Monday, May 28, 2007
Manga babes in stars-and-stripes bikinis?
 Here's an interesting article about the U.S. Navy using manga to explain its presence to the Japanese people. Er... I'm having some trouble imagining how a storyline could be built around this concept, but I sincerely hope that I will one day have a chance to read it. Note: According to this website, the cute little dude in this picture is called Prince Pickles. I'd google his name to find out more about him, but I'm not sure I want to see the websites that a search string called "prince pickles" would turn up. Labels: manga
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Further unfairness
The Janet Evanovich editions aren't the only examples of superior cover art to be found in Europe. I am only on day ten of this trip, and I've already lusted after a girly, funky paperback copy of E. M. Forster's A Room With a View and a set of Sherlock Holmes stories with boldly stylized covers. I was unable to resist this edition of The Highest Tide, the debut novel of Jim Lynch: 
I found it in a Florence bookshop, and grabbed it immediately (crappy exchange rate be damned). I have been meaning to read this book for awhile--it's set in my hometown, and all the local bookstores have been pushing it like crazy, but the sombre, tasteful American cover has never tempted me in the slightest. This stylish British edition, on the other hand, speaks to my very soul.
Labels: Book Cover
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Lucky...
 How come the Europeans get much, much cooler copies of the Janet Evanovich books then we do in the States? Totally not fair. Somebody should protest. Labels: Book Cover, Janet Evanovich
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Out for lunch
Hey, everybody. The Wordcandy staff is currently on vacation, so updates to the blog may be spotty for the next few days. The main site is all loaded up with new releases, though, so please head over there and check them out. Thanks! Julia, Nathan, and Megan Labels: Vacation
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
A worthy effort
Square Fish Books has just released a gorgeous and inexpensive ($6.99) new paperback edition to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Madeleine L'Engle's Newberry-award-winning A Wrinkle in Time. Check it out:  It has the same vibe as the beautiful, faux-vintage re-issues of the Narnia books that came out a few years ago. I'll probably pick up this edition, as my copy of L'Engle's book is a tattered, coverless mess--plus, if memory serves, it wasn't all that pretty to begin with. Labels: Madeleine L'Engle
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Now with pictures
 We're very excited to see that there's going to be a graphic novel adaptation of Eoin Colfer's first Artemis Fowl book, due out in October. According to Colfer's website, the book will be a faithful adaptation of the story, co-written with Andrew Donkin, and feature artwork by Giovanni Rigano ( The Incredibles). We expect this means it will be pricey, but if all else fails, maybe you can ask for it for Christmas...? Labels: Comic, Eoin Colfer
Monday, May 14, 2007
Best. Website. EVER.
 Many thanks to Lori for introducing me to the "Longmire Does Romance Novels" website, a collection of totally awesome re-imagined romance novel covers. My favorite is Chili Supper for Satan (originally Kelley Armstrong's Industrial Magic), but they're all very, very funny. P.S. That is a truly amazing mullet. Labels: Book Cover, website
Friday, May 11, 2007
Delaying Jane
 Austenblog is reporting that Masterpiece Theatre may delay their broadcast of ITV's Jane Austen adaptations until January '08. (They were originally going to be shown in November '07.) If we hadn't already laboriously worked our way through all three of these eye-rollingly dim made-for-TV movies on YouTube, we'd be foaming at the mouth over this news... but we have already seen them, and we're not in any particular hurry to watch 'em twice. Labels: Jane Austen, TV
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Archie goes East
 I hear that there's a possibility of an Indian version of the long-running Archie comic books. Apparently, Archie's pretty hot in India, and its publishers are thinking of releasing a culturally-appropriate version for their Indian readers. Betty and Veronica doing their G-rated catfighting in saris?--I would love to read it. Labels: Comic
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Babies with books, Part II
