When I saw that Adam Rex had written a new picture book and Scott Campbell had illustrated it, I nearly jumped for joy. XO, OX: A Love Story is about a hapless Ox who exchanges confused letters with a diva Gazelle. Early reviews were positive, describing the book as a rib-tickling tale of opposites attracting, tender enough…
Ramona Blue: A Sweet Novel about Sexual Fluidity
Ramona Blue Julie Murphy Balzer & Bray/Harperteen May 9, 2017 HarperCollins provided a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have to begin with a confession of bias. I read Julie Murphy’s novel Dumplin’ last year, and I trust her as an author. The synopsis of Ramona Blue dredges up ghosts…
Book Beat: Amazon Opens First Store & Everything, Everything Gets Mixed Reviews
Hi book lovers! Ashley here! My friend Stephanie has been holding down the fort as it was a very busy work period for me. I finished Big Little Lies and surprisingly found that I kind of liked the HBO adaption better. I had to move this week and my friend Chelsea helped me and admonished…
A Whistle-stop History of Fanfiction: Part 3
Previously on The Whistle-stop History of Fanfiction, we have talked about the Bronte Sisters creating fictional worlds for Wellington to dash around in, the Austen Family writing fic for the lovely Jane, if Star Trek is the granddaddy of fandom, and does the Tolkien Society need to get over itself? See parts one and two…
Grit by Gillian French [Review]
Grit Gillian French HarperTeen May 16, 2017 I love a small town story. I grew up in various small towns around the Midwest so I can really appreciate when an author can capture the sense of claustrophobia that sometimes comes with that life. Gillian French’s Grit explores those themes but never quite gets there for…
Book Beat: GoT and Lovecraftian Adaptation News
This week’s book news was all about book adaptations and existing stories that are being told in different ways. Sound familiar? I don’t know about the rest of you, but adaptation announcements tend to make me nervous. On the one hand, I’m leery of nuance and character development falling by the wayside in favor of exacting…
Brampton’s Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) 2017
May 4-7 marked the second Festival of Literary Diversity in Brampton, Ontario. There aren’t many things that make me give up a weekend of relaxing at home, but the Festival of Literary Diversity is one of them. The FOLD, for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of hearing about it before, is a…
Book Beat: Banned Bookstores and Queer Crocodiles
The truly incredible thing about reading is that although it is, at its most basic, an individual act, books are so widespread that loving a book can be a community act too. Even with the most niche of books or the book you felt was written only just for you can also speak to someone…
Sparks and Tarts: A Romance Primer
What constitutes a romance? When is something Capital R Romance vs. a story in another genre with romantic elements? When does the line fall so thin that Capital R Romance lovers don’t really care? There’s been a lot of talk on the bookish interwebs recently about the nature of romance—romance novels in particular. Essays have…
Book Beat: The Handmaid’s Tale Buzz and Ivanka’s “Feminist” Book
Hi book lovers! I’m done with April showers! It’s May and everything is blooming and I couldn’t be happier. But enough with the downpours Mother Nature, unless that’s the kind of setting you like for reading (I don’t). I really have to get started on my summer reading list (and finish making one). Give me…
Fascist Ghosts: Racism and the Far Right in British Horror, Part Three
Content warning: this article discusses fictional portrayals of racism, including usage of racial slurs.
Reading and Rereading The Handmaid’s Tale
Many of us have been heavily anticipating Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, starring Elisabeth Moss in what could be her next great television role since she played the ambitious Peggy Olsen on Mad Men. Several of us at WWAC (and our friends) took to rereading (or in some cases reading for…
