Want to turn your paperback into a hot pink (or red, or blue, or green) hardcover? Check out Hardbacker, a product with a somewhat buggy website, and an unintentionally hilarious name.
[Thanks to Linda for the link.]
Altered romance novels with whole new sparkly buttsecks meanings, with that piquant dash of sardonic artistry, for your eyes only at Cliterature.
[Thanks to P.N. Elrodfor the link.]
Marjorie Liu gets a nod and a merry tribute this week from Bill Willingham, author of the Fables comic series. Willingham writes:
Confession time: I doubt I would ever have picked up one of Marjorie’s books, had I not met her in person. The reason is they’re categorized as Romances, which is where they are shelved in bookstores. Though I have no justification for avoiding it, the romance section is an area in bookstores I seldom wander into. Her novels also have traditional-looking romance book covers, which are occasionally a bit off-putting to us mighty manly men.
Then again, who knows? I don’t carry many biases where good storytelling is concerned. I’m willing to find it anywhere, as too many of my friends will attest, when I try to drag them to wonderful movies that they aren’t eager to go to, simply because they fall under the chick-flick rubric. So, in any case, I’m glad I did meet Marjorie Liu in person, because it would have been a shame to miss out on the work of an author this talented due to whatever degree of cultural prejudices I might still possess. I trust you who read this won’t make the same mistake.
[Thanks to Gail Dayton for the linkage.]
Aside from the doubting of Darcy and Elizabeth’s happy ending (and the misspelling of Sir Quiet of Pemberley name, what’s UP with that?!) there is some bad news in the Guardian’s book blog. If you’ve been hoping for the opportunity to have your post-mortem self scattered as ashes in Jane Austen’s garden, hope no more:
Louise West, the collections manager of Jane Austen’s House Museum, wrote: “While we understand many admirers of Jane Austen would love to have ashes laid here, it is something we do not allow. It is distressing for visitors to see mounds of human ash, particularly so for our gardener. Also, it is of no benefit to the garden!”
If there is one thing I do know about the British, it is that one ought not fuck with their knowledge of gardening. If the roses aren’t meant to be made out of people, then forget your ash-scattering plans, folks.
However, while I’m on this entry, this caught my eye:
…the cult of Austen has reached ridiculous proportions. In a post-feminist world that should know better, she seems to be adored as the comforting provider of romantic, happy-endings nonsense instead of the sharp and acerbic social satirist she deserves to be seen as.
It’s the holiday season, a time when I tend to diverge from my normally mellow self and get a good bit more cranky (Can we people STOP with the HOLIDAY shoving down people’s THROATS and with the CHRISTMAS music it is 6am and I just WANT to BUY DIAPERS, children’s Motrin and some theraputic CHOCOLATE for the LOVE of GOD – ahem. Sorry). So this totally rubbed me the wrong way with far more force than normal, like a cat being rubbed tail to shoulders with a really firm brush. Cult of Austen? What, that’s more of a problem than the Cult of Britney Spears or the Cult of Angelina Jolie Is She Pregnant Again or the Cult of People who Like to Be Online A Lot?
So the fuck what if she’s adored as the “comforting provider of romantic happy endings.” She’s not appreciated enough for her social satire and wit? You’re not happy because people don’t like her for the same reasons you do? Oh, bite me. The only thing more annoying than the Cult of Anything is self-righteous snotbags telling people they ought to know better than to like Something Awesome But, Oh Noes, For The Wrong Reasons. It’s a straight shot to Self-Important Asshat Land with an attitude like that, particularly since the foundation of your argument suffers from disintegration because you can’t spell “Darcy” correctly.
[Thanks to Rebecca for the link.]
I wanted to drop a plug for Hardbackers and to thank you. I’ve been using them for years now (geez, sounds old, doesn’t it?) but really, probably five or six I would think and I still have my original two covers and use them constantly. They’re great, but I don’t see them often where I live anymore.
