I had a bad night in Barnes and Nobles. First, the bookseller at the information desk didn’t know who Kurt Vonnegut was. I’m not asking that booksellers read all the books in the store, but perhaps they should know the names of some of the more famous authors. Vonnegut’s new book is number 13 on the Barnes and Nobles website for God’s sake. What a twit that woman was. I spent the next ten minutes wandering aimlessly in the store cursing under my breath. Potential booksellers should have to pass a test before they are allowed on the sales floor. I bet if I had asked for Pamela Anderson’s new “book” the water-head could have taken me right to it.
Second, I stroll past the New Releases and see the reissue of Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Everything Is Illuminated. I’ve talked a lot about Foer and his work on this blog. I’m a fan, to say the least, and when I saw the cover of the book I had to restrain myself from ripping the cover off and tearing it to bits, and pouring my green tea frappacino all over the remains. Here’s the cover to the book:
Why the hell does Elijah Woods look like the Kevin character from Sin City? God, that looks absolutely ridiculous. And why are there flowers floating around his head like he’s on some kind of weird psychedelic acid trip?
Seeing the cover to that reminded me a movie version had been filmed, so when I got home I found a review for it which further enraged me. Seems the director decided to completely delete half the book. For those of you who have read it; all the Trachinbrod sections? Gone. Every one of them. And for some reason Jonathan isn’t a writer anymore, but some kind of obsessive-compulsive freak that goes around “collecting” things.
Everyone involved with the movie deserves to be kicked in the crotch.