Judging a Book By Its Cover Again

I wrote the other day how I visited the library and got a number of novels.

• Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Handmaiden’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
• Possession by A.S. Byatt
• Atonement by Ian McEwan

I am very interested in reading all of them. I’ve only heard great things about them. I couldn’t decide which one to get from the library first, so I got them all. And yet, the reason I chose to start the one I started surprised me. Continue reading »

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

I knew that Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert was about an adulterous woman. But for some reason, I assumed that the title character was a despicable, ugly, tricky middle-aged woman. “Madame” makes one sound old. Besides, when I was young, my mother had a copy of Madame Bovary; it must have been an old copy of the book, and I remember an unattractive woman on the cover (a cover like this one). Just a dim memory of that cover never made the novel, and the character, seem appealing.

To my surprise, when I met Madame Bovary between the pages of Flaubert’s novel, I found that she was very young, beautiful, and skinny, and mostly known by her first name, Emma. Beyond that, the writing in this novel was full of beauty. Continue reading »

“Used” Books Giveaways Poll

I’m new to blogging giveaways. I have some books that I was going to mooch via Bookmooch but I then I thought I’d give them away on Rebecca Reads! (Bookmooch doesn’t seem to have any of the books I want anyway.)

However, when I mentioned this to my husband, he thought that was a strange idea. After all, these are used books. Some of them are Dover Thrift Editions (brand new and in great shape but very generic and ugly) and some of them are older. But, some are hardcover. (See my Deathly Hallows giveaway.)

Do you, as readers, care about a “thrifty” binding? Do you care how “used” a book is? I know, I prefer a nice hardback myself, but….

I’ll take a survey so you can be anonymous if you want. Only one choice, because I want to know your first preference or expectation when you join a blog giveaway. Feel free to make an anonymous comment, too. (I will delete spam.) Continue reading »

Judging a Book by Its Cover

It’s not Maupassant’s fault, but I have a grudge against him already: his book stinks.

The librarian had to retrieve it from The Stacks. The first thing I noticed as she returned was its size. At more than 1300 pages, it thudded on the counter. Then, as she swiped my library card and pushed the book toward me, I smelled it. Musky. Old. Like a 1950s house that hasn’t been aired out in decades. Like puke-colored green shag carpet.

The cover itself isn’t too bad: the top two-thirds has the long title and subtitle and editor written in plain print across a faded (and stained) orange background. Bizarre green faces stare at me from the bottom third of the page.

Then I opened it. The text is about 8 point font. A story ends and the next begins on the same page (that bothers me: a story should stand by itself). And each page is as thin as skin. The book is probably 11 inches tall and 5 inches wide, so with 1300+ pages, a heavy cover, and Bible-thin pages, it’s kind of hard to curl up in bed for some comfort reading. Continue reading »