Weekly Book Giveaway: The Murder of Mr. Wickham, by Claudia Gray
This week's Book Giveaway is Claudia Gray's Jane Austen-by-way-of-Agatha-Christie novel The Murder of Mr. Wickham. A full review will follow shortly, but here's my instant take: Ms. Gray is a successful author of Star Wars novels, and she knows what makes a good fanfiction work...
Waaay behind the scenes
As a staunch anti-monarchist (throw 'em all out; make them ALL sell their sob stories to Oprah), I am not the target audience for Harry Windsor's new memoir. I am, however, always in the market for obscure literary gossip, so I richly enjoyed this article on...
So many Nicolases
Well, Nicolas Cage might have repaid that infamous $6 million tax bill, but that's no reason for him to stop churning out insane movies. This time he's joined by another Nicolas (Hoult, in this case, who's really carving out a niche for himself in playing handsome weirdos) in a modern-day film about Renfield, Dracula's bug-eating henchman...
Finally
This past Sunday was 2023's Public Domain Day, which marked the end of US copyrights on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s last few Sherlock Holmes stories (also Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, but that's unlikely to make as much of a pop-culture-freebie splash). If you're attracted to falling down legal or literary nerd wormholes, I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia article...
But why, though?
I am fond of reading all those January articles about cleaning and organization, but I just encountered a bewildering article on Well + Good on how and when we should be disinfecting old/used books. I have so many questions! Did they really need to tell us that...
Buy it for YOURSELF
If you received some gift cards over the holidays that are burning a hole in your pocket, allow me to recommend this extremely cute Bibliophile Vase from Chronicle Books. It's $29.95 and...
How do you hang them up, though?
I am not usually a fan of using books for anything other than reading material, but I am making an exception for the works of Alexander Korzer-Robinson, a UK-based artist who transforms old books into sculptural collages...
Aspirational self-gifting
We're just a few short days away from one of my favorite times of year: the time when I get to be shamelessly self-indulgent with the various Amazon gift cards my nearest and dearest always give me for the holidays. The first item on my to-be-purchased list is Emillie Farris's..
Dry January supplies
If you know anyone who's planning to participate in Dry January—or you're just looking for a festive New Year's Eve libation that won't leave you starting off 2023 with a hangover and regrets—I enthusiastically recommend picking up a copy of Julia Bainbridge's book Good Drinks: Alcohol-Free Recipes for When You're Not Drinking for Whatever Reason...
Flowers in the Attic... but with witches
Earlier this month AMC released a trailer for their upcoming adaptation of Anne Rice's The Mayfair Witches series. It's been a long time since I read those books, and the series looks very glossy and well-cast and all, but...
Lockwood & Co. on TV
For fellow fans of my beloved Lockwood & Co. series, I'm assuming we're all counting down the days until the upcoming TV series, which will be released at the end of January. I'm still irritated with the teaser trailer...
The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo, Vol. 1, by Drew Weing
If you are shopping for any middle-grade readers this year, I highly recommend the collected volumes of Drew Weing's webtoon The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo. It boasts all the joys of an 80s kids movie (distracted parents! loads of adventure! legit brushes with danger!), but—thanks to being a comic—no worries about cheesy special effects or wooden acting...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo, Vol. 1, by Drew Weing
Our current Book Giveaway is the first collected volume of Drew Weing's excellent middle-grade webcomic The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo. I sent a copy of this to some 10-year old cousins, but first I read it aloud to my preschool-age kid (with some light editing) and my retirement-age mother, both of whom listened with interest, so suffice to say it appeals to a wide variety of ages. A full review will follow shortly...
Holiday Gift Idea 10: stocking stuffers
And, last but not least, here are a handful of smallish gifts you could probably order off Amazon and they'll be here in time for Christmas (or even Hanukkah, if you get right on it). Personally, I think $20 is pushing "stocking stuffer" limits, so for what it's worth, I think any one of these would be a lovely full-on gift, too...
Holiday Gift Idea 9: Can You See What I See?
Walter Wick is best known for the I Spy books, which featured text by Jean Marzollo, but has also produced a line of very similar books by himself called Can You See What I See?. If you're celebrating Christmas this year, there's a "Night Before Christmas"-specific book (and several more that would be suitable for other holidays)...
