Cover Loving

There's a new Project Runway-alike on Bravo right now - Work of Art. It's pretty much the regular formula: robotic host, charming mentor, challenges that involve the show's sponsors somehow.

Typically, the sponsor-driven challenges don't interest me, but I enjoyed this week's book cover challenge (brought to you by Penguin Books Deluxe Classics). One of the books featured was (of course) Pride and Prejudice; neither of the competitors produced anything worth mentioning, but the current Penguin cover art intrigued me:That gorgeousness steered me toward the Penguin website and this illustration:Dear Emily, your honor is restored. Fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo designed this fantastic Wuthering Heights cover, which fits the story perfectly - he even included the blustery-ness of the moors!

I'm so happy about these covers that I'll even include his update of the book notorious for driving young people away from studying literature in college*:*Based on anecdotal evidence culled from about 10-15 separate conversations in college.

The Maren & Amy Comedy Minute

Text conversation proving that my sister is funnier than me:

Me: Bra shopping sucks. There's a bra that offers an airlift. As though my boobs need the last helicopter out of vietnam or something.
Oh also apparently we all need bras that we can wear 12 different ways now.
And finally apparently we need a special bra to wear with t shirts. I hate products marketed toward women.

Amy: I hate shopping at stores for 'plus sized' women. Apparently since i'm fat, i'm a DIVA!

See how I use a million words to prove my point and Amy just gets in there and gets the funny done?

Blog I Like: A Collection a Day 2010

A Collection a Day is a pretty great blog, run by collector and illustrator Lisa Congdon. She makes bread tags look like art:It makes me feel slightly ashamed of my Hello Kitty collection.

Does Not Signify: Fun with the Public Domain

Dear Ms. Bronte,

We regret to inform you that the copyright for your novel Wuthering Heights has lapsed. While we prefer your sister Charlotte's bigamous brooder Rochester to the tortured, vengeful Heathcliffe, we recognize his value as the originator of the dark romantic hero. Furthermore, Kate Bush never wrote a song about Rochester.

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the big plans we have for your novel. As we're sure you're aware (even from beyond the grave), your classic story of tortured, passionate love has found its way into the pop-culture vampire phenom Twilight! Congratulations!

We're delighted to tell you that this has generated a renewed interest in your work, with many readers hoping to discover the connection between their favorite vampires and Heathcliffe and Cathy. Which is why we've taken the liberty of repackaging your work:We've taken Wuthering Heights to new heights! Some readers may have passed by your work previously, but we've reminded them that this is Bella and Edward's favorite book! We've removed any hint of unhappiness and vengeful hatred and turned it into a continuation of the Twilight universe! And to further the connection between the two works, we've told fans that "Love never dies" - a statement as true for Bella and Edward as it is for Cathy and Heathcliffe!

Which brings us to this next, tricky question. Now, we don't want to impinge on your artistic integrity, but we're wondering if there's something you can do about that icky unhappy ending? We would love to meet with you and have several ideas for potential re-writes.

Again, Ms. Bronte, our sincerest congratulations on the renewed interest in your work.

Yours,
HarperCollins Publishers*

P.S. We were wondering if you had contact information for Mr. Shakespeare - we'd love to chat with him about some exciting new ideas we have for one of his plays!*but not really, it's just me responding to stimuli. xoxo, M

Cover Judging - Black Jack

First Glance: I feel like romance covers had a real renaissance in the 80s-90s, what with Fabio and all, and they've been reaching for that second lightning strike ever since. Quite literally, in the case of Black Jack. This book was, surprisingly, published this year, 2010. But the cover styling is so very 80s, with the black and neon blue color scheme. The fella, the titular Black Jack presumably, checks the boxes: ab definition, waxed pectorals, cleft chin. It's all very by the numbers, thus I'm having a hard time finding anything funny to say. Score: 3 out of 5

Still in Circulation: Dressing Right

Some books remain shelved, hiding amongst more relevant or popular titles, keeping us from exploring their contents. The well-versed staff is unaware of their existence, even though they are Still in Circulation.

I'm excited to add this feature to my librarian-blogger repretoire. In circulation, I come across so many great, old books that I never would have known about otherwise. Often funny and interesting, sometimes kind of ridiculous and charming. This one's a bit of everything:
Dressing Right might be an easy joke, what with its late-70s/early 80s fashions and extreme male modeling.

