Comments on: A Book Buyer Complains About Books-to-Movies

By: tom

tom — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:59:29 +0000

The only book I have with a movie cover is the Lord of the Rings boxset. I bought it without realising, I didn’t even know there was a movie coming out. I still think it looks nice though because it’s essentially just the title on a black background; they haven’t thrown too much of the movie on there.

By: Chubbles

Chubbles — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:52:51 +0000

Finally! Someone who understands me! *huggles*

By: Eli James

Eli James — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:45:23 +0000

Second-hand bookstores are a good idea I haven’t thought of. But I’ve just come up with another one: I borrow the book from a library, watch the movie, and if I really like it (the book, not the movie) I’ll wait for the movie fad to pass and buy a copy when the cover’s not all mangled-up anymore.

How’s that, for starters? ;-)

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:16:25 +0000

I have this same peeve! If I go to the bookstore and find that an original cover copy isn’t available, I would prefer to wait a few weeks, go home and order it online second-hand through AbeBooks.com. I also refuse to watch a movie before I’ve read the book so I’ve not seen a lot of movies these days.

By: Nc

Nc — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:44:34 +0000

It’s especially annoying when you’re collecting a series of books, and then they change the covers, so that the new movie-books doesn’t fit with the old ones…

By: Cindy

Cindy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:01:18 +0000

I completely agree. I search forever to find the Lord of the Rings trilogy with no movie referenced covers. However I have yet to find a solution to buying books with the “Now a major television show!” label on them i.e. Dresden Files or Southern Vampire Chronicles….

By: G.

G. — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:05:14 +0000

I strongly agree. Even if I liked the movie (rarely, it does happen), I like the book to be a separate entity. And to those who said that the post was about judging books by their covers, it seemed more to me to be about judging the covers of books.

By: Brett

Brett — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:42:15 +0000

It took me absolutely forever to find a copy of I, Robot without Will Smith’s face on the cover. Hate it.

By: Matthias

Matthias — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:24:31 +0000

Oh it’s the same mess over here in Germany. It doesn’t get me annoyed that often because I usually read classics but when it happens it hits even harder. You know “The Reader” by Bernhard Schlink? I wanted to buy it since it was on my list for a long time but then there was this huge sticker on the cover “Now in cinemas”. I got very angry.
Since that day I boycott this kind of books.

By: shawn walsh

shawn walsh — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:54:13 +0000

In the same vein, I hate it when publishers release a new edition of earlier books (especially in a series) with all new “flash” cover – this happens especially with Sci Fi and fantasy series, now that the genre is popular again, so here I have 5 out of 6 in a series all with the original pictorial covers and the last one is in a new “adult” cover.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:20:30 +0000

Hah- me too! I hate that… sometimes I’ll look for an older printing, so I won’t get that damn movie poster cover. The only thing more vile is a book based on a movie.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:48:53 +0000

my sentiments exactly… when I buy a book I refuse to buy the movie cover version. In fact, nowadays I’m prone to some searching to find older hardback versions; great cover art and usually very cheap.

By: Kris

Kris — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:34:03 +0000

@Frogergeist:

But do we not all judge our books by the cover to some degree? Each of my favorite books was once unknown; often the first copy was picked up because the cover art caught my attention. Not to say that I loved or loathed any given book for that reason…but an eye-catching cover is part of what will intrigue a new reader.

Perhaps that is the point of putting famous faces on books that have been made into movies: the off chance that someone will pick it up, read, and fall in love.

While I happen to agree that seeing a movie poster where my cover belongs is irritating, I also say that anything that gets a book picked up and read cannot be all bad.

By: Frohergeist

Frohergeist — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:49:08 +0000

CLEARLY should have been titled “In Which Books Are Judged By Their Covers”. DROPPED THE BALL ON THIS ONE

By: XMalice

XMalice — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:52:12 +0000

I despise this.

By: Eli James

Eli James — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:50:10 +0000

DIY cover art seems to be a rather good idea … if I were so gifted an artist. But then again, I suppose you can’t go wrong with white leather and some nice type =)

By: lilimist

lilimist — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:48:07 +0000

Heh, having reluctantly purchased a copy of Criena Rohan’s lovely and impossibly hard to find The Delinquents with the film tie-in pic on the cover I can totally relate to what you’re saying here. Because, yes, when I think of a half-Malaysian girl, Kylie Minogue is totally the first chick who springs to mind *eyeroll* Beautiful book, horrendous film. Perhaps investing in some of that funky patterned/coloured contact wrapping or DIY cover art might be the answer? ;)

By: Eli James

Eli James — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:00:21 +0000

Glad to hear that I’m not the only one with such a compulsion =) I must add, though: I particularly loathe ‘based on the blockbuster movie’ type novels (often that of superhero films) … they don’t turn out well.

By: Clare K. R. Miller

Clare K. R. Miller — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:29:52 +0000

Ooh, I hate that too! I’ve definitely avoided buying books in the past because of the movie-version covers, though I can’t think of which off the top of my head. I’m glad I bought Atonement before it became a movie (though I feel compelled to point out that my cover isn’t the same as yours–similar feel, but a different image).