Pride and Prejudice: Third Norton Critical Edition, by Jane Austen and edited by Donald J. Gray
When reviewing an annotated Jane Austen novel, I always want to emphasize that I am focusing solely on the quality of the critical content featured in this particular edition. (I don't have anything left to say about Pride and Prejudice other than it's amazing, and...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Pride and Prejudice, Third Norton Critical Edition, by Jane Austen and edited by Donald Gray
As everyone who loves me knows, there is nothing I find more relaxing than hate-reading critical essays about Jane Austen. I picked up this particular book right after the election, and I'm offering it up this week as part of our Weekly Book Giveaway. Here's hoping it works its soothing magic for you, too...
Wow.
Somebody bought a Tintin illustration for 1.55 million euros, apparently. Seems reasonable! The image (from the popular Tintin adventure Explorers on the Moon) fetched the highest amount ever for a single cartoon drawing, well above...
Ambitious
[Note: due to the shortened holiday week, we won't be doing a Book Giveaway today. See you next Monday, bargain hunters!]
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount TV and Universal Cable Productions are teaming up to adapt Robert Heinlein's 1961 sci-fi classic Stranger in a Strange Land as...
Crafty (maybe)
And the first full trailer is out for the Ghost in the Shell movie! I have Notes. First, the accusations of cultural appropriation in this sucker appear to be richly deserved. Second, why on Earth did they choose Rupert Sanders as the director? Or was...
Sure? I guess?
And speaking of unnecessary remakes, the first full trailer is out for Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. This movie strikes me as superfluous on several fronts, but the two...
Don't get your hopes up
A trailer is out for the latest adaptation of the inexplicably popular Itazura Na Kiss. (This time it's a Japanese movie, although I think there's another Taiwanese drama in the works, too.) I suspect this particular article makes the story sound more interesting than it really is...
Spectacular
A few months ago, Wired compiled a list of 10 of the Most Beautiful Libraries on Earth. Beauty is subjective, and I suspect people who prefer their libraries to resemble, say, Hogwarts aren't going to find much to admire in this list. But...
Shadowed Souls, edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes
Shadowed Souls is a bit of a bait-and-switch. Based on the style of the cover, I had assumed that this was a Dresden Files-themed anthology written by a bunch of big-name urban fantasy writers. Instead, it's an uneven collection of “dark and gritty” short stories tied together by...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Shadowed Souls, edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes
This week's Book Giveaway is Shadowed Souls, a collection of short stories set in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files universe. The featured authors include some longtime Wordcandy favorites like Seanan McGuire, Kat Richardson, and Butcher himself. (Sadly, the book does not...
Sci-fi conspiracy theory
I keep seeing the teaser trailer for the upcoming movie Valerian and the Thousand Planets, which I'm told is based on a long-running French comic. I have waded through the title's Wikipedia entry, and I am now both excited about the...
We approve
Last week on Twitter I mentioned Australian graphic designer Jennifer Wu's amazing Tess of the D'Urbervilles cover, which cheers me up whenever I look at it. (Currently v. necessary.) Ms. Wu informs me that this cover is part of a larger project called #LoveRomance . The #LoveRomance campaign is devoted to championing romance writing and highlighting its exclusion from...
Net win, but...
So, the good news is that Ally Carter is releasing another Heist Society story! The bad news is that said story is a mere 120 pages, only available in a digital format, and seemingly connected to "The Gift of the Magi", my least-favorite...
Behold
Check out the spectacular Instagram of Sabeena Karnik, an artist who uses paper art to make beautiful typography. (Her work is featured on the book cover at left, too.) All of her letters are gorgeous, but I...
Counting down
If you, like me, are spending the day trying out anti-anxiety tips you found on the internet and obsessively reading the latest election speculation, here are a handful of free and delightful things you could be reading instead, arranged in order of most to least political...
Bad Blood, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Bad Blood is the fourth and final book in Jennifer Lynn Barnes's Naturals series. Once again, Barnes has delivered a briskly-paced thriller seemingly tailor-made for a CW adaptation. (Seriously, the fact that this series isn't already on my TV is bewildering to me.)
Weekly Book Giveaway: Bad Blood, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
I am in no mood for anything other than 100% undiluted entertainment, so this week's Book Giveaway is the latest book in Jennifer Lynn Barnes's Naturals series, Bad Blood. I'm not sure that even Ms. Barnes's book will be entertaining enough to distract me from my overwhelming election anxiety, but I figure it's got a better shot than most...
I have mid-level hopes
The official full-length trailer for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie is out, and it looks amazing. Sadly, that's probably a lie (while Patty Jenkins is directing the film, the dread Zach Snyder wrote it...
Seriously, a vast improvement
I can't find out much about this book cover mock-up (I found the original image here, but the link for artist Jennifer Wu's homepage doesn't seem to be working), but everything about it makes me...
Cross-marketing
The website Cosmic Booknews informs me that Goosebumps and Fear Street author R.L. Stine is currently working on a comic book series for Marvel. Details are non-existent (Stine is quoted as saying...
Heeey
At long last, Judith McNaught's classic (read: effective yet heavy-on-the-angst) romance novels are getting e-book editions. According to Dear Author, Simon & Schuster is beginning a digital roll-out of McNaught’s titles, each containing a new introduction written by the author. The first...
The Secret-Keepers, by Trenton Lee Stewart
Trenton Lee Stewart's The Secret-Keepers features loads of classic children's literature tropes: secret places, magical devices, traps, puzzles. I appreciate what Stewart was going for, but I'm way past the age of his target audience, and this is even more of a kid-specific effort than his previous series...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Secret Keepers, by Trenton Lee Stewart
This week's Book Giveaway is The Secret Keepers, the latest book by The Mysterious Benedict Society author Trenton Lee Stewart. A full review will follow shortly, but first I must inform you that this cover art is even cooler in person...
I like the cover, at least.
According to io9, Lord of the Rings writers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens are co-writing and producing a movie adaptation of Philip Reeve’s YA steampunk saga Mortal Engines. (Unlike LoTR, Jackson will not direct this film.) I thought...
Testing
So, my local Barnes and Noble is a test store, and they are currently trying out a new set-up where there are no "new release" sections. Instead, new books are faced outward on the shelves, but arranged alphabetically by author. This does make more room for books, but I suspect the bigger reason is that shoppers are now forced to browse the entire section to look for the latest releases...
Not feeling it
There's been a lot of controversy over the United Nations' recent decision to appoint Wonder Woman as their honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. I can actually appreciate...