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| The five worst book covers ever | The five worst book covers ever |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl | 1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl |
| No Charlie Bucket? No gloopy chocolate or shiny golden ticket? Penguin’s new cover reimagines Dahl’s classic as 1960s Wyndhamesque horror, robotic alien children stranded in a stark asylum. As the most voted comment on Penguin’s Facebook announcement reads: “Sorry, I wouldn’t buy the book with this cover.” | No Charlie Bucket? No gloopy chocolate or shiny golden ticket? Penguin’s new cover reimagines Dahl’s classic as 1960s Wyndhamesque horror, robotic alien children stranded in a stark asylum. As the most voted comment on Penguin’s Facebook announcement reads: “Sorry, I wouldn’t buy the book with this cover.” |
| 2 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell | 2 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell |
| Check out the Big Brothers on Signet’s sexed-up 1956 version of Orwell’s dystopia. It’s almost funny to imagine hapless readers buying this based solely on the cover, then getting the fright of their lives. (I said almost. Sorry George.) | Check out the Big Brothers on Signet’s sexed-up 1956 version of Orwell’s dystopia. It’s almost funny to imagine hapless readers buying this based solely on the cover, then getting the fright of their lives. (I said almost. Sorry George.) |
| 3 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë | 3 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë |
| This Twilight tie-in gives Emily Brontë a black background – to indicate the depths of hormonal despair – and a nice flower. How many teenage readers wound up throwing this across the room, scowling, “I didn’t want something with substance”? | This Twilight tie-in gives Emily Brontë a black background – to indicate the depths of hormonal despair – and a nice flower. How many teenage readers wound up throwing this across the room, scowling, “I didn’t want something with substance”? |
| 4 The Princess Bride by William Goldman | |
| Anyone for Princess Buttercup as a wild shaman with a bird on her head and snakes coming out of her backside? And why are there so many skulls? I’m willing to bet that illustrator Ted CoConis’s take sold loads, though. Because, y’know, breasts. | Anyone for Princess Buttercup as a wild shaman with a bird on her head and snakes coming out of her backside? And why are there so many skulls? I’m willing to bet that illustrator Ted CoConis’s take sold loads, though. Because, y’know, breasts. |
| 5 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath | 5 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath |
| After a storm of complaints over its 50th anniversary edition of Sylvia Plath’s novel of Ivy League despair, Faber and Faber released a statement saying they were aiming the cover at readers who had never picked up Plath before. “Our intention for this cover was that the image of the expressionless woman ‘putting on her mask’ and the discordant colour palette would suggest ambivalence and unease,” they said, before helpfully pointing out: “The copy on the back of this edition makes reference to the narrator’s depression and suicide attempt.” Oh. Good? | After a storm of complaints over its 50th anniversary edition of Sylvia Plath’s novel of Ivy League despair, Faber and Faber released a statement saying they were aiming the cover at readers who had never picked up Plath before. “Our intention for this cover was that the image of the expressionless woman ‘putting on her mask’ and the discordant colour palette would suggest ambivalence and unease,” they said, before helpfully pointing out: “The copy on the back of this edition makes reference to the narrator’s depression and suicide attempt.” Oh. Good? |
| What have we missed? Let us know in the comments below. | What have we missed? Let us know in the comments below. |
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