Throwdowns
This Twitter thread devoted to the greatest literary feuds in history is amazing. I don't know who Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was, but anyone who would brave a dissing contest with Jonathan Swift gets my vote...
Surely he has enough money?
The trailer is out for the new Robert Downey Jr. adaptation of Dolittle. This production has been beset by rumors of strife and drama, but it's apparently a...
0 for 25
NPR recently posted a complete list of the 25 finalists for the 2019 National Book Awards, and once again, I have not read a single one of them...
Bloody Business, by H.P. Jeffers
I purchased my copy of H. Paul Jeffers's Bloody Business: An Anecdotal History of Scotland Yard solely because of its Edward Gorey-illustrated cover art. True Crime is not my preferred style of nonfiction, but I started flipping through the book one evening and found myself unexpectedly absorbed—for a small island, Britain has seen a lot of famous evildoing...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Bloody Business, by H.P. Jeffers
Our current Book Giveaway is H.P. Jeffers's 1992 book Bloody Business: An Anecdotal History of Scotland Yard. (Is this the first true crime book we've reviewed here in 10+ years of blogging? Possibly.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/09/19...
Spooky on a budget #4: Literary pumpkin carving
Idea #4: Literary pumpkin carving
Okay, so you do need to shell out for the pumpkin, but imagine how impressed your neighbors will be when they see something like these...
Spooky on a budget #3: Decorate with free printables
Idea #3: Hit up the internet for free, literary-themed printable masks, then tape them to any face-based art in your house.
Yes, that portrait of your great aunt will look 1000% more festive...
Spooky on a budget #2: Hit up your local library
Idea #2: Hit up your local library
Forget classic horror and the lists of spooky new releases, those books are going to be checked out until December. Instead, wade through the comments here. There are...
Spooky on a budget #1: Edward Gorey fonts
In honor of the season (and in light of the shorter week), we've gathered up a collection of free or extremely inexpensive literary-themed suggestions to enhance your Halloween experience.
New bit of an old story
According to the Japan Times, a manuscript containing a missing scene from The Tale of Genji was recently discovered among the heirlooms of the family of a former feudal lord...
C'mon, guys...
Well, we started off the week praising Macmillan Publishing, but that's officially over: there's an disturbing editorial in the Seattle Times about the effect Macmillan's upcoming e-book embargo will have on public libraries throughout the country...
Back when things were even worse
Suzanne Collins recently announced a prequel to her famous Hunger Games series, and io9 has the details: the book will be called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and it's set 64 years before...
Content, content everywhere
There's an article at the Guardian about two very different, currently-airing Jane Austen adaptations, both based on unfinished works. There's a relatively bland description of ITV's Sanditon, and a more in-depth discussion of Laura Wade’s version of The Watsons...
Pride and Prejudice (Macmillan Collector's Library edition), by Jane Austen
As longtime readers of the site know, I periodically treat myself by reviewing a new edition of my all-time favorite book: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Few things make me happier than analyzing editorial choices—how creative are the essays? Is the cover art period-appropriate? Are the footnotes accurate? Did they weigh in on...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Pride and Prejudice (Macmillan Collector's Library edition), by Jane Austen
This week's Book Giveaway is the Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. A full review will follow shortly, but I can already tell you this: at $12.99, this is an A+++ bargain. This giveaway will run through 11/09/19...
Another $10 I will not be spending
The full-length trailer for the upcoming Birds of Prey trailer has debuted, and it has three major strikes against it: Ewan McGregor's attractiveness may have been dealt a fatal blow by that velvet leisure suit...
It looks SO GOOD
The first official trailer is out for HBO and the BBC's adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and it looks PHENOMENAL, creepy and atmospheric and elegant...
Hideous, but kind of cute?
While looking up Eric Carle information the other day, I stumbled across this fabric based on some of the artwork from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I can't quite imagine...
Oof
Well, the reviews are out for ITV's adaptation of Jane Austen's Sanditon, and they are brutal. The kinder critics describe it as "good dirty end-of-the-pier fun but about as enduring as an ice-cream cone"...
Did you know...
I missed this when it was published this summer, but it's still interesting: Mental Floss posted an article called "15 Facts About The Very Hungry Caterpillar" in honor of the Eric Carle children's classic's 50th anniversary. Most of them were...
No Judgments, by Meg Cabot
Like nearly all of Meg Cabot's books, No Judgments is funny, charming, smart—and way messier and lazier than it has any right to be.
Bree Beckham has left behind a serious relationship, an overbearing mother, and her law studies to start life anew in Little Bridge, a tiny island in the Florida Keys. She loves living on Little Bridge, particularly after adopting a sweet, elderly cat named Gary...
Weekly Book Giveaway: No Judgments, by Meg Cabot
Our current Book Giveaway is Meg Cabot's No Judgments. Alas, I will be judging, and thus far I'm underwhelmed. (Evacuate when you're told to, people!) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/09/19...
Modern classic
The Hollywood Reporter informs me that Andrew Scott—best known as the “Hot Priest” on Fleabag—has signed on to star as the title character in a Showtime series based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel...
Personal line in the sand
It's been more than a decade since I reviewed Tana French's novel In the Woods, but it stands out in my memory. The upcoming Starz adaptation of both In the Woods and French's followup, The Likeness, looks like they've put a lot of effort into capturing the novels' tone...
Like Tolkien, hopefully it's better on film
According to Deadline, A24 and producer Jennifer Fox have teamed up to turn Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea fantasy books into a television show. Before her death in 2018, Le Guin had given Ms. Fox permission to turn her books into a series of films, but...
Small Kindnesses
I've never heard of the writer Danusha Lameris, but I absolutely love this poem. It was published in the New York Times Magazine, and I found it via Bailey Richardson's...
Treasury of the Lost Litter Box, by Darby Conley
I really enjoyed Darby Conley's comic strip Get Fuzzy, which ran in my local paper for more than a decade, and my family still routinely refers back to his joke about how you can “verb anything”. Conley and his strip disappeared about five years ago, much to my chagrin, but when I recently ran across a copy of his Treasury of the Lost Litter Box collection...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Treasury of the Lost Litter Box, by Darby Conley
Our current Book Giveaway is Treasury of the Lost Litter Box, a collection of Darby Conley's late (or at least on indefinite hiatus) and much-lamented comic strip Get Fuzzy. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/09/19...
How-to
There's a great article in The Atlantic about raising your children to become avid readers. The whole things is worth reading (and I enthusiastically second the tip about seeding your house with books, particularly if you have very young children...
If you were hoping for a happy ending? Tough luck.
Oh, YAY, more misery: according to Deadline, MGM Television and Hulu have already started developing The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, into a TV series...