House of Mirth: Renaissance version!
Because we all know that Lily Bart lived in 1605, not 1905.
House of Mirth: Bridal Shower edition!
The one where Lily Bart and her frenemies make gowns out of toilet paper.
House of Mirth: 18th Century edition. Laurence Selden is really rocking those breeches --
I especially love his golden capelet.
House of Mirth: Cirque du Soleil edition!
Lily Bart visits Venice and gets her face painted at a street fair.
House of Mirth: Crazy Reptile Lady edition!
Apparently Lily would rather hang out in Italy with a little turtle instead of her society friends.
But her outfit is fabulous, though I can't figure out what time period that's supposed to be.
House of Mirth: Jazz Age edition!
I actually kind of like this cover, even though it's the wrong time period. Too bad Lily didn't live in the 1920s. But then she'd be in The Glimpses of the Moon instead.
House of Mirth: No Girls Allowed edition!
It looks like she's about to run the gauntlet to get into their exclusive men's club.
(And not a fun club with Bertie Wooster, either).
House of Mirth: Diva Edition!
Lily Bart starts a new career as an opera singer, and lives happily ever after. Riiiight.
House of Mirth: YA Edition!
That's the prequel when Lily was 13 and wandered around a mansion in her nightgown.
House of Mirth: Pre-Raphaelite edition!
(I think this may be the same girl who had nothing to wear but her wet sheet
in Simon's Wuthering Heights cover.)
House of Mirth: "Mr. Selfridge"edition!
Of course Mrs. Selfridge's dresses were much more fabulous.
That is one seriously ugly dress.
House of Mirth: Ennui edition!
I love Penguin classics, but that girl looks bored beyond belief.
That was really fun -- which novel should I pick for my next edition of Awful Book Covers?
And who else wants to play?
House of Mirth is on my list to read this year. Now I am most curious! :)
ReplyDeleteOf that group, the only one that somewhat represents the story is the Penguin classic, but it's not a great cover. Penguins are generally excellent editions, however. I also love Modern Library. And House of Mirth is one of my all-time favorites. I found Age of Innocence kind of slow, but after reading House of Mirth I was hooked on Wharton.
DeleteWhat a great post! I have the no-girls allowed version :)
ReplyDeleteAnne of Green Gables has a lot of potential in the worst covers category, and there's always Austen. I remember a very steamy P&P cover that I saw in the supermarket a few years ago.
So fun! Thanks for the laugh. I totally loved this post. Who knew there were so many bad covers for such a great book?
ReplyDeleteHahahaha, I loved Simon's post and I love yours too. There are so many bad covers out there!
ReplyDeleteWonderful! - it's like the only instruction was "young woman" and "old fashioned clothes".
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool idea! I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for weird classic covers now :)
ReplyDeleteThan you for this wonderful set of covers. The Penguin cover may represent the moment when she realized no one was going to bail her out of her troubles. That's not boredom, that's indigestion.
ReplyDeleteI have a small collection of bad Little Women covers (who knew it was set during the American Civil War!) and you inspire me to put them together in a post.
Vicki's got it bang on. Publishers' mantra: "Any era, any dress. Those clueless lady readers don't know or care about history or fashion. And frankly, neither do we."
ReplyDeleteExcellent!!
ReplyDeleteToo funny!! Thank you so much for that--made my day! Vanity Fair seems to be another good candidate for bad covers...or maybe The Age of Innocence...Anything with a dubious leading lady!
ReplyDelete