[Note: I wrote this last week. It was delayed 'til now because of the bloody image placement problem in spite of the others' useful tips and suggestions. Curse you, WordPress. *waves fist*]
We were out of milk so I took a quick dash to Tesco rather than our usual. I thought I should have a gander at the book selection. To my surprise, there were copies of Rachel Gibson’s Any Man of Mine.
Little Black Dress books aren’t usually available for sale in a supermarket like Tesco’s as they are usually found in WH Smith and the like. So I flipped one over and saw that it was published by Corgi, which also surprised me. While I pondered on this, a female shopper picked a copy up and smiled at me, then said with a bashful grin, “One of my favourite chick lit authors.” Chick lit? Heh.
I told her that Gibson’s usually known in the U.S. as a romance author. The look on the woman’s face was a picture. She looked at her copy sharpish. After studying the cover and the back for a moment, she firmly stated: “No, she isn’t.” I realised she was thinking of Mills & Boon, so I quickly reeled off sub-genre categories, e.g. contemporary romance, historical romance, etc. She eyed me as if I was talking bollocks, then said: “I don’t read romance.”
I just raised eyebrows. She seemed annoyed by that because the next thing she said was “This is nothing like Mills and Boon!” Right after that, she walked away.
Pfft.
Interesting, though, that many in the U.S. view ‘chick lit’ with contempt while many in the U.K. view ‘romance’ with similar contempt, but so many books are categorised under both. Gibson’s books are an example. I do wonder if covers have a lot to do with that. I think so.
I mean, Lisa Kleypas’s historical romances are found in Romance (read: American Romance) and her other historical romances are found in Women’s Fiction.
Here are the UK covers of Kleyas’s historical roms:
Guess which series are found in Women’s Fiction and which in Romance (read: American Romance)? Answer: the top row belongs to WF and the bottom row to Romance. Heh!
Going off the track a bit. While I was tracking down the Kleypas covers, I found this difference between these two women of US and UK covers for Mary Balogh’s Here Comes the Seduction (Huxtable 2) quite interesting:
The UK cover doesn’t have the model in make-up while the US cover does.
I have sod-all knowledge about fashion history so I have no idea which is more accurate. I think both look wrong, but what do I know? To my surprise I do actually prefer the UK cover. Seems more approachable, perhaps?
That got me curious enough to check out a couple more cover comparisons.
(all US covers are on the left and all UK covers on the right)
Whisper of Scandal by Nicola Cornick
London, May 1811 Widow Lady Joanna Ware has no desire to wed again but that doesn’t stop the flurry of suitors knocking on her door. Desperate to thwart another proposal, Joanna brazenly kisses Arctic adventurer Alex, Lord Grant.
Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh
Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had one weakness. Hawke. Alpha and dangerous, he compels her to madness. (note: the US edition is a hardback while the UK edition is a paperback.)
Deeper Than the Night by Lara Adrian
In an instant her privileged world disappears and a new, dangerous and erotic one beckons… At the age of eighteen, Corinne Bishop is stolen from her happy, loving family by the malevolent vampire Dragos. After many years of captivity and torment, Corinne is rescued by the Order, a cadre of vampire warriors embroiled in a war against Dragos and his followers. Assigned to safeguard Corinne on her trip home is a formidable golden-eyed Breed male called Hunter.
In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster by Stephanie Laurens
Brazenly kidnapped from her sister Heather’s engagement ball, Eliza Cynster is spirited north from London to Edinburgh. Desperate and determined to escape, she seizes upon the first possible champion who happens along – gentleman scholar Jeremy Carling.
Ruthless Game by Christine Feehan
Ghostwalker Kane Cannon is pure male—animalistic, sexual, protective, instinctive—and his past missions have prepared him for anything. But his newest assignment, to rescue hostages in Mexico , plunges him into a hot zone he never anticipated: the hiding place of Rose Patterson—fugitive, ex-lover, a fellow Ghostwalker pregnant with his child.