And if you're in the market for a great book to share with your zero- to two-year-old, we (as always) have some suggestions! Try Lane Smith's The Happy Hockey Family! and its sequel, The Happy Hockey Family Moves to the Country!. These books are adorably tongue-in-cheek Dick and Jane-style spoofs. Your baby will like the pictures, and you'll like the irony.  If you're getting a little tired of nightly recitations of Goodnight Moon, try Taro Gomi's My Friends. It has similarly soothing word patterns, and the artwork is gorgeous.  Alphabet books don't have to be boring. Try Museum ABC, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each letter page features four accompanying images from Met artwork: "A is for Apple" is followed by a foursquare of famous apple images, including Roy Lichtenstein's "Red Apple" and a detail from Paul Cezanne's "Apples".  Labels: Children’s Book
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Babies with books, Part I
 We here at Wordcandy HQ try not to get too upset over statistics about the dwindling popularity of reading, but this survey, featured in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, is pretty ugly. The researchers did a telephone survey of over 1000 parents of 2- to 24-month-olds, attempting to determine the "television-, DVD-, and video-viewing habits of children younger than 2 years". Here are their results: By 3 months of age, about 40% of children regularly watched television, DVDs, or videos. By 24 months, this proportion rose to 90%. The median age at which regular media exposure was introduced was 9 months. Among those who watched, the average viewing time per day rose from 1 hour per day for children younger than 12 months to more than 1.5 hours per day by 24 months. Parents watched with their children more than half of the time. Parents gave education, entertainment, and babysitting as major reasons for media exposure in their children younger than 2 years. Ugh! Look, we don't judge anybody for snatching an hour of sleep while their kid zones out in front of PBS, but if you're that worried about Junior's mental development, READ to the kid. It's a great way to bond, it's good for their little brains, and--best of all--it doesn't have an annoying theme song. Labels: Children’s Book, TV
Monday, May 07, 2007
Zombie titles lurch back to life
 While it doesn't compare to our excitement over the upcoming Yotsuba&! volume, we're happy to see that CPM is finally, finally releasing volume four of Full House*. This is a very entertaining title, and we've been waiting a long time for CPM to A) release a new volume, or B) declare the series dead so scanlators could pick it up. (Unfortunately, most manga/manhwa publishers prefer to simply hang onto titles indefinitely, screwing over their readers for years on end.) *The inspiration for the K-drama of the same name-- not to be confused with the American sitcom. Labels: manga
Friday, May 04, 2007
Hey, I did remember
As promised, a reminder--tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, people (and my buddy Patrick says there's some good stuff this year). Get thee to a comic book store and demand (politely) that they turn over the loot.  Labels: Comic
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Crusie on the move
 I recently happened upon the website for Jennifer Crusie's upcoming collaboration with Anne Stuart and Eileen Dreyer*, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes. The website isn't much to look at**, but it does offer a snippet from each of the three primary storylines and the background story (which also seems to have been written by Crusie). And part-time Crusie fans (as opposed to the hardcore fanatics, who obviously already own it) should take note: the paperback edition of Don't Look Down, her collaboration with Bob Mayer, is now out in stores. This book doesn't hold a candle to Crusie's solo efforts (when's another one of those gonna come out?), but it's cute enough. *Much, much better choices than the authors she was paired up with for Santa, Baby. **Although it does feature different--and prettier--cover art than the above image, if you need another reason to visit. Labels: Jenny Crusie, website
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Wow.
We've been known to say that Michael Chabon kinda needs to get over himself, but there's no denying that his books have fantastically awesome cover art. Check it out:  Seriously. Such gorgeousness is downright unfair to the other books. Labels: Book Cover, Michael Chabon
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Hmm.
 Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a 500-plus-page-long picture book for older children--maybe 40% text and 60% images. I read and enjoyed this book, but I was a little taken aback by the price ($22.99--a whopping 6 bucks more than your average YA hardback) and a lot taken aback by the news that they've made an audiobook version. How, exactly, does one make a three-hour-long audio version of what is basically a graphic novel? Labels: Children’s Book
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Here's an interesting article about the U.S. Navy using manga to explain its presence to the Japanese people. Er... I'm having some trouble imagining how a storyline could be built around this concept, but I sincerely hope that I will one day have a chance to read it.
