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...
Ninth City Burning, by J. Patrick Black
J. Patrick Black's novel Ninth City Burning features half a dozen point-of-view characters, ambitious world-building, and a sprawling intergalactic-warfare-meets-dystopian-future plot premise. I applaud the author's sheer guts, but the end result is more than a little overwhelming...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Ninth City Burning, by J. Patrick Black
This week's Book Giveaway is J. Patrick Black's Ninth City Burning, which I know absolutely nothing about, apart from the fact that I approve of the person they chose to write a promotional blurb (Patricia Briggs) and I really like the cover art. Our review will follow shortly...
SO COOL.
According to the Independent, archaeologists have discovered the remains of a probable Dark Ages royal palace at Tintagel in Cornwall, which might (emphasis on the "might") have a connection to the legendary figure of King Arthur. According to medieval historians, Arthur was...
How?
According to Deadline, Sony-based TriStar Pictures is attempting to continue the current run of Chronicles of Narnia movie adaptations. This seems like a risky proposition—Disney passed on the rest of the series after 2005’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and 2008’s Prince Caspian, and Fox 2000 dropped it...
YAY!
How did I miss this? Bone creator Jeff Smith just released Bone: Coda, a new and "completely superfluous" adventure featuring the Bone cousins. The standalone story, written and illustrated by Smith, was produced in honor of the 25th anniversary of the first issue of the (at the time) black-and-white, self-published comic...
Not the same thing.
In honor of the 56th birthday of Dr. Seuss's classic children's book Green Eggs and Ham, NPR just published an article about various restaurants' attempts to put the title dish on their menus. All of the featured recipes look very wholesome and impressive, but I feel like they're punting on a pretty critical issue...
Useful for someone, I guess.
Last week, Vulture helpfully compiled a list of Book-to-Film Adaptations Still to Come in 2016. There is nothing on this list I would willingly shell out $10.50 for, but fans of inspiring (read: tear-jerking) nonfiction...
The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard
Aliette de Bodard's novel The House of Shattered Wings looks like a standard fantasy novel, but has more in common with The Godfather than your typical sword-and-sorcery adventure. In an alternative universe/post-apocalyptic version of 20th century Paris, fallen angels periodically drop from the sky, stricken with amnesia but chock-full of magic. Those who survive Paris's magic-hunting street gangs usually join one of the Great Houses, mafia-like organizations...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette De Bodard
This week's Book Giveaway is Aliette De Bodard's The House of Shattered Wings, which I had assumed—incorrectly, apparently—was a YA supernatural romance. (Probably one involving fallen angels.) It seems it's actually an award-winning sci-fi novel for adults, which I'm actually a lot more excited...
Don't count this one out
Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley has signed on to star in an upcoming movie adaptation of Patrick Hess's YA series Chaos Rising, according to Variety. There's been a lot of talk about the abrupt downturn in YA film attendance, but...
Cleaning up
According to the BBC, the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child script is the fastest-selling book in the UK this decade. It sold more than 680,000 copies in the first three days after its release, beating the previous record held by IFifty Shades of Grey. (British book snobs can heave a sigh of relief.) At its current rate, the script will be...
Shocking
Forbes just posted an interesting article about how scandals affect book sales. (Short answer: negatively.) The article takes specific aim at Gay Talese's new work, The Voyeur’s Motel, which has been...
Convenient
Well, this worked out nicely: after recently reading and reviewing Jane Mayer's Dark Money, I've been wondering what the Koch brothers have been up to during this most tumultuous of election cycles, and Gawker was kind enough to...
Fingers crossed
In the six-plus years since Jennifer Crusie's last book, Maybe This Time, I've pretty much given up hope of her producing anything else. Deadlines for several books have come and gone, and as far as I can tell, Crusie's writing has pretty much been limited to her (very entertaining) personal blog. But...
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling
In 2011, actress and comedian Mindy Kaling released a collection of essays called Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). Her book is 242 pages of the easiest reading on the planet: short, witty, ridiculously charming essays on everything from Kaling's weird affection for diet plans to her career goals to her ideal level of fame...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling
This week's Book Giveaway is Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, a collection of comedic essays about everything from Kaling's childhood to her unique path to stardom (which apparently involved writing and starring in a play based on Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's friendship)...
Mysterious~
I finally saw a trailer for Nerve, the upcoming movie adaptation of Jeanne Ryan's 2012 young-adult thriller of the same name. It looks pretty silly, honestly, but in a fun, colorful, glittery way. Plus, it's summer, and let's be honest...
Hmm. Maybe.
According to Lainey Gossip, there's a modern Jekyll and Hyde-inspired project in the works, possibly starring Captain America's Chris Evans. The plot sounds pretty thin...
Now with more bloodshed
If io9 is to be believed, the CW may have done the impossible: made an Archie TV adaptation that I actually want to watch. I'm not sure how much it actually has in common with the long-running comic book series, but I'll watch any teen show that "really wants to be Twin Peaks"...
Ouch
Wow, this Killing Joke animated film sounds like it was really poorly thought out. (And not just because I suspect a lot of parents are going to mistakenly think: "Hey, a Batman movie I can finally take my kids to!") I'm not...