So let's say someone writes a book. And it's a good book, that a lot of people are reading. After a little while, this book will come out on paperback, with a cover that, for the most part, resembles the same cover as the hardback edition. But during this time, let's say the book becomes SO outrageously popular, that it's adapted for the big screen. Yay for the author of the book!

Bummer for the cover of the book. It now MUST have a cover depicting the famous actors who are in the movie. Because, gosh, I'm not going to be able to find it by looking up the title or the author of the book. I'm going to aimlessly walk through the aisles of MEGA BOOKSTORE looking for John Cusack's smiling face.

What spurred this rather silly diatribe about book covers? I read a little blurb about the book Must Love Dogs and how the movie was coming out soon. This prompted a decision that I'd like to read that book. So I went searching for it yesterday at my local bookshop, only to find that it is now adorned with the actors from the movie.

My copy of High Fidelity has John Cusack on it. My copy of Animal Husbandry has Ashley Judd on it (the movie was called "Someone Like You"). My copy of Sense and Sensibility has Emma Thompson on it. All books that I would have bought had the cover simply been black with white text stating the title and author's name.

I have a brain. I use it (most of the time). I have the tools to find the book that the movie was based on. I don't need a shiny, glossy new cover. I don't WANT a shiny, glossy new cover. So when I found Must Love Dogs last night, and picked it up off the shelf, I put it right back. The first thing I did when I got home was order a used copy from Powell's Books. As much as I want to read it, I just can't bring myself to buy the version with the movie tie-in cover. Especially since I think the original cover suited the book just fine.