Feb 12, 2009

Weekly Geeks 2009-05


This week's Weekly Geeks is about judging a book by its cover.

Here are the rules:

Pick a book--any book, really--and search out multiple book cover images for that book. They could span a decade or two (or more)...Or they could span several countries. Which cover is your favorite? Which one is your least favorite? Which one best 'captures' what the book is about?

For this week's challenge, I chose The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux:





None of these covers match the copy I have, but these are the only ones I could find. I really love the one with the wax seal which captures the letters the opera ghost writes to the opera house managers. I like the old world feel of this cover.

The final cover is the one most like the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, but I'm not sure it captures the novel that well. I don't really have a least favorite book cover among these.

What do you think?

***Don't forget to enter my Clearing the Shelves giveaway***

20 comments:

Anna said...

It's interesting how many covers there are for a single book! There's a lot of variety with this one. I sort of like the one with the staircase. However, as I've never read the book, I can't tell you which one fits best.

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Lenore Appelhans said...

I like the one with the wax seal too.

Serena said...

Anna: I actually had a ton more I could have included too but I thought this was enough for one post. The staircase reminds me of the musical...My copy is closest to that cover. I think all the covers fit in some way.

Lenore, I just love the wax seal!

Anonymous said...

I like the wax seal, too. It reminds me of The Disreputable Hisdtory of Frankie Landau-Banks, though. Or vice-versa.

Anonymous said...

I haven't read the book, so I don't know which cover fits it best. The last one is the one that is familiar to me, though.

Anonymous said...

Wow. That's pretty interesting.

The one that looks like an alien face is pretty freaky.

Anonymous said...

I like the one with the staircase. I don't like that scary gold face one at all! scary.

Ana S. said...

My favourite is the second (I LOVE those editions!), but I love the wax seal too. My least favourite is probably the first. I haven't read the book yet, though...it's probably the book that's been on my tbr pile the longest. I should do something about that, shouldn't I?

Serena said...

softdrink: I really like the wax seal.

Bermuda: I imagine the last one would be familiar to many.

K: That alien face one did freak me out the first time it came up...I just had to include it.

Care: that gold face is scary...though Phantom's face is supposed to be scary, so it makes sense.

Nymeth: you should remedy that TBR situation! I think you need to move this book to the top of your pile.

Anonymous said...

I like the second one. It's so pretty, exactly how I imagined the opera house to be. The eighth one creeps me out! I never imagined the phantom's face to be that scary.

Serena said...

Jacketsandcovers: I wonder how close it is to the Opera House. The phantom's face is scary!

Lisa said...

I like the staircase one best, I think. The one is creepy (the one every else thinks is creepy too.) I've never read the book, so I can't really say what fits it best.

Erika Powell said...

I like the Barnes and Noble classic cover the most for sure

Ladytink_534 said...

Oh what a good choice! I haven't read the book yet but I did like one or two of the films. The first and the seventh ones are probably my favorites.

Anonymous said...

I still haven't read The Phantom of the Opera. Someday though.

I think i like the one with the staircase the best. It's very pretty.

Serena said...

Lisa: I think all the covers fit in one way or another...

Erika: thanks for your input.

LadyTink: the seventh one is neat!

Violet: I think consensus is for the staircase cover.

Terri said...

Such an interesting book choice, and what an interesting variety of covers! I like the one you chose too - it reminds me of another book though, but I can't think what one.

The Bookworm said...

great pick! I've never read this one, but I liked the movie version.
The wax seal one is nice.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Great pick for the topic! I love looking at different covers and seeing how a book is portrayed. I think whether we like to admit it or not, we all judge just a little bit based on the covers. That Penguin cover is certainly creepy!

Serena said...

Trish: I think the consensus is that the Penguin cover is the creepiest! I think we all do choose books at least partially on covers.