Holiday Gift Idea 8: Read With Us print
Gifting people artwork can be dicey, but this print from artist Jon Klassen feels like a safe bet. It's cute and creepy (my aesthetic sweet spot!) and should work for a book lover of any age. Plus, even if the recipient hates it, all profits...
Holiday Gift Idea 7: Mincing Mockingbird journals
Depending upon the sense of humor of your gift recipients, you could theoretically check off everyone on your list via this one site! The Mincing Mockingbird's adorable, affordable blank journals have titles ranging from extremely specific ("Passive-Aggressive Fan Fiction") to all-purpose ("Schemes". Give that one to Grandma!). Their holiday cards are...
Holiday Gift Idea 6: National Park Monsters Puzzle
I love pretty much everything from this etsy shop, but this particular 1000-piece puzzle seems like the ideal gift for any outdoors-y sci-fi nerds in your life...
A Magic Steeped in Poison, by Judy I. Lin
Judy I. Lin's A Magic Steeped in Poison is a fun novel by any standard, and a really impressive debut. In Lin's Chinese- and Taiwanese-inspired historical fantasy, a girl named Ning is desperate to cure her dying sister. Ning's only hope is winning the shennong-shi trials—a high-court competition of magical tea-brewing, with a royal boon as the grand prize. Armed with her late mother's tea knowledge, Ning...
Weekly Book Giveaway: A Magic Steeped in Poison, by Judy I. Lin
Our latest Book Giveaway is Judy I. Lin's A Magic Steeped in Poison. A word of warning to any interested readers: I started this book at midnight, finished it at about two in the morning, and then discovered that I wouldn't be able to get the sequel for at least five days. Learn from my mistake, and make sure you acquire both books in the series at the same time...
Holiday Gift Idea 5: the best Dracula
And now we're going with something I already bought myself, because there are some things you just don't leave to chance: this absolutely amazing deluxe edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula from Union Square & Co., featuring the illustrations of Edward Gorey and an introduction by editor Marvin Kaye...
Holiday Gift Idea 4: Calendars
Calendars are always useful, right? And you have to stare at them all year, so that definitely justifies a bit of a splurge. The Eric Carle Museum's gift shop has got some great options, especially if you've got kids...
Holiday Gift Idea 3: Moomin mugs
Okay, this is an extremely taste-specific gift suggestion, but if you know anyone who likes the Moomin series, I've found some (reasonably) affordable Moomin-themed mugs. As a lifelong lover of the Moomin stories, I have always been chagrined by how expensive the various merchandising tie-ins are...
Holiday Gift Idea 2: Depressing Nonfiction
If you have someone on your gift list who likes to while away the winter with a cup of tea and some gloomy nonfiction (livin' the dream!), I have two equally depressing-yet-engrossing picks. As a fan of Russ Jones's #TheWeekinTory threads on Twitter, I was aware of the various scandals besetting the U.K.'s Tory Party, but...
Holiday Gift Idea 1: The Folio Society edition of Howl's Moving Castle
We're kicking off our annual gift guide with something I wish someone would buy me: this staggeringly gorgeous (and, alas, equally expensive) Folio Society edition of Diana Wynne Jones's modern classic Howl's Moving Castle. Seriously, the high-pitched noise I made when I first saw this book scared my cat...
Pride and Premeditation, by Tirzah Price
Tailor-made for fans of the Enola Holmes movies, Tirzah Price's Pride and Premeditation is a fun historical whodunit that takes the characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and puts them in a slightly different setting...
WE RETURN
It's been about three years since we last blogged, and—as someone with multiple asthmatic family members who need to continue to take covid very seriously—that's about how long it's taken me to accept that the world probably isn't going back to our pre-2020 version of “normal” any time soon...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Pulp! the Classics edition), by Lewis Carroll
This week's Book Giveaway is the Pulp! the Classics edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This is basically all about that cover art: if the twisted hippie take on Judy Garland (...right?) makes you laugh...
Pre-holiday shopping
If you've got any hardcore Lord of the Rings nerds to shop for, check out Moleskine's line of limited-edition J.R.R. Tolkien notebooks. (There are some lovely Harry Potter-themed items, too.) The official Moleskine site...
No, on so many levels
I just saw a trailer for an upcoming film adaptation of Jack London's The Call of the Wild, and it was extremely off-putting. A) I hate Jack London. B) Why is CGI still so bad?!? It might have improved (slightly) since the terrifying Polar Express movie, but...