Trending Topics: Cover Redesigns for Classics -- Oh Anne Shirley!

Are you prepped to get your literary panties in a twist?  Last week one of my former coworkers forwarded me a link to Jezebel’s story about the new cover redesign for The Bell Jar. Because I was busy (explaining how to print out an email to a patron for the hundredth time), I only had a few moments to glance over the article but my reaction was expected: I grimaced, did a Liz Lemon worthy eye roll, and chalked it up to corporate America’s idea to package and advertise a book about depression into something possibly teen or chick lit friendly – with pink and lipstick!

New and "Improved" vs Original

Yesterday I was browsing some trending headlines and my attention was drawn to a cover redesign for Anne of Green Gables and the fuss it has created.  The traditional cover has transformed into one featuring a sassy looking blonde who might suggest a story about a roll in the hay with the farmer’s daughter rather than the tale of an unwanted freckled ginger.  With some parents groups throwing a hissy because they think that the redesign is "sexy" or "too adult" for a children’s book, (I do have to admit that the new Anne Shirley would probably have no problems getting that headstrong Gilbert Blythe to be at her beck and call) it has some asking if the publishing industry has gone too far with covers.

Had I actually read the Jezebel article the first time, I would’ve seen that they had already linked a picture of the new Anne of Green Gables cover, but this made me curious about other classic titles getting makeovers.  Recently Wuthering Heights has been renovated to appeal to the Twilight crowd with its new cover – one that even boasts that it is Edward and Bella’s favorite book(!).   And the latest Breakfast at Tiffany’s edition is in Tiffany & Co.’s trademark blue and brings to mind something classier than a free spirited teenage call girl.  Wtf is going on and can we expect this trend to continue? 

The publishing industry doesn't seem to care what message the new jacket sends. Do these revamped and “updated” covers insult teens or other audiences as indicated (or even the long dead authors)?  Do they trivialize the subject matter? Are these any better than books that have the movie tie-in covers promoting “now a major motion picture”?  Does the end (baiting someone to read) justify the means? Obvi, I don’t have any concrete answers to these questions, but I do believe it lends to an interesting topic for discussion among librarians, teachers, readers, book industry employees, graphic designers, etc.  

This is a rare instance where I have actually read all of the books featured and I can honestly say that none of the “modern” alterations accurately represent any of the titles in my opinion, but some have posed that maybe the same could be said of previous covers.  Except the old Anne of Green Gables says awkward redhead. Oh, and previous The Bell Jar looks like a stone cold bummer.  Annnnd now that I'm thinking of it, the boring landscape of Wuthering Heights makes me yawn like I'm back in 11th grad lit.  Of course they don't have the same agenda either.  Looking up old covers, I find that the 1959 paperback edition of Breakfast appears to be fairly honest about its contents (I recall receiving the middle version as a gift and wondering if it contained the story of a pasty, little man).  In my searching, I also came across several Bell Jar parodies that this makeover s-storm has inspired.

Overheard @ The Info Desk: The Public Needs Help

A short man with shoulder length silver hair and a cowboy-styled mustache approaches the information desk:

Greystache: I can't seem to find any books about the materials needed to build a labyrinth.

Me: (tries to wipe the judgmental "uhhhh..?" off my face as I preform a search) I'm not finding anything in our collection either.  We have the movie Labyrinth, a book about Labyrinth fish, and another book titled Dating Again: A Labyrinth of Choices.

Greystache: Is the movie about building labyrinths?

Me: No, it's an 80's David Bowie movie with some muppets.

Greystache: You mean you don’t have any books on the subject?

Me: No books, would you like me to try searching our databases for--

Greystache:(interrupting and shaking his head) I’m shocked.  Frankly I’m shocked

Exit Greystache.

Third time’s the charm?

Greetings to anyone who may still be following this.  Not only is it embarrassing that the past two Januaries I have written about writing more, I am ashamed that my last post was about not posting and a promise of forthcoming posts that week.  All I can say is that the desire was there, but the focus and follow-through were obviously not present.  

 

I can offer up a litany of excuses (I purchased my home, started regularly dating someone, my home computer broke and then when I got it back my internet service was out for nearly a month, my soul and desire to further my career was being crushed by He Who Must Not Be Named at work, and/thus, I work at a new library), but the truth is even when I had the time and physical ability I couldn’t get motivated enough to do it.  Or I would sit in front of my laptop in a slightly depressed fog without any idea of what to write about (did I mention that for eight hours a day I had to share a workspace with He Who Must Not Be Named?).  I knew that I missed the practice, but I didn’t do anything about it.  

 

While I have always considered my life to be filled with I Love Lucy-esque adventures, I think that it’s safe to say that probably a lifetime of experiences (several of them less I Love Lucy and more Days of Our Lives) like have been mooshed into the past three years.  That said, I don’t want these hurdles to prevent me from doing something that I enjoy.  Nothing in this blog has ever been particularly noteworthy, but it was a small outlet for my creative urges.  Although I wasn’t doing any “serious writing,” that I felt that it was a form of exercise and I’d like to endeavor another (or third) crack at it. 

 

Soooo I’ve revamped things once again and, like many other blogs, I tried to come up with some sort of schedule to better focus my posts and help anyone (Bueller?) who is still following know when to check in.  This doesn’t mean that I’ll be posting every day, but when I do I’ll stick to the preselected topic for the day.  Weekends, should I manage to awaken from my drunken slumber, are a free-for-all.

