Welcome to
Shelf Candy Saturday!!
This weekly meme/blog hop, hosted here,
features beautiful book covers!
It was originally hosted by
Stephanie @
Five Alarm Book Reviews,
a blog I really miss...
If you'd like to participate, just grab my button (or create your own), write your own post, and link up in the Linky widget at the bottom of this post. Just be sure to click on "Read more" so that the entire post will open up.
As a bonus, you can include information on the artist, designer, and/or photographer in your post, but it's not required. You can simply feature a cover and explain why you love it!
Here's my choice for this week!
Trade Paperback, 464 pages
Llumina Press
April 25, 2011
Gothic Fiction, Historical Fiction,
Romance, Suspense
Why do I love this cover?
This novel is a retelling of the original, titled The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux. This brilliant retelling far outshines Leroux's novel, in my opinion! As for this cover, it brings together all the elements related to the main character of this immortal story -- the Phantom's mask (it was originally described as covering his entire face), a musical score, a dripping candle on a candlestick, and a partial view of the Opera House stage.
All these things come together beautifully, and are tied together by the exquisitely ornate font chosen for the title, as well as the author's name. I love the fact that a delicate, white rosebud was inserted into the single-word title!
The candle, the mask, the title, and author's name are all white -- this leads the eye from one to the other, all around the cover.
The candle is symbolic of the passages underneath the Opera House, which is where the Phantom makes his home. The musical score is placed right next to the red stage curtain, which directly refers to the fact that music is part of the performances on the stage. Also, the way the image fades into darkness at the edges gives it a distinctly 19th-century look, reminding me of a daguerreotype. You will see a sample of this type of photographic process when you click on this word.
I don't own this particular edition of the novel (I do have the Llumina Press hardback, which has an equally striking cover, with the same font used for the title and author's name). Thus, I have no idea who created the cover for the trade paperback. All I know is that it was created for Llumina Press, especially for this edition, as was the cover for the hardback, which, by the way, I will feature in a future Shelf Candy Saturday post.
From the Amazon Synopsis
"Phantom of the Opera fans no longer need to ponder what was in Erik's past, as Kay has created one for him in this deeply moving, poignant story...This sad, but beautiful, novel will be especially popular with [those] who have enjoyed the current musical..." -- School Library Journal
Erik is disfigured, at once blessed and cursed. Inborn genius lifts him to the heights of the mind, but a horrible deformity denies him both his mother's love and any chance at recognition. He escapes imprisonment to live a life on the run; he kills to be free. Finally, at the Paris Opera House, he encounters beautiful, talented Christine and defies the world and himself in a desperate attempt to love and be loved.
What do you think of my choice?
What beautiful cover(s)
are you featuring this week?
Great choice for a cover Maria.
ReplyDeleteThe Daguerreotype effect is really striking. I had never heard of the word before but your link to the article enlightened me!
I hate to say it but I think I prefer the Llumina Press cover more. I like the style more and it has a creepier feel to it.
ReplyDeletehttp://lratrandom.blogspot.com/2012/12/shelf-candy-saturday-29-ward-by-jordana.html
Hi, Brian!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like this cover! As I writing my thoughts, it suddenly struck me that the fading at the edges were reminiscent of this early photographic process. I included the link because I don't think most people are very familiar with it. Even though I had heard the word before, I still didn't know that much about this process, so the Wikipedia article helped me, as well!
Thanks for the great comment!! : )
Hi, Jen!
ReplyDeleteThe cover pictured in my post is from the paperback edition of the book. Both the paperback and the hardback were published by Llumina Press. Just take another look underneath the picture.
I love both covers!! I'm planning to feature the other one in a future Shelf Candy Saturday post.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting!! : )