At long last
According to The Guardian, a long-overlooked note could solve the mystery of the "Rice Portrait", which descendants of Jane Austen have long argued was a portrait of the author as a young girl. Art experts have disagreed...
By Night, Issues 1-4, by John Allison
My affection for John Allison's comic Bad Machinery is the kind of love that makes all of Alison's other titles (of which there are quite a few) feel like a letdown. They're fine, but they're mostly spin-offs or prequels or also-ran adventures—pale imitations of the story I'd prefer to be reading...
Weekly Book Giveaway: By Night, Issues 1-4, by John Allison
Our latest Book Giveaway is the first four issues of John Allison's new series By Night. Not to spoil anything, but of all the comic titles we've reviewed recently, this is FAR AND AWAY the best one. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 4/26/19...
Faaaancy
I'm fascinated by this The New York Times article about the Grolier Club, the 100-year-old Manhattan-based society of bibliophiles. The pictures make it look like a movie set, but I'm hoping there is a small corner somewhere that's at least a little like a club in a P.G. Wodehouse novel...
Shimmy shimmy shimmy
LitHub recently featured a snippet of writing and several illustrations from Lulu Hunt Peters’s Diet and Health: with The Key to the Calories, a best-selling exercise book from the early part of the 20th century...
Slow down, fellow book lovers
IndieWire just published an article about Marie Kondo's approach to books, which has inspired loads of online outrage from my fellow bibliophiles. Kondo has faced a lot of backlash in regards to her
Maybe give Dahl a rest?
According to Variety, Anne Hathaway will be starring as the Grand High Witch in Robert Zemeckis and Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches. Hathaway will be playing the same role Anjelica Huston played in the 1990 movie...
Confusing!
So it's been almost three years since we've heard anything definitive about the movie adaptation of Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy. I'm thinking this project is (sobs) dead in the water. But on the upside, I recently saw a picture of this vintage edition of the novel online, and it fills my heart with joy...
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BOOM! Comics), Issue #1, by Jordie Bellaire
More than twenty years after the TV series' debut (and twenty-seven after the original movie), and despite a plethora of spin-offs, continuations, and a potential reboot, BOOM! comics decided that what the world needed was yet another take on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This time it's a modern-day retelling of the original series, and while a few aspects of it work, thus far the storytelling well is looking pretty dry...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BOOM! Comics), Issue #1, by Jordie Bellaire
Our latest book giveaway is the first issue of BOOM! Comics' recent reboot/re-imagining/re... something of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I, uh, did not realize the world was crying out for this, but maybe I was wrong? A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will...
All the thumbs up
I love this: more than 80 children's book illustrators have collaborated on a bilingual coloring book called Coloring Without Borders. The project is curated by Jennifer Sofio Hall, and the proceeds from the book will benefit Families Belong Together...
She is SO COOL.
This is old, but it was (amazing) news to me: politician, lawyer, and all-around inspiring figure Stacey Abrams has also written eight romance novels under the name Selena Montgomery, and she gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly a few months ago about her writing career...
How many boxes of tissues will be necessary?
Every time I see the trailer for If Beale Street Could Talk, I remind myself that this is not the kind of movie I want to see in a theater. It looks gorgeous, sure, and I'm sure the cinematography would be incredible on the big screen... but this is film that cries out for...
My point
And speaking of British versus American covers, check out this 80th anniversary edition of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, from the U.K.'s Virago Modern Classics. Look how awesome and original it is (how did they make embroidery seem so... insidious?), and...
Compare and contrast
LitHub recently published an article on one of my favorite pastimes: comparing US and UK cover art for the same books. Overall, I'm sticking with my long-held opinion that the UK gets better covers than we do, although...
Smooth Criminals: Issues 1 & 2, by Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith
I had hopes for Smooth Criminals, the second comic from the creators of Misfit City. Unfortunately, there is an art to pacing a comic series that creators Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith still haven't mastered, and...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Smooth Criminals: Issues 1 & 2, by Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith
Our current Book Giveaway is the first two issues of Smooth Criminals, the second comic by Misfit City creators Kurt Lustgarten and Kerstin "Kiwi" Smith. A full review will follow shortly, but here's a spoiler: they still have some kinks to work out. This giveaway will run through 3/09/19...
Original sources
This is fascinating, from The Guardian: "Spanish academic gets €1.5m EU grant to rescue 'women's writing'." Apparently, the European Research Council has given Carme Font, an English literature professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a €1.5m grant to...
Free books~
And in other good beginning-of-the-year news, I just learned that Apple is letting people download six classic audiobook editions for free. Each novel features a recognizable celebrity narrator, with the exception of Winnie-the-Pooh...
Persuasion (Penguin Classics Deluxe), by Jane Austen
I'm hoping to start 2019 on a good note, so my first review choice of the year is the Penguin Classics Deluxe 200th anniversary edition of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Alas, it isn't quite the note-perfect edition of my dreams, but it is far and away the best option I've encountered to date...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Persuasion (Penguin Classics Deluxe), by Jane Austen
It's a short week, but let's start off 2019 right: with Jane Austen. This week's Book Giveaway is the Penguin Classics Deluxe edition of Persuasion. Due to the wonky holiday schedule, we're extending this giveaway through Monday, January 7th. A full review will follow shortly...
Lovecraft, improved
Slate recently posted an essay about the many nods to H.P. Lovecraft in the recent DC movie adaptation of Aquaman. The writer also points out, with understandable pleasure, the many ways in which this new film would shock and horrify...
Maybe Apple will let him kick that stupid football
Apple has picked up the rights to produce new content based on Charles M. Schulz’s beloved Peanuts characters. I wasn't raised on the various Peanuts specials, so I don't fully grasp their appeal...
Not sure how it will work as an ongoing series, though.
Okay, I am REALLY excited about this upcoming modern-day adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. A) I love that story, and B) this version will apparently be set on Bainbridge Island...
Worth MORE than what you pay for them
The Hollywood Reporter is offering a sneak peek at next year's Free Comic Book Day offerings, and they look pretty good! There's always a lot of industry tie-ins...
Whatever sells
According to Deadline, Disney recently won a bidding war for the rights to Melissa de la Cruz's latest YA book, 29 Dates. I've never enjoyed de la Cruz's writing, but plenty of people do: she's written over 40 books, most of which were hugely successful...
Little White Lies, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Jennifer Lynn Barnes's books must have great elevator pitches: cheerleader spies! Magic-granting tattoos! Teenage FBI agents! Unfortunately, her latest effort, Little White Lies, doesn't fully lean in to the wildness of its Gilmore Girls-meets-Peyton Place premise. Barnes is a solid writer, but her books are never as cheesy as they sound, and this was a story that could have used significantly more cheese...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Little White Lies, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
This week's Book Giveaway is Jennifer Lynn Barnes's latest, Little White Lies, which combines some girl-power crime-fighting with a Gilmore Girls-inspired premise. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 12/28/18...
Unexpected
Huh. There's apparently going to be a Netflix TV show about professional tidier Marie Kondo's work. I'm a little surprised there's a market for this, but I was a little surprised by the success of Ms. Kondo's book(s), too..
Problem solving
This is great: according to CBS News, the East Los Angeles Library allows their young patrons to pay their overdue fees by reading. If you're 21 or younger, you can "read away" your late fees at at rate of $5 an hour...