Sep 12 2018

More Heyer!

There are some new Georgette Heyer editions from Sourcebooks. Deb Werksman, the editorial director of Sourcebooks Casablanca, gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly about the books' art direction...

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Sep 11 2018

Next rainy weekend

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Pajiba has just posted a review of the first three episodes of ITV/Amazon's adaptation of Thackeray's Vanity Fair. They make the show sound pretty fun, but...

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Sep 11 2018

I bet they were tough to take in real life, too.

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It's time for the Toronto Film Festival, and reviews of book adaptations and literary biopics are pouring out. First up is Screen Daily's enjoyably nasty review of Vita and Virginia, about the love affair between...

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Sep 10 2018

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Graphic Novel), by Ransom Riggs and Cassandra Jean

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I rarely read graphic novel adaptations of popular books, because they never look like the stories do in my head. But I was recently given a copy of the graphic novel version of Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and it had two things going for it...

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Sep 10 2018

Weekly Book Giveaway: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs and Cassandra Jean

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This week's Book Giveaway is the graphic novel adaptation of Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. (I realize the original version of the book was also pretty graphics-heavy, but apparently someone decided to go all the way.) Again, a full review will follow shortly, and please note: due to a bunch of overdue postings, this giveaway will run through October 12th...

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Sep 6 2018

Sorry, not a coincidence

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An assistant professor at UC Berkeley recently analyzed The New York Times' "By the Book" column (which asks authors about the specific books on their nightstands)...

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Sep 6 2018

New and expanded

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THR recently offered an in-depth look at DC/Vertigo's new one-shot The Sandman Universe. This book will serve as a launch pad for four ongoing series inspired by Neil Gaiman's The Sandman...

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Sep 5 2018

Depressing, so no.

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The teaser trailer for HBO's miniseries adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend is out, and I'm concerned that it features multiple scenes of children being slapped. It all looks very elegant and...

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Sep 4 2018

Snowdrift and Other Stories, by Georgette Heyer

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I am a die-hard Georgette Heyer fan and have sincerely loved Sourcebooks' elegant, well-made reprints of her work, so it pains me to say this, but despite the great cover art and a couple of solid entries, the short story collection Snowdrift is for Heyer completists only...

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Sep 4 2018

Weekly Book Giveaway: Snowdrift, by Georgette Heyer

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This week's Book Giveaway is Snowdrift, a collection of 14 short stories by beloved historical romance novelist Georgette Heyer. A full review will follow shortly, and please note: due to a bunch of overdue postings, this giveaway will run through October 12th, so best of luck...

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Aug 30 2018

Creepifying

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There was a fascinating (and slightly disturbing) article recently published in The Guardian by Maryanne Wolf, the director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. Wolf outlines the research that suggests that skimming information online is actually changing our brains...

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Aug 30 2018

I want one!

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I don't know anything about this book, but I LOVE the cover and I'm in awe of how they managed to make the food look plausibly vintage, yet avoided falling into the trap of making it look like...

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Aug 29 2018

I WILL hunt a copy down somewhere

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I've been meaning to check out Uzma Jalaluddin's novel Ayesha At Last ever since it was featured on Lainey Gossip earlier this summer. Apparently, it's a modern take on Pride and Prejudice featuring an all-Muslim cast...

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Aug 28 2018

Maybe from the library

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NPR recently posted an essay about Anne Boyd Rioux's Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why it Still Matters, a scholarly examination of the themes of Alcott's classic novel. Boyd Rioux, a professor at the University of New Orleans, argues that Little Women "exerted more influence on women writers as a group than any other single book"...

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Aug 28 2018

Yay...?

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This Game of Thrones-inspired egg cup is... a thing that exists.

Okay, and it costs $16, and I don't think the crown is included...

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Aug 27 2018

To All the Boys I've Loved Before, by Jenny Han

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To All the Boys I've Loved Before is the perfect back-to-school treat: a YA romance with an adorable heroine, endearing love interest, and enjoyably ridiculous plot. Plus, the entire trilogy has already been released, and Netflix has just released a super cute movie adaptation, so impatient fans (read: ME) won't have to wait to see how it all turns out...

