Intriguing
I'm tempted to buy this Pride and Prejudice-inspired board game, but I've been burned by many an Austen-themed novelty item before...
Wait, what?
How did I miss this? Apparently, Starz is making a miniseries adaptation of E.M. Forster's Howards End. This new version will star Hayley Atwell as Margaret Schlegel and Matthew Macfadyen as Henry Wilcox, which is a nice change from the 90s adaptation, which tried (and failed) to...
A Spoonful of Magic, by Irene Radford
I frequently evaluate books like recipes, and it feels particularly appropriate in the case of Irene Radford's new novel A Spoonful of Magic, as it's a story filled to the brim with cooking. Unfortunately, while this particular literary recipe has some interesting ingredients, the finished product is a big ol' mess...
Weekly Book Giveaway: A Spoonful of Magic, by Irene Radford
This week's Book Giveaway is Irene Radford's latest novel, A Spoonful of Magic. I haven't even opened it yet, but the cover art features a smorgasbord of all the stuff I need to get through what is turning out to be an extremely wet, blustery day: a plaid shirt, glitter, and the suggestion of potential baked goods. A full review will follow shortly...
Holiday Gift Pick #8
Gift Idea #8: Festive Fiction Ornament ($16)
Sure, this is technically both the last and least item on our holiday shopping guide, but it's a solid option for any book-lovers on your list...
Holiday Gift Pick #7
Gift Idea #7: Asymmetrical Harry Potter earrings ($48)
We love these, particularly in sterling silver...
Holiday Gift Pick #6
Gift Idea #6: Guns, Germs, and Steel: 20th Anniversary Folio Society edition, by Jared Diamond ($73.95)
Grade-A dad present...
Holiday Gift Pick #5
Gift Idea #5 Asgard Twill Ladies' Jacket ($59.99)
Okay, so we weren't big fans of the first two Thor movies (to say the least), but...
Holiday Gift Pick #4
Gift Pick #4: Stained Wooden Mountain Bookends by Spilled Milk Designs ($24)
Etsy is awash in beautiful, handmade bookends, but we fell in love with the simple elegance of these mountain-shaped options...
Holiday Gift Pick #3
Gift Idea #3 The Hogwarts House Throw Blanket of your choice ($69)
This is one of two Harry Potter-themed picks this year...
Holiday Gift Pick #2
Gift Idea #2: Any of these amazing cookbooks (prices vary)
It feels like a boatload of beautiful, inspiring cookbooks written by the creators of some of the internet's most popular cooking sites have recently been released, but here are our favorites...
Holiday Gift Pick #1
It is once again that special time of year, dear readers: the week we feature the various book-nerd-specific treasures we're putting on our holiday wish lists. As ever, these gifts may vary widely in style and price point, but they're all pretty neat...
Yet another one (yay)
Enchanted with all the money IT has been raking in, Paramount has decided to remake Stephen King's Pet Semetary, too. They've hired Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer as co-directors. Kolsch and Widmyer previously...
Seems like a solid pick
There's an interview over on Slate with Lin-Manuel Miranda about his next big project: adapting Patrick Rothfuss's epic fantasy series The Kingkiller Chronicles into a TV show for Showtime...
Sure...?
I know The New York Times is infamous for their out-of-touch "trend" stories, but I'm going to have to take their word on this: according to the paper, Arnold Lobel's classic 'Frog and Toad' stories have become a popular meme. I'm...
Ouch
Bon Appétit magazine recently posted a great review of France Is a Feast, a new book of Paul Child’s personal photographs taken between 1948 and 1954, when he and his wife, the famous Julia Child, were living in Paris and Julia was mastering the art of cooking French food...
Sad that I can't hear her thoughts on the Trump casino, though.
I had wondered if the controversy surrounding Go Set a Watchman would cast a shadow over Harper Lee's legacy, but it appears she's still a money-maker, at least: a collection of her letters recently fetched more than $12,000 at auction...
Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero
Edgar Cantero's novel Meddling Kids is clever, creative, and funny. It is also profoundly self-indulgent and only occasionally creepy. Individual readers' mileage will vary, based on their tolerance for pointless stylistic quirks and their love for the book's many pop-culture sources...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero
This week's Book Giveaway is Edgar Cantero's Meddling Kids, which has a great cover and an even greater hook: it's being sold as a subverted, grown-up version of works like Scooby-Do, The Hardy Boys, and Enid Blyton's "Famous Five" series. I have no idea how well that combination will actually work, but it sounds like my idea of note-perfect Halloween reading. A full review will follow shortly...
Envious
Man, every time I read about a cute-sounding Korean webtoon, a fresh wave of resentment rolls over me. I hate missing out on fun stuff, and I have a strong suspicion that my inability to read Korean is holding me back from a lot of Wordcandy-friendly stories...
I can hold myself back.
Great news, guys: you can now read Stephen Hawking's 1966 Ph.D. thesis! For free! And people were so excited by this news (or optimistic about their own ability to understand a 134-page-long paper on "“Properties of Expanding Universes”) that...
This woman's accomplishments merited a BIG tombstone.
I was listening to The Writer's Almanac today, and Garrison Keillor's soothing voice introduced me to the wonder that was Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor and poet who is widely credited with successfully campaigning to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Hale was also a major force behind...
Tell me more
Yesterday, someone on Jezebel posted a loving tribute to the 1946 film Dragonwyck, which I had never heard of but now need to watch immediately. The movie is based on a book by Anya Seton, and the plot sounds like it will be familiar to anyone who has ever read a gothic novel, but...
The House of Binding Thorns, by Aliette de Bodard
Aliette de Bodard's The House of Binding Thorns is the sequel to last year's The House of Shattered Wings, a book I described as “more The Godfather than... sword-and-sorcery adventure”. In this installment, a handful of characters from the first book are still struggling to survive the mafioso-style wars between the various Houses of Paris...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The House of Binding Thorns, by Aliette de Bodard
This week's Book Giveaway is Aliette de Bodard's The House of Binding Thorns, the sequel to last year's The House of Shattered Wings. My review of the first book in this series was not unequivocally positive, but I am still intrigued by de Bodard's premise, and that cover art feels like an A+++ choice for the week before Halloween...
I think not.
Just what the world needs: more grim Scandinavian horror! The trailer is out for the Icelandic film I Remember You. The movie is based on a best-selling ghost story of the same name by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, described as "The Queen of Icelandic Crime"...
SO. AMAZING.
Adding to my ever-growing list of things I wish I could fly to England to see, the British Library's insanely awesome-sounding Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibit is about to open. (The exhibit will run from the 20th of this month until the 28th of February, 2018...
Reworked, again
According to Deadline, the Nancy Drew TV series that failed to find a home last season has been put into development this year for NBC, albeit with a slightly altered premise. This version will apparently be a lot different from the books...
Terrifying but handy?
For those of us who are obsessing over President Trump's tweets about North Korea, Politico recently posted an article about T. R. Fehrenbach’s 1963 book This Kind of War. Apparently, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is a big fan of the book, and has been relying upon it to develop the US's military strategy...