and the five sisters look like the Pussycat Dolls. They did so well ...
Nutcase, by Charlotte Hughes
We were pleasantly surprised by What Looks Like Crazy, the first book in Charlotte Hughes’s Dr. Kate Holly series. Our previous experience with Hughes was limited to the mediocre Full House...
Tales from Outer Suburbia, by Shaun Tan
It's difficult to maintain an genuinely dreamlike atmosphere over 90+ pages, but Australian graphic novelist Shaun Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia manages it... or very nearly. One or two of his...
Gimme Shelter, by Mary Elizabeth Williams
If, like me, you can't get enough of burst-housing-bubble news, Salon is currently featuring an excerpt from Mary Elizabeth Williams's Gimme Shelter. Williams, a freelance journalist, takes her re...
Book storage with style
I just got the Chiasso catalog, which featured several covetable bookends. I particularly liked these:Bendit Bookends ($28 for a set of two)Hand Bookends ($38)Pretty, huh? I think I like the hand...
Kleypas news
There's a title and release date out for the next book in Lisa Kleypas's Hathaways series: according to Amazon, Tempt Me at Twilight will be out on September 29th. We're still waiting on the cove...
The mind boggles
I cannot BELIEVE they're going to do this, but The Hollywood Reporter assures me it's true:Hollywood is looking to remake The NeverEnding Story.Scarier still, the article linked above suggests tha...
Sticking with what works
Variety is reporting that Juno's Diablo Cody will be producing an adaptation of S.G. Browne's upcoming novel Breathers: A Zombie's Lament. That's a fun cover, and I respect Cody's commitment to th...
Pinching pennies
Judith Levine, author of the Wordcandy-approved (albeit with reservations) nonfiction book Not Buying It, posted an essay in Salon on Tuesday about the questionable virtue of thrift. I'm not sure ...
The Ugly Guide to Being Alive and Staying That Way, by David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim
Despite being a glorified advertisement for Ugly Dolls, David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim's The Ugly Guide to Being Alive and Staying That Way actually boasts some pretty sound advice. Th...
A little look-see
I didn't watch the Oscars, but apparently they featured a bunch of clips of upcoming movies during the ending credits, including some first-glimpse looks at several Wordcandy-friendly movies:
Fat (and lazy) Tuesday
In honor of Mardi Gras, we'll be taking the day off from book blogging and stuffing ourselves with donuts instead. See y'all tomorrow, okay?
There and back again
TV and movies are constantly looking to comic books for inspiration, and now the ABC Family show The Middleman is returning to its roots. The show was originally scheduled for a 13-episode run, bu...
Life of Pi, the movie
According to Variety, Ang Lee is in talks to direct Life of Pi, an adaptation of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Yann Martel. The book, which I have not read, is described as the story of "a...
TV vs. Books: score one for TV!
I'm sorry, but the television version of Gossip Girl is so very, very much better than the books:If only I spoke Polish....P.S. There's another one, but it's about Dan and that teacher, so who cares?
Literary hipster bargains
I was in Urban Outfitters earlier this week, and it was positively bursting with bargain-book goodness. There were piles of those Hard Case paperbacks for $1.99, fun-looking kids' books for around...
Downward Spiral, Part II
NPR's All Things Considered mentioned the Austen + Predator story, too. I particularly enjoyed their audio editing job, which combined samples from the 1995 TV version of Pride and Prejudice with...
Downward Spiral
Please, movie gods, tell me this is a joke:Elton John's Rocket Pictures hopes to make the first Jane Austen adaptation to which men will drag their girlfriends.Will Clark is set to direct "Pride a...
Larry Doyle book to hit the big screen
The trailer's up for the movie adaptation of I Love You, Beth Cooper, and it looks, well, totally painful:I couldn't really get past the opening scene, where the main character (a high school seni...
Dan Simmons news
The Denver Decider* has posted a great interview with Wordcandy favorite Dan Simmons. In addition to being chatty and charming and generally awesome, Mr. Simmons mentions in passing that director ...
Watchmen: the game
I'm not totally clear why the expectations for the upcoming adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen are so high (I mean, it's not like he's had good luck with film adaptations in the past), but I'm re...
The Maltese Falcon: a prequel
I'm torn on this one--is a prequel to The Maltese Falcon (even one with a great cover, written by Edgar Award-winner Joe Gores) a brilliant idea, or sign of the apocalypse?Oh, well. At least it m...
Boys Before Flowers contest
If you're a K-drama fan with video-making skills, Dramabeans is having a Boys Before Flowers-themed giveaway. Submit your fan-made parody video for your chance to win one of three prizes.Good luck!