If you prefer your comics with a side of creepy off-putting-ness, Fantagraphics' 4 Day Sale is currently offering 40% off on overstocked books. There are some solid options on the list, including several collections by our beloved Jules Feiffer.
This is the kind of year-end list we can get behind: Flavorwire has asked illustrator and graphic designer Andrew Henderson (curator of Lovely Book Covers) to choose the 10 Best Book Covers of 2011.
You guys reckon this will go way, way on sale after Christmas? Because I would only pay $325 for a clutch (even a super-cool one, like this) if it came stuffed with at least $250 in cash.
Note: According to this helpful site, there's a Romeo and Juliet clutch, too.
The Batman: The Dark Knight Returns trailer is out:
I'm certain there's some thoughtful comment I should be making about what this movie has to say about the current state of politics and the economy, but all I was really thinking about was why Christopher Nolan hasn't cast any blonde women in these movies. Does he think blonde hair is too cheery for his unrelentingly grim world, or is he trying to avoid any comparisons between his leading actresses and Tim Burton's versions with Kim Basinger and Michelle Pfeiffer? Because, trust me, Mr. Nolan: no one is going to confuse your work with Burton's. One of you has a sense of humor.
According to Playbill, songwriter Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening) and Legally Blonde lyricist Nell Benjamin are adapting Kate DiCamillo's children's novel Because of Winn-Dixie into a Broadway-aimed musical. I have no idea what kind of competition there is on the kid-friendly-musical front (...is Lion King still running?), but this sounds like the kind of thing that grandparents will be taking their grandchildren to for years to come.
Uh... when I think about potential Hunger Games merchandising tie-ins, nail polish is not the first thing that leaps to mind. However, China Glaze has announced that there will be a line of HG-themed polishes, with 12 colors inspired by the various districts, and with Effie Trinket serving as the line's "face". (I'm hoping for a "Dystopian Taupe" shade for Katniss's home district.)
According the Horn Book Blog, Akashic Books is releasing a G-rated version of their best-selling humor book Go the [Expletive] to Sleep entitled Seriously, Just Go to Sleep. This confuses me. My mom once told me about a gag book called The Wit and Wisdom of Spiro T. Agnew, which was, of course, filled with blank pages. This sounds like the equivalent of re-writing that book to contain the actual musings of Spiro T. Agnew.
The website Koala's Playground has posted a 20-minute-long "preview" (although it's more like promotional music video... on crack) of the upcoming Taiwanese drama adaptation of my beloved Skip Beat!. It's not subtitled, and the video quality is terrible, and the whole thing looks totally ridiculous, but I am so excited about this show.
And speaking of dour movies, the new adaptation of John le Carré's 1974 espionage novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has hit theaters:
It's getting great reviews, so if you'd like to see something that takes your mind off listening to Wham! singing Last Christmas for the ten millionth time this year*, this might not be a bad bet.
*Seriously, do all grocery stores play this song on repeat, or am I just paranoid?
I totally covet this vintage-style wooden "Library" sign from Three Potato Four. The sign was inspired by public library signage from the 1950s, and costs a (relatively) reasonable $38. If I hadn't already given my nearest and dearest an insanely detailed Christmas wish list, I'd ask for this... although my birthday is in January, and we may be revisiting the issue.
The always-entertaining design blog Swiss-Miss recently introduced me to Isaac G. Salazar's "Book of Art" pieces. Behold:
Pretty amazing, huh? Being me, I immediately wondered how you could dust something like that without damaging it (I'm sorry; I have the world's least artistic soul), but Salazar's work is cool enough that I would admire it even if it was dusty.
According to Refinery29, Australian skincare line Aesop's New York store was constructed out of 400,000 strips of the New York Times. Newspaper strips, it turns out, make for remarkably beautiful building materials.
If you're looking forward to the upcoming Lisa Kleypas novel Rainshadow Road, the website HeroesandHeartbreakers.com has an exclusive excerpt of the first two chapters. They're also running a sweepstakes to win an Advance Reader Copy of the book, which won't be out until February.
It's that time of year again, dear readers: time for the 19th annual Literary Review "Bad Sex in Fiction" Award. This year's prize was given to David Guterson's novel Ed King, which they describe as a "re-imagining of the Oedipus myth in the second half of the twentieth century". The winning paragraphs are simply too grody for me to re-post, but if you're interested you can read them here.
There appears to be a lively feud brewing between comics-world superstars Frank Miller and Alan Moore, sparked by their very different views on the Occupy Wall Street movement. Both authors are throwing around some pretty inflammatory statements, but I think Miller sounds notably crazier... so go Team Moore!
At long, long, long last, the book cover and plot description for the final (*sobs*) Sisters Grimm book are out:
"In the final volume in the Sisters Grimm series, Sabrina, Daphne, and the rest of the Grimms and their friends must face off against the Master to decide the fate of Ferryport Landing—and the world. When Mirror fails to escape the barrier using Granny Relda’s body, he turns to his plan B: killing all the Grimms so that the magical barrier collapses. In the meantime, Sabrina has gathered the other magic mirrors as advisors on how to deal with their mortal enemy. They tell her to join forces with the Scarlet Hand against Mirror, in exchange for offering all the citizens of Ferryport Landing their freedom. This final chapter is the end of the road for several beloved characters, but the conclusion is sure to satisfy devoted fans of the series."
We're with AustenBlog on this one: regardless of British crime novelist Lindsay Ashford's claim that "Jane Austen was poisoned by arsenic", Austen is still dead, Sanditon and The Watsons are still unfinished, and they're all likely to remain that way... so it's tough to care much one way or the other.
It's December, and that means it's time for Wordcandy to release our annual Holiday Gift Guide! We've chosen a variety of deeply awesome potential gifts for the bibliophiles on your shopping list, any (or all) of which we would be delighted to receive ourselves.
Bickford-Smith is the designer responsible for Penguin's gorgeous line of Hardcover Classics, but these Art Deco-inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald editions might be her best work yet.
The fine people at Scout Books have released a limited collection of short stories, each written by a classic American author and illustrated by a contemporary artist. They're eye-catching, and you can't beat that price.
How have I missed these? This UK publisher hasn't released many books in this line, but I need to own this edition of of Pride and Prejudice. Like, yesterday.
Of course, we're hoping these scents are inspired by the authors' work, rather than the authors themselves... because we suspect Edgar Allan Poe didn't actually smell that great.
Yes, I need to own these, too. And it's a good thing I'm stopping here, because the "buy one gift for someone else; buy one gift for myself" formula is sounding more and more attractive right now...
The first full-length trailer is out for Disney's John Carter (based on the "Barsoom" series by Edgar Rice Burroughs), and it looks like it's staying pretty close to its space-western roots:
Barring truly jaw-droppingly bad reviews, I fully intend to see this.
Publishers Weekly did a great post recently about the many and varied cover art choices for John Steinbeck's East of Eden. I can't say I agree with their statement "If you haven’t yet read East of Eden, you’re in for a treat", but I do have to say that this cover is almost (but not quite) awesome enough to convince me to give Steinbeck another chance:
If you prefer your comics with a side of creepy off-putting-ness, Fantagraphics' 4 Day Sale is currently offering 40% off on overstocked books. There are some solid options on the list, including several collections by our beloved Jules Feiffer.
