Swedes Do It Better

On a recent visit to Gothenburg, Sweden's "second city", I had a browse through their bookshops and found a huge array of great cover art. It seems like the Swedes' eye for design has carried over into cover art - another asset for Sweden, along with Bjorn Borg (and his underwear range), clean cities, good trams, lots of attractive, tanned people, no crime, good books about crime (see my previous post) and Ikea. Click through to see more Swedey covers.

Penguin Classics RED

Penguin have just launched their new Classics RED series. Having partnered with (Product)RED, they are issuing newly designed classics, from the sales of which 50% of profits will go the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. I think the new covers look great, and it's refreshing to see a major publisher seeking to do more than merely bolster their own sales - especially so during an economic depression, and considering that publishing is not an industry which generates huge profits.

The Crime of Father Amaro: sexing up a classic

Perusing the Guardian's 1000 Books Everyone Must Read, I came across The Crime of Father Amaro, by Eça de Queiroz. I'd watched the 2002 film release, (mainly due to Gabriel Garcia Bernal's presence), the poster for which is shown above, but hadn't realised it was based on a Portuguese classic originally published in 1875. This novel focuses on a young priest in a small Portuguese town, who simply cannot control his manly urges - a problem which has devastating consequences for the girl he becomes involved with, and exposes the hypocrisy and corruption of the priests in the town. Seeing this novel gave me a flash of inspiration: it just looks ripe for reinvention - with a sexy new cover playing up the historical, religious and forbidden lust themes, it could be given a new lease of life.