I Always Judge a Book By Its Cover

My new obsession (and the rest of the worlds passe obsession) is ordering books off of Amazon.ca. While confessing dark deeds, I should also say that after I click purchase I half cross off these books from my 'to read' list. I'm awful. If I dipped my toes in the ocean I would say I swam with dolphins.

Finding a package, as I walk through the doors of the Chinese restaurant I call home, waiting for me in the mailbox is the climax of this high. I come down when I see the first cover.

Revolutionary Road and Play It As It Lays came to me days apart. The horror of seeing Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio's well-rehearsed faces on the front of my piece of literature filled me with the MSG that was lurking in the air. I bought a used copy. This should not be. Where is the quaint picture of the suburban car?

What salvaged my amazon-cravings, though, was the second cover. I got vintage-Didion, for less than $10. The original 1970s edition:

Maria Wyeth, the herione of Joan Didion's superb new novel, will be immediatley and deeply recognizable as a young woman of our times. Maria is an emotional drifter who has been almost anesthetized against pain and pleasure.

*I recently finished Revolutionary Road, it was breathtaking.