Thursday, November 3, 2016

Time for an Upgrade, or, March of the Penguins

The dimensions of this book almost match up exactly with the size of my hand...quite small.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
has been on my bookshelf for over 20 years; it's one of my favorite modern classics.  I own the book in both e-book and paperback formats because, hey,  I like options!  My paperback edition is a 1991 mass-market with thin pages, tight binding, and very small font.  Summary: Not a pleasant reading experience.

Seriously!!  Look at that teeny tiny print!
When I find myself wanting to re-read it, I almost always go to my e-reader, because it's so much easier to deal with the size of the font when you control it yourself.  I'm a ways beyond college age, but not quite middle age, so my eyesight isn't "going" yet (at least not that I'll admit), but I find myself having to squint more and more to read my mass-market paperbacks.  With this stark realization in mind, I decided that maybe it's time to upgrade Cuckoo.  Not long after, I came across an advertisement for a new collection of Penguin Classics, called the Penguin Orange Collection.

Modeled after the much-loved (but, sigh, not readily available in the US) triple-band Penguin Classics, the Penguin Orange Collection features 12 modern fiction classics, with the traditional orange and white stripes.  In addition, each title features bespoke illustrations that are representative of the stories, as well as deckeled edges and French flaps (so fancy!).  One of the available titles was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, so it was an easy decision to order it.  And isn't it lovely!
 











As I'm beyond college age, and with steady employment to boot, I have a bit of expendable income (mostly for books, but also other adultings).  Therefore, in addition to this title, I also picked up a copy of John Steinbeck's East of Eden and Jack Kerouac's On the Road.  Don't they look smashing!


The Penguin Orange Collection was released in the US on October 18th, and it is listed as a limited-edition collection, so get them while they're hot!  I'm so glad I decided to upgrade my old, mass-market paperback for this beautiful penguin! 



Librorum annis