JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

I liked the Ruben Toledo covers for the Penguin Classics Deluxe editions of Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and The Scarlet Letter. In fact I ran out and bought the Wuthering Heights (and read it again. Repeat readings do not diminish the Bronte’s wonderful strangeness. Everyone in it seems bonkers but they make their own kind of sense).

The Toledo-designed editions must’ve been successful because according to the Caustic Cover Critic Penguin Classics Deluxe is putting out three more books with covers by the artist and fashion illustrator.

First up: Jane Eyre. Never got into Jane Eyre. I lost my patience at the maltreated orphan chapters so I peeked at the ending. After all her trouble, she gets That?!? So I quit. My friends love it, though. Here’s the new Toledo cover.

Hmmm. Not likely to make me try reading Emily’s sister again.

Then there’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I read in high school. I don’t remember the details but I remember the portrait. Whenever I meet people who look extremely young for their age I think, “They must have a portrait moldering in the basement.” The cover:

Huh?! Bit literal, no?

Finally there’s Dracula which I’ve never read but have seen many, many film adaptations of. A large part of my childhood was spent watching old Dracula movies on TV. When I was about 10 I dreamed that I was in the kitchen with my parents when a bat flew into the window, turned into a vampire, and grabbed me. I turned to my parents, expecting rescue. Instead they waved at me and said, “Buh-bye, buh-bye.”

The Toledo:

AAAAAAAAAA! What the hell, Ruben.