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Aug 27 2018

Weekly Book Giveaway: To All the Boys I've Loved Before, by Jenny Han

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This week's Book Giveaway is Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before, which I read after watching the cute-as-a-freaking-button Netflix adaptation. Due to a bunch of overdue postings, this giveaway will run through October 12th, so best of luck...

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Aug 23 2018

Bold move

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There was an interesting article in Vogue recently about HBO’s upcoming adaptation of Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend. While Ferrante's books have achieved international popularity, apparently the miniseries will be shot...

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Aug 23 2018

Crafty!

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Mental Floss recently posted a list of 11 Facts about Little Free Libraries that I perused with interest. (I love Little Free Libraries—particularly the ones with lurid paint schemes and/or architecture, because I'm pretty unobservant and those are the easiest ones to spot.) Did you know...

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Aug 22 2018

The Alice one is going on my Christmas list

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Out of Print just launched a collaboration with S'well water bottles! There are only three designs (The Great Gatsby, Alice in Wonderland, and a black-and-white Composition book style), and...

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Aug 21 2018

Libraries to the rescue, too!

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Okay, I love this: The New York Public Library has launched a program at the Riverside Library on Manhattan’s Upper West Side that allows library card holders to borrow ties, briefcases, and handbags for three-week periods...

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Aug 21 2018

Cookbooks to the rescue

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If you, like me, find Create TV extremely soothing, you may have noticed that the recent show based on Nigella Lawson's latest cookbook At My Table seems to be always on, even though there's only a handful of episodes...

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Aug 20 2018

Girl Waits With Gun, by Amy Stewart

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I usually avoid novels about historical figures, because I'm constantly wondering how much of the story is real and how much is invented. But as far as I can discover, there is very little known about Constance Kopp, the heroine of Amy Stewart's novel Girl Waits With Gun, so the author was able to let her imagination run wild—something she does with wit, style, and charm...

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Aug 20 2018

Weekly Book Giveaway: Girl Waits With Gun, by Amy Stewart

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This week's Book Giveaway is Amy Stewart's 2015 novel Girl Waits With Gun, which I freely admit I picked up solely because I liked the cover. Thankfully, thus far I like the story, too, but a full review will follow shortly...

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Aug 16 2018

Money is no object

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If you're a hardcore Harry Potter geek, apparently there is now a new-and-improved ultimate Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit game on the market, with three times the questions, a custom board, and whatever "House mascot movers" are. It's also not cheap (nearly $50), but...

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Aug 16 2018

At least they've finally run away...?

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io9 recently posted an update on season two of Hulu's Runaways. I'll probably check out an episode or two (or at least read the recaps), but the first season was my biggest TV disappointment of the past year...

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Aug 15 2018

In the works

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Huh. I had no idea that Ursula K. Le Guin’s work was becoming such a hot commodity: according to io9, there are five Le Guin TV or movie adaptations in some stage of development. Sure, that's not quite Philip K. Dick/Stephen King levels of enthusiasm...

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Aug 14 2018

Vital role

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And speaking of both interviews and the upcoming Crazy Rich Asians movie, Forbes recently posted an interview with CRA costume designer Mary Vogt about the importance of "Sartorial Storytelling". If you've read the book, you...

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Aug 14 2018

Her own best salesperson

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While a lot of online enthusiasm has been focused this week on the film adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians, the Netflix adaptation of Jenny Han's YA romance To All the Boys I've Loved Before has been making waves, too. The Mary Sue recently interviewed Han about the adaptation of her book, and her answers...

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Aug 13 2018

Stars Uncharted, by S.K. Dunstall

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I'm not surprised that there's a promotional quote on the front of S. K. Dunstall's new novel Stars Uncharted comparing it to the popular book/TV series The Expanse. The two stories have a number of similarities (multiple narrators, ragtag space explorers, nods to film noir), but Dunstall's book has its own strengths and weaknesses...

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