Isn't this a beautiful sight to behold?


The picture doesn't do it full justice, but I assure you: in real life, this recent repackaging of two of P.G. Wodehouse's full-length Jeeves and Wooster novellas plus a collection of short stories is a glorious, candy-colored delight. It also inspired me to look up what other Wodehouse reprints might be forthcoming from the fine people at Norton Books, and I discovered they have a boatload of gorgeous editions coming down the pike, including:




None of them come out until next summer, but I'm super-excited to check them out in person. Each one appears to feature a different cover artist (or at least a very different style), and I love seeing the unique takes on such an iconic figure...

Labels: P.G. Wodehouse, Reprints

Even on her warmest, fuzziest day, Jennifer Crusie doesn't go for the hearts-and-flowers approach to romance writing. Her books are funny and sharp-tongued and sexy, and even her sweetest titles—which the recently re-released Tell Me Lies and Crazy For You are not—generally focus as much on self-respect as they do on falling in love.

Tell Me Lies was originally released in 1998, and gave readers their first glimpse of Crusie's now-signature blend of romance, mystery, and screwball humor. Her heroine is Maddie Faraday, a teacher, mother, wife, and lifelong resident of Frog Point, Ohio, a tiny town where everybody knows everybody else... or thinks they do. Maddie can't imagine living anywhere else, but when she finds a stranger's underwear in her husband's car and the guy she lost her virginity to twenty years ago turns up on her doorstep, kicking her old life to the curb starts sounding pretty good.

1999's Crazy For You is the story of Quinn McKenzie, an easy-going art teacher stuck in a boring-as-dirt relationship with the local high school's baseball coach. Quinn has spent her whole life trying to make other people happy, but when she decides to adopt a stray dog despite her boyfriend's objections, her formerly quiet existence is hit with a whirlwind of dog-napping, stalking, and some seriously hot vibes coming from a unexpected source.

We're never thrilled when paperback re-releases cost $14.99, but at least readers are getting their money's worth with these titles. Crazy For You and Tell Me Lies are suspenseful, steamy, and laugh-out-loud funny, and their punchy new covers are a great match for Crusie's style. These books are a hair closer to Crusie's earlier, less polished series romances than her recent batch of standalone novels (a run that began with 2000's Welcome to Temptation and includes Fast Women, Faking It, and the jaw-droppingly awesome Bet Me), but her early work was nothing to sneer at*. Crazy For You and Tell Me Lies are beach reads with good hearts and sharp teeth—pick 'em up the next time you're in a mood for romance with some bite to it.

*With the possible exception of her long-out-of-print novel Sizzle, which Crusie has repeatedly assured fans is terrible. I, sadly, have never read it, and I see Crusie has removed it from her webpage, which I suspect means dark things for its reprinting prospects.

[Reviews based on publisher-provided copies.]

Labels: Book Reviews, Jennifer Crusie, Reprints

When I saw the cover art for the upcoming 50th anniversary edition of Peg Bracken's classic I Hate to Cook Book, my only thought was How adorable. But now I've seen the original version, featuring cover art drawn by Hilary Knight (the dude who drew the Eloise books) and I think updating it was actually a mistake. Here's the new cover:


Cute, huh? But how could anyone improve upon this?


That frown, the glassy, grumpy stare, the flushed-with-rage cheeks... I want one! That's totally how I look in the kitchen!

Labels: Book Covers, Cookbooks, Reprints

And speaking of reprints, I see they're finally reproduced something of Stella Gibbons' other than my beloved Cold Comfort Farm! Thanks to the fine people at Virago Press, the first edition of Nightingale Wood since the '70s comes out in April.

Note: Don't get your hopes up, Cold Comfort fans. Thanks to the generosity of my friend Keith (who lent me his library card with no thought of self), I've had a chance to read Nightingale Wood, and, while amusing, Cold Comfort Farm II: The Equally Awesome Return it isn't.

Labels: Reprints, Stella Gibbons, Upcoming Books

After weeks of procrastination, I spent yesterday afternoon updating our Upcoming Books page. It took forever (*sobs*), but I consider myself richly rewarded by the news that the publishing gods have finally answered one of my prayers: they're reprinting L.J. Smith's Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor! Behold:



They look good, right? Of course, I'm still waiting on Buffalo Brenda, but I'll take what I can get.

Labels: L.J. Smith, Reprints

Heeeeey, they've finally reprinted L.J. Smith's Dark Visions series! I'm sure I can thank the success of the CW's cheese-tastic Vampire Diaries for this, and it raises a more important question: is anyone going to reprint her two children's books, Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor? Because they are totally her best work, despite the fact that she apparently began the first one in high school.

And speaking of thank-yous, I'd also like to give a shout out to the person who decided to publish this sucker in a ten-dollar omnibus edition. Smith's stuff is very entertaining, but it is not great fantasy (except for the kids' books mentioned above!), so I am sincerely grateful to her publishers, who have given this teen-girl-friendly pulp fiction a totally appropriate price. Thanks, guys, for remembering that most allowances are not infinite.

Labels: L.J. Smith, Reprints

Ohohoho, what is this? Amazon tells me that Bantam will be releasing Crusie's long out of print title The Cinderella Deal as a mass market paperback in January 2010.

Note: I would post a picture of the original cover, but I've decided, for the sake of everybody's eyes, it's better to wait until they've updated it.

Labels: Reprints, Romance, Upcoming Books

And it's not even my birthday!

AnimeNewsNetwork is reporting that the always awesome Kiyohiko Azuma is creating new strips for the upcoming 10th anniversary edition of his Azumanga Daioh series. There will be sixteen pages of new material featured in each of the three volumes of the reprint.

I was *so* stoked to hear this. Azumanga Daioh is one of my favorite series in any medium, and it's been way too long since we've heard from these characters.

Labels: Kiyohiko Azuma, Reprints

The fine people at Sourcebooks will soon be releasing three reprints of Laura Kinsale's historical romances from the '80s and '90s. Kinsale has only written one new book in the past decade (2004's Shadowheart), and her epic tales of tortured romance have grown increasingly difficult to find in used bookstores, so these reprints are particularly welcome--and they're even more welcome when you compare their elegantly restrained cover art with that of the originals, which ranged from generic to gloriously cheesy:

The Originals:




Love curtains! Fabio! Teal! Compare the above with...

The Reprints:




While I love a good bodice-ripper as much as the next girl, there's no denying that the Sourcebooks reprints would be about 1000% less embarrassing to be seen reading on the bus.

Check back later in the day for our reviews of the above titles!

Labels: Laura Kinsale, Reprints, Romance