 

Finally, though I do want and hope some will continue to follow me and others might join, I realized that I need to do this for myself.  The practice of writing is something I crave to get back into. I need this outlet and it’s cheaper than therapy :)

oh hello there

Alright, yes I see the irony in making a post at the beginning of the year about not posting a few posts ago (I'm trying to see how many times I can use the word "post" in one sentence) and then not posting again. Well, all I can say about that is life decided to interfere with several moments of true library and personal swagger, but also spells of almost unwashable fail-stink in both areas too. However let's focus on the positive shall we?

I want to go back and focus this blog like I said I was going to so all I can say is that there will be some changes coming within the next week. I want to say that these will be positive changes and hope that those of you who are still around will want to stick around, but I guess we'll see...

In the meantime, I'll ask any of you who might check in on this place periodically if there's anything specifically you're interested in reading that I've touched on in the past and you would like me to specifically continue? Or even any new ideas -- that don't involve poisoning any library patrons or coworkers.

Sir, what you need is a time machine

A man in his late 40's to early 50's and smelling like he had rolled around in Bengay cream all morning sat down at the reference desk and asked for some assistance and of course, I was the lucky one to help him.

The man, who from here on shall be referred to as "Mr. Novelist," is in the process of writing a novel, that takes place during the depression based in "Hicktown," located in state but oh about four or five hours drive south. His problem -- he needs to do some research for his novel and by that he means he needs me to do some research for his novel for him.

Mr. Novelist confides in me that he has already used Google and Wikipedia to learn about Hicktown, but would like more information like what type of gum people in Hicktown would've chewed back then, or local slang, or the gun that would be issued to a Great Depression era cop in Hicktown (yes, it was a detective story!). I do a couple searches and reveal that we don't have any books focusing only on Hicktown, but in some of the state history books there are small sections dedicated to Hicktown. He waves this away, it is not what he wants. Next I bring back some books on fashion history and open it to the portions on 1930's fashion, but he is disappointed that it is only about ten pages of pictures and that the entire book is not on 1930's style clothing.

He points to an illustration of a 1930's era woman with a hat, "How do I know that women in Hicktown wore that type of hat?"

I respond that I, obviously, did not know but assumed that fashion trends of the 1930's were probably nationwide with some variation and the possibility that a small town like Hicktown might have possibly been a little behind but probably not by much.

Mr. Novelist lets out a sigh, "Doesn't the library have an old film strip or DVD I could watch about the 1930's in Hicktown? I'm a more visual person, I don't have time to read a lot, but I think if I could watch something then I could absorb it that way. It could be fiction or like a documentary, I don't care."

I internalize a mental sigh then try to explain that the way our cataloging system works, I could not simply search for movies that take place at that time and in that town unless they were cataloged that way and I'd already done several searches on Hicktown in our system with no results.

He shakes his head, "Do you know that movie, A Christmas Story? The one that takes place in the past and is all about that family and the boy who dresses like a giant bunny -- I want something like that, but for it to take place in Hicktown in the 1930's."

"You know," I say, "A Christmas Story is set during the Great Depression and could be a visual resource--"

Here Mr. Novelist interrupts me with the most expected response, "But it doesn't take place in Hicktown!" How stupid of me to suggest such a thing! Mr. Novelist is clearly suffering from the mental disorder of thinking that if you want it, it exists!

I decide to spend a few more minutes helping him before sending him on his way, but it is time wasted as my ideas like using writing website forums for assistance or trying Hicktown's own library(!) for information are dismissed.

"I'm really disappointed," Mr. Novelist says as he gets up to leave, "I expected the library to have what I was looking for, a simple movie -- that's all!"

I really like you, my new Wine-brarian

This little beauty of a dream job popped up on ALA's joblist:

Wine Librarian



Ok, so it doesn't say that it involves barrel tastings or any sort of drinking on the job, but it's in California, it pays a hell of a lot more than I currently make, and it comes with the awesome official title of Wine Librarian -- not just something the staff calls you because you're Tipsy McStagger! The position closes this Friday the 13th, just sayin'...

New Year...where have you been?

Ok, so I haven't posted anything since Halloween, but that doesn't mean I've gone the way of our microfiche reader or electronic typewriter to the big storage unit in the sky! If 2010 ended up with being a crappy year, then 2011 was the turd storm that followed. Lots of lovely things happened that involved the fun of moving to an apartment that had constant heat/AC problems, unknowingly letting a complete sociopath into my life, and an emergency room visit. I also experienced for the first time in my life the excitement of projectile vomit! All things said, it was not my finest hour...

But now we have the clean slate of 2012 to look forward to or to go for broke and screw up even more. Either way, I'm hoping to start posting again regularly (I would prefer a couple times a week, if not then weekly) and I realize I did this little mea culpa last year in January, but my eyes were clouded with the bright rays of optimism that things were perking up. This year I have no such problem, I've got my goggles strapped on and I know what I'm getting into. Or at least I *think* I know.

To start this year off with a bang this morning (what? You mean you don't have to work on this federal holiday? Lucky you!) we were greeted by a couple boxes of donations that considerately included already colored in coloring books and solved mazes.