I don’t much care one way or another who sees what I’m reading. Personally, some of the romance covers I have are gorgeous and I could stare at them all day…*sigh*, but I digress; what I do love them for is, I’m always throwing my latest read in my purse and I got tired of having the covers creased or the front or back cover tearing partially off while I was digging in my bottomless pit for my wallet or glasses. The Hardbacker has managed to keep my books readable for a few more times and keeps them clean and my itty bitty book light clips on much better at night than just shoving it on a few pages and hoping it stays in place.
And I’ll take Jane Austen’s romantic, happy endings any day! 🙂
What she said, re: Austen. If I like Austen b/c she writes ROMANCE (OH NOES!), I can, b/c you know what, she fucking writes romance! You can like her for her social satire, but don’t tell me that’s the only damn reason you read her. Thackery writes social satire, as does, say, Orwell, but they’re not exactly comfort reads, are they. Fuckwad. In my considered, academic opinion.
God, you just rock.
Hallelujah and Amen, sister! Why are people such douches?
Almost as much as the lack of bacon, it was this attitude that turned me off vegetarianism. It wasn’t enough that we were all vegetarians, we had to embrace the lifestyle for the right reasons. We had to be lesbian, eco-terrorist, PETA-riffic, macrobiotic, ovo-lacto-pesci-vegan, goddess-worshipping, left-wing, militant-feminist vegetarians. Or else, you know, we weren’t REAL vegetarians.
Really, though, I gave it up because I like meat.
Almost as much as the lack of bacon, it was this attitude that turned me off vegetarianism.
It’s so nice to know that I’m not the only one. If you’re going to expect me to give up bacon you better not tick me off in the process.
It really is sad that this sort of attitude is so common, because it drives people away from a lot of great stuff. I’m attending grad school in International Relations. The program has several concentrations and it’s well-know that the most difficult and belligerent group is the Peace & Conflict Resolution folks. For them it’s not enough that you want to make the world better. You have to some how prove yourself worthy by obsessing about seeing oppression everywhere. I’m in favor of calling out prejudice & injustice, but at some point you’re being such an off putting douche that you’re doing more harm that good. I’m not exactly sure why that’s so hard for some people to understand.
I love the links. I put cliterature in my favorites! And I think I’m going to try and make an altered romance now!
{Quiet but happy voice} Sarah, I love you. I usually larve me some holiday insanity, but there’s a time and a place, yanno? Especially when it went “Turkey*SLAM*Santa” this year due to the late Thanksgiving.
Just when I thought SMTB couldn’t get any cooler, I find out that P.N. Elrod is a reader. If Christopher Moore even speaks up and declares himself a fan, just retire – freaking retire to an island with coconuts and an all male society of sexy, tanned castaways just dying to be your slaves because that’s the only way it’ll get any better.
Also, thanks for the link. That’s totally a craft I can get behind.
Er … SBTB. SMTB is the name of the secret society of sweaty men, but they won’t tell me what it stands for because I’m not a member.
I take it you mean the Christmas music, ‘cause they were pimping Christmas stuff around October 25th in these parts of town.
Weirdly enough, round here I seem to have managed to avoid most of the full-bore X-Mas stuff before Thanksgiving. Yeah, there were decorations in the drugstore as soon as the Halloween candy went away, but the traditional December full-bore Christmas vomit wasn’t spewed in my worldview until about 12:01 on Black Friday.
Which I avoided like the plague. I like Christmas, I really do. And I want to continue to like it. 🙂
Why can’t I love Austen for both biting social commentary and the romance?
It’s so good to come here at the end of a busy day and have a laugh at the snark! Well done Bitches!!!
Hm. For the price of getting the hardback cover, you can buy a brand new paperback. And I like the majority of my paperback covers too much to cover them up with blank pink covers.
Just a follow up on the Hardbacker. They are slip covers and fit a variety of page sizes and now come in sizes to fit the trade and another paperback size as well. Like I said, I’ve used the same two for years. I slip them off one and onto another when I’m finished. My books stay nice a lot longer that way. It’s a one time investment and as much as I like the covers on my PBs, I like to keep them nice as long as I can. 🙂
Personal taste, just a FWIW