STATUS: Today, Sara and I received chocolate chocolate chip cookies from a gift site, and I have to say what a huge disappointment they are. Completely chalky tasting. Blah. Nothing ruins a Friday faster than dry cookies when you want a chocolate fix. Other than that, we are busy reading.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? CLEANING WINDOWS by Van Morrison
This week we got the German cover for Jennifer O’Connell’s DRESS REHEARSAL. It’s going to release overseas in just a few weeks. I have to say that we were a little surprised by it.
We loved the cover they did for BACHELORETTE #1. So fun and cute. Here it is:
I love this cover. Totally cute and romantic. And German titles! I love them too. They sound so sturdy and resounding. Don’t mess with MANNERFANG.
When the DR cover came, I have to admit. We both kind of went, “hum.” Not very cheery. Maybe this is cheerful in Germany? Not to mention, even though DRESS REHEARSAL is about a wedding cake designer and her hilarious assumption that she can predict how a marriage will turn out based on the cake ordered, it’s actually not about a bride or a groom (or even a wedding) at all. It’s an untraditional “bridal” lit novel. There is actually no wedding in the entire story.
From this German cover, I would assume that there would be a wedding at the center and from the looks of it, the groom is a little disheartened by being a part of it. Ultimately, we have to trust that German publishers now their audience and their market—just as we assume we do here but we were still a little flummoxed at the cover choice.
the German title still gives me a thrill though. (Nature of the language!) Here’s the US version for comparison.
I’m the first person to comment. How special I feel! Wow, the German cover for Bachelorette #1 is really cute.
How interesting!
I would imagine they choose based on what has sold before…
Well, I love Germans, but, uh…the Dress Rehearsal one was as boring as the American version. The German cover for Bachelorette was awesome though!
And the translations:
Mannerfang= mentrap
Die Glucksbackerin=the (female) Luck Baker
–Gabi
I definitely prefer the US version of Dress Rehearsal. It’s funny that they didn’t feature a cake on the cover, with “baker” in the title.
The German bachelorette #1 was good, though.
I think Männerfang translates better as ‘Men Catch’. Trap would be ‘Falle’. The word in question is ‘der Fang (the catch), derived from the verb ‘fangen’ (to catch).
I don’t understand covers in any country, but I do like the English translation of the title for Dress Rehearsal — Luck Baker is a cool-sounding title in English, even.
I actually kind of get that German cover because the picture on the front of the bride dragging the groom is a cake-topper. Please do not make me admit that one of my dear friends actually allowed her husband to have his own cake featuring that very same topper, which is how I know it’s a cake topper.
So, um, yeah it does make sense. With the whole cake theme.
Is that seriously a cake topper????? I’m sooooo gonna hunt that one down! 🙂
Must be my German heritage. I love both of the German covers-much better than the one American cover shown. Good luck.
funny how different cultures have different preferences. Honestly I find the German cover kinda boring but that’s just me.
Nothing can frustrate a reader more then a misleading cover. (or back of for that matter!)
I love “Mannerfang”. What a cool title!
Anon it surely is. A friend of mine sent me a pic of it and I posted it on my blog at one time.
Send the cookies back to the company for a replacement. If they’re a decent company, they’ll make good on the cookies.
The sender (of the gift) will never know that you got bum cookies, so no embarrassment for them.
I like the cover for Die Glucksbackerin.
Fear not–as Gabi pointed out,the title Die Glucksbackerin is, essentially, a “luck baker,” which is a German idiom for roughly a baker who creates items for parties. The wedding topper makes it clear that the baked items in question are wedding cakes (and, a handy byproduct of the German language, that the baker is female). Don’t worry–there will be no mistakes.
I get thrills from the German language, too, although I should confess that my particular thrill just might be memories from a high school exchange and discovering some sexy German boys.
Or I can take the high road and pretend it’s from all the German poetry I read, and all the German art songs that I love.
Either way, there’s just something about the German language that makes me want to savor the taste of the words on my tongue. Something that makes me shiver with … er, delight when I hear it spoken. Yummy!
Hmm…I actually don’t like the American cover of Dress Rehearsal. I think it’s the bland blueness of it. I much prefer the German cover, which is funny, although I agree that it doesn’t represent the content of the book very well.
spy scribbler,
where did you find hot German guys? I live here and I don’t find any.
Why do they have to change the covers? Is there a reason for it?
I just moved from the US to Germany, and I was thinking of this blog while in the bookstore yesterday. Yes indeedy, these German covers will fit right in with the hot titles around them!