All this tells me that sex doesn’t sell in the U.K.
That seems to support an old tongue-in-check saying, taken from a popular play title:
No seriously, subtle seems to be the key element of UK covers. As if it says, “Excuse me, but may I interest you in me? You’ll find me quite amusing, I promise. Go on, buy me. You know you want to.”
Whereas with the US covers, it’s “Oi you! Come over here and buy me. It has all you’d possibly want – intrigue, romance, adventure, hot shags! You’ll have a wild ride out of this, I swear! C’mon, buy me.”
I wonder if marketing people in the U.K. do this because British people don’t like being embarrassed by the covers of books they read in public whilst commuting to work? Do non-British people find UK covers bland/dull?
(*I had a look at editions of those books from other English-speaking countries. Some seem to have US covers and some have UK covers (especially HQN/M&B/MIRA/etc). I haven’t checked the covers of European and Asian editions, though, because I don’t know their localised titles.)
Going way off the track while still clinging to the cover subject:
While tracking down those covers, I stumbled across this UK cover of Sarah Rees Brennan’s third/final book in her Lexicon trilogy and had a proper look. I almost keeled over in shock when I realised what it was. Can you see what’s so unusual about this cover?
See that building in the background? That’s the Oxo tower.
Here’s the real thing:
Usually, whenever there is a London backdrop on a book cover, it would have the Clock Tower (or to the world: Big Ben, which is the name of the bell itself); one part of the Palace of Westminster; the dome of St. Paul’s cathedral, Old Bailey (a statue of a gowned woman holding a sword in one hand and a scales in the other), the London Bridge or the River Thames. It can be so fucking boring that I’d wince when I see any of these on a cover. I just can’t stand it any more. Like this US cover of The Demon’s Surrender:
London has many – and more than not, more interesting – landmarks, oddities, monuments, statues and, my favourite, buildings. My favourites:
Westminster Cathedral
Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand
Neasden Temple (a Hindu Mandir temple)
Horniman Museum in Forest Hill (I take the mites to the Horniman almost every month. Oldest loves the aquarium and the nature base. Great place.)
I think of all landmarks in this country, my favourite has to be this: Angel of the North.
I was a student at Newcastle, across the river of Gateshead (but I lived in Jesmond, just a couple of doors down from where the late Eva Ibbotson lived, incidentally), when the construction of this Angel began. There were intense debates against the idea of having an “ugly iron monster” on an old miners’ site. It wasn’t done when I left and I didn’t get to see it in person until about six years ago. My jaw was on car floor when we saw, from the motorway, the silhouette of the Angel on the hill. It was massive!
It somehow, instantly, reminded me of another icon of my childhood: the Tower of the Sun, which I fell in love with when I was around seven during one of our annual family trips to Dad’s home. Of course, as a kid I was also fascinated with Christ the Redeemer in Rio, but – I admit – I found it creepy, which is odd. I should find the Tower of the Sun creepier as it looks bizarre enough to appear “creepy”, but no. I found the Tower assuring. Odd, isn’t it? As a kid, I liked St Michael’s Victory over the Devil, and didn’t like the Statue of Liberty and the Pisa tower, but adored Mount Rushmore. Hm, I wonder what the common thread is. I digress.
Apparently, the Angel is now one of the most beloved landmarks of the North East. Not surprising. Sculptor Antony Gormley explains what it’s all about below here:
*cough* Yeah, it’s quite awesome to see the Oxo tower on the Demon’s Surrender cover.
This has to be the longest post I wrote in ages. I think I have been doing this to avoid what I dread doing: packing bags in preparation for our trip to my dad’s. Every time I think of our due 17-hour flight with the mites, my stomach drops. Low enough to say hello to the underworld’s boatman Charon.
[Edit: it's been a week since I wrote that, and I still haven't done any proper packing. *facepalm* Got sidetracked by the mites, the house renovations, my brother's whinefest, the family accountant's stern lectures and the damn Twitter. And my stomach still drops.]
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