So let me get this part out of the way: ha ha ha ha ha ha men used to have mustaches ha ha ha ha ha ha my dad used to wear that ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hairstyles!

Now I've put that behind me, I'd like to talk about the advice found within Charles Hix's guide to the well-dressed man.

Mr. Hix is all about bringing style to the masses: "When fashion becomes elitist, it's a bore designed for boors."

He's also about equality: "Neither biologically nor physiologically superior are women's eyes to men's; nor do women possess an innate sense of what goes with what that men by their birthright lack."

And he's also about clean living: "Believe it or not - and you should - dressing right in the right way with the right attitude can be a natural high."

Other nuggets of truth and wisdom:
"One of the prime reasons for dressing is to get undressed."
"Man does not live by vested suit alone."
"Only creeps hire bouncers to oust nonconforming guests."

Once I got over the "OMG, did people actually wear this?"-ness of Dressing Right, different categories of outfits began emerging. While some remained in the "Did people actually wear this?" category, others fit elsewhere:

Surprisingly not from Urban Outfittersand Downright Bassian

Dressing Right by Charles Hix is available for checkout at the Logan Library. Only, you'll have to put it on hold, because I'm keeping it the full three weeks. xoxo, M

Cover Judging - To Tame a Highland Warrior

All right, friends. I've taken a month off from Cover Judging to remind myself that the GRE board does not define "enervate" as 'a spell in Harry Potter that is used to restore a person to consciousness."

Side note: Other Harry Potter spells that find their home on the GRE Vocab "Hit List":
evanesc(ent)o, impervious, obliviate, and stupefy.

This is all to say that I've not abandoned judging books by the covers. Why, here's one now . . .

First Glance: There's not a whole lot there, visually, with this one: the author's name and the title reserve about three-quarters of the cover. And we get a bicep (though he's cheating by crossing his arms) and a shadowed glimpse of waxed chest in a sort of blue-toned black-and-white. In this case, however, the visual isn't the point . . . Score: 3 out of 5

Does Not Signify: Born a Coal Miner's Daughter

A lot of people put The Memory Keeper's Daughter on hold. We have several copies, so I end up shelving this book a couple times a week. I've never read the back, so I don't know what it's about. I think the daughter might drown in it, because the cover features a desaturated, floating dress that's kind of glowy, like in movies where people drown and it's supposed to be symbolic of being overcome by whatever.
Another book that's checked out a lot is The Wizard's Daughter. Again, haven't read the back, but I assume it's about a wizard's daughter whose father forbids her to see her true love, who is a Muggle. But she's rebellious and goes to see the Sea Witch, who turns her into a mute Muggle for three day, so then it's up to the wizard's daughter to make her Muggle fall in love with her before the sun sets on the third day. Seems a little derivative.

Also popular is a book called The Beekeeper's Daughter. It's a Harlequin Superromance novel and I can only guess that it takes place in the same reality as The Memory Keeper's Daughter.
I've kind of rolled my eyes at this trend because I consider it a lazy way to title a book. It's basically a fill-in-the-blank title: The [Unconventional Occupation]'s Daughter. All the author needs to do is come up with an unconventional occupation and then input a spirited young daughter who grew up knowing she and her family were a little different from everyone else. And when the time comes for her to learn her father's trade, she must choose between carrying on the family traditions and love, I'm guessing.

Anyway, I've rolled my eyes at the trend, but mostly ignored it until I saw a copy of The Gravedigger's Daughter. And for some reason, maybe because I could tell that the girl will grow up to be preternaturally aware of the dead, meaning she'll be a lot deeper than her peers, and because even the title is trying so hard for depth, that I came to a decision: all publishers should place a moratorium on The [Unconventional Occupation]'s Daughter.

It's a trope that's been repeated so often that it doesn't even mean anything anymore.

Old pals and their talents

My high school pal Ty designed this shirt:

It's pretty clever and kinda sweet, so you should click on over to threadless and score it! :)

Cover Judging - A Highlander Christmas

This isn't an official Cover Judging; it's a belated Christmas gift.
Regularly scheduled Cover Judging to resume next week. Love, M