A new favourite Pride and Prejudice cover! Splinter, from Sterling Publishing

I can hardly contain my excitement (no seriously – I can’t) at this new copy I just picked up about two hours ago. I was in Newtown with my folks shopping for vegan food (I’m holidaying down to Ulladulla for the next few days and I’m not sure what their situation is with Notzarella and Cheezly, and I have a huge pizza craving) when I found this beauty. From ‘Better Read than Dead‘ (but also seen in Art on King’s bookshop ‘Modern Times’) on Newtown’s King Street, and at the brilliant price of (AU)$9.99 I was absolutely chuffed with this purchase. It’s whimsical, elegant and abstract enough that it doesn’t alter how you view the novel. It shall be coming with me to the beach tomorrow!

From Sterling Publishing‘s Splinter imprint (New York) I was surprised to see it as I had only just been talking about the company the other day (I work for Sterling Publishing Australia – which is something quite different indeed!). You probably know them best as non-fiction publishers, and owners of the imprint SparkNotes. As promised from now on – ISBN: 978-1-4027-8530-6 (paperback).

The Art Cannot Be Damaged Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

With an intriguing foreword from Mike Tyler that throws Pride and Prejudice and humanity into perspective, I was thrilled to receive a copy of this book from New York’s The Art Cannot Be Damaged. Signed by Mike himself, I was seriously over-excited when it came in the mail after having fallen in love with the cover, as seen on my Top Ten Borders Pride and Prejudice Covers post. I have become deeply smitten holding it in print form. It’s terrific, well edited, and Tyler has me pondering new points about Pride and Prejudice, the book he refers to as: “There are great subjects and then there is the great subject. The great subject is love. You have in your hands … the book of love.”

He mentions that the structure of the book is “organic”, a point that I wholeheartedly agree with- it is written seamlessly. In the same way that judges on So You Think You Can Dance always lament that you shouldn’t be able to see the dancer “thinking” about the steps, you should never be able to see an author planning the next chapter. He explains that it is a novel about choices. About choosing to love, choosing your actions and that “A work of art, like love, is the ideal become real, and so in love we all get to be artists.” I might be gushing, but I adore this foreword for making me feel all “Squee” and squishy inside with romance over My Favourite Book once again. His focus on the importance, the duality, the multi-facets and the prominence of love sums up Pride and Prejudice perfectly.