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August 28, 2006
Quill Power
Literary awards such as the National Book Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and Booker Prize receive a lot of press, but they certainly lack glitz and mass-market appeal. Last year, Reed Business Information (the folks behind Publisher’s Weekly) and NBC tried to change all that by creating the Quill Awards, a “celebration of the written word” that is voted on by the reading public and culminates in a nationally televised gala. Public voting for the second-annual Quill Awards is now open (finalists were chosen by booksellers and librarians). From now until September 30, you can cast a ballot for your favorites in 20 categories, including Book of the Year. Award winners will be announced in New York City on October 10.
Posted by hplreadingcorner at 3:46 PM | Comments (196)
August 23, 2006
Book Review: His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
Equal parts fantasy, historical drama and naval romance, Naomi Novik’s page-turner His Majesty’s Dragon is one of the more engrossing and ingenious debut novels to be released in a long while. Novik faithfully recreates European warfare during the Napoleonic era, with one twist—in her books, nations have ships, guns, and dragons at their disposal. So when Captain Will Laurence of the Royal Navy unexpectedly bonds with Temeraire, a dragon hatchling seized from a French vessel, he’s relegated to Britain’s Aerial Corps to fight Napoleon’s advancing forces. While Novik’s imaginative melding of historical detail, military adventure and dragon lore is seamless, what sets the book apart is rich character development, particularly the unexpectedly touching relationship between Laurence and Temeraire. Once you finish His Majesty’s Dragon, be sure to follow the continuing exploits of this extraordinary duo in the sequels Throne of Jade and Black Powder War.
Posted by hplreadingcorner at 10:21 AM | Comments (20)
August 22, 2006
Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury!
Literary legend Ray Bradbury was born 86 years ago today in north suburban Waukegan. Although best known for his science fiction classics The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury often crosses genre boundaries with moving tales such as Dandelion Wine, a nostalgic coming-of-age story based on the author’s childhood in Illinois. (In fact, Bradbury has written a sequel to Dandelion Wine, Farewell Summer, which is due out this fall.) If you’re looking for evocative, character-driven books that are tinged with the fantastic, pick up one of Bradbury’s many works the next time you stop by the library.
Posted by hplreadingcorner at 8:00 PM | Comments (917)
August 14, 2006
DVD Review: Captain Blood
By the end of August, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest will pass the $400 million mark in domestic box office. But decades before Johnny Depp strapped on a sword and applied kohl eyeliner, another Hollywood heartthrob thrilled audiences with his swashbuckling. Charming, heroic, and devilishly good looking, Errol Flynn became an instant star in the 1935 classic Captain Blood, his first major film role. Flynn plays Peter Blood, a gentleman doctor during the reign of King James II who is condemned to slavery in Jamaica after illegally treating a traitor to the crown. Blood eventually escapes servitude and turns pirate, joining forces with a French buccaneer (a deliciously dastardly Basil Rathbone) and wooing a beautiful maiden (the luminous Olivia de Havilland). Filled with swordplay, romance and a rousing Erich Wolfgang Korngold score, Captain Blood demonstrates why good pirates never go out of style.
Posted by hplreadingcorner at 4:41 PM | Comments (88)
August 8, 2006
Puppy Love
Now that we’re slogging through the dog days of summer, what better time than now to pick up a book about man's best friend? John Grogan’s heartwarming tale of an incorrigible Labrador retriever, Marley & Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog, has topped the bestseller lists for months. Other touching real-life tales of dog/human relationships include Jon Katz’ A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me, Willie Morris’ My Dog Skip, and Dan Dye’s Amazing Gracie: A Dog’s Tale. Dog lovers who prefer fiction might enjoy the novel Sight Hound by Pam Houston or Laurien Berensen’s charming mystery A Pedigree to Die For.
Posted by hplreadingcorner at 5:56 PM | Comments (56)
August 2, 2006
Book Review: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
If Charles Dickens and Susie Bright had had a love child, she may have written something like Sarah Waters’ gripping third novel, Fingersmith. The story begins as the narrative of Sue Trinder, an orphaned teen raised by a gang of pickpockets (a.k.a. “fingersmiths”) and small-time criminals in a seedy corner of Victorian London. One day a fellow crook asks her to become a maid for the wealthy Maud Lilly, part of an elaborate plot to steal the young lady’s inheritance. Sue reluctantly agrees to the con, but regrets her deceit when she and Maud develop a regard that grows into passion. Still, the scheme proceeds until Sue discovers that she, in fact, has been the one done wrong, a plot development that plunges the reader into a cunning web of twists, turns and double-crosses. Thick with period detail and sharp characterizations, Fingersmith is a supremely literate page-turner.
Posted by hplreadingcorner at 10:29 AM | Comments (311)