Shelf Candy Saturday (19)

Shelf Candy Saturday is an awesome weekly meme hosted by Five Alarm Book Reviews where each Saturday bloggers defy the saying "never judge a book by its cover" and showcase one that really catches their eye. Covers play a huge role in the books I choose so it's great to have the opportunity to showcase the pretties :)

One of the greatest love stories ever told, beautifully repackaged for a modern teen audience.

Cathy and Heathcliff, childhood friends, are cruelly separated by class, fate and the actions of others. But uniting them is something even stronger: an all-consuming passion that sweeps away everything that comes between them. Even death.

"My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks," said Cathy. "I am Heathcliff."

My shelf candy this week was inspired by The Windy Pages who featured the Twilight series as their shelf candy last week. I absolutely adore the Twilight inspired covers for classic novels, and I've picked out the Wuthering Heights cover as my overall fave. I love the dramatic lily on the cover with the creepy shadowy stairs behind, and the cover is the reason I've actually read Wuthering Heights.

The other Twilight-esque covers are:

I usually loathe the covers for classics as they are generally a case of find a painting from a somewhat accurate time period and just stick it on the front. A lot of the time the paintings aren't a good match and are frequently irrelevant to the storyline.

These on the other hand might be simple but they actually feature tiny details from the books themselves. Tess (from Tess of the D'Urbevilles) is a strawberry picker and a fire is caused by the careless use of a candle in Jane Eyre.

These are the first time I looked at a classic and thought "cool cover - I'd read that" and I can't be the only person. Strangely if you look at reviews on amazon a lot of people hate these covers due to the association with Twilight, and most of them claim you can't like Twilight and be capable of reading classics! Talk about judging people!

But I think classics need to be repackaged to make them look accessible to people and I adore these. The only one I don't own is Pride & Prejudice, and that is only because I have a gorgeous set of matching Austens which I'm hoping to feature in another Shelf Candy post.

So what's your shelf candy this week?

Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos

Title: Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Author: Choderlos de Laclos
Publisher: Oxford World Classics
ISBN: 978-0199536481
Pages: 402
Series: N/A
Type: Adult Classic
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

Wealthy, devious and bored the Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil have formed an alliance and begin a dangerous game of seduction and domination. Eager to preserve their reputations, Valmont as a libertine and Merteuil as a lady they act out their roles with passion and vigour. Yet by targeting the naive Cecile Volanges, the lovestruck Chevalier Danceny and the pious Madame de Tourvel the pair don't realise that in a game this deadly, the guilty will suffer along with the innocent.

I'm a long term fan of the movie Cruel Intentions so I've wanted to read the original book for a while just to see how it compares. Now I have I can completely understand the controversy and scandal that resulted from the publication of this book in 1782. I'm also amazed at the modernity of the story. I enjoyed the modern feel to the book, and if that is down to the translation alone then I applaud Douglas Parmee for making the book so easy to read, but it could be that the themes of love, lust and betrayal are universal.

Written as a series of letters between the main characters, the author does imply that these were real people and obscures the identity of various individuals and places, as well as the year the events take place in. However there is also a publishers note stating this is a work of fiction. Whether these characters or just people like them actually existed, the book remains a view on the excesses of wealth and twisted games played by those in positions of power.

Merteuil and Valmont are incredibly devious and twisted, playing their games with a kind of maniacal glee and delighting in the suffering they entail. Cecile is incredibly naive as is the Madame de Tourvel and they get swept along with Valmont's schemes without realising the danger they are in. But I ended up feeling sorry for Valmont who is as much a victim as a victor, caught in his own web and at the mercy of the viscious Merteuil.

All in all this was a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Plot: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Cover: 7/10

Overall: 44/50