If you’ve been following me on Twitter for a while (@RobAroundBooks) then you’ll have seen me getting increasingly excited as the publication date for Tolstoy’s Last Steps has drawn ever closer (sorry about that 
).
If you’re unfamiliar with Last Steps then I’ll briefly tell you that it’s a collected ensemble of later writings from Count Tolstoy (letters, essays, diary entries etc.), created during the closing years of his life, when as Penguin puts it, ‘he became increasingly tortured by personal and spiritual crises’. For me it represents essential reading.
What makes the collection all the more valuable though, is that it’s edited by the great Jay Parini, author of The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy’s Final Year (Canongate), a novel which sees its film adaptation being released early next year.
So that’s two superlative reasons for owning Last Steps. No wonder I’ve been so overly excited about it during the past few weeks .
The official publication date for Last Steps is 29th October, but Penguin are on the ball and they’ve launched it a week or so early. So imagine my delight when it plopped onto my doormat yesterday morning (Sunday?!?! I think Royal Mail were playing a bit of ‘catch up’ after the postal strikes). I’m sure you can also imagine my delight at sliding it out of it’s packaging, holding it, flicking through it, and breathing in that delicious smell of new book; but not just new book smell however, but new book smell tinged with the scent of Tolstoy…..*sniff*….mmmmm.
Then unfortunately, my YAY well and truly turned to HEYYY!! I was gazing lovingly at the cover, which sports a delightful photo of Tolstoy on his 75th birthday (1903), and instantly I knew the garish sticker – announcing that these very writings contained within were the inspiration for the new movie adaptation I mentioned briefly above – just had to come off. No problem! What?!?! Aghast! Horror! Shock! IT’S NOT A STICKER AT ALL!!!! It’s actually printed on the cover. Noooooo! *Swoon..faint*.
I’m a traditionalist. I deplore movie covers on my books, or even the slightest mention of anything on the book aside from the book itself. So you can imagine I’m horrified to find the cover of a precious new Tolstoy (especially one from Penguin) defaced like this. There’s no indication form the shot online that the cover was going to sport this monstrosity. And if it’s not bad enough in itself, it reminds me so much of one of those damn annoying Tesco adverts.
So delighted I may be with a new Tolstoy to pour over. But as far as the cover graffiti goes – I’m not happy Penguin Classics. I’m not happy at all! 
Penguin Classics | 29 Oct 2009 | £9.99 | PAPERBACK | 256 PP | ISBN: 9780141191195
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Ugh. I hope Penguin reads this post. Publishers should be aware by now that readers hate those. Especially when we can’t pull them out!
says:
It’s a shocker Claire and make no mistake!
That’s a shame. I’ve received a couple of Penguin Classics recently which have stickers on the cover – a book of Keats’ letters and poems, ‘the inspiration for the film Bright Star, and a book of Muslim poetry stickered with ‘New Translation’ – so I can’t see why they didn’t do the same here.
No doubt it would have cost an extra few pence to make it a sticker instead of part of the cover design, and that would have ended up as an extra £1 on the cover price – but this is a title in a premium series, where price is not the deciding factor. Very strange.
says:
Exactly what I thought John. It all feels like an ill-considered last minute decision.
This news makes me so sad.
The halo I had effectively drawn atop Penguin’s head has been removed.
says:
Is this the beginning of the end Elena. Are Penguin Classics covers going to be turned into premier marketing space? It’s all a bit scary isn’t it?
Shame about the halo though. I’ve got this image in my head of the Arctic glowing with halo sorting penguins.
Sorry to hear about the ugly red spot on your book. I hope they re-print it without it next time.
says:
It’s a monstrosity Jackie. Even Tolstoy is looking a bit uncomfortable with the damn thing hovering around his ankles.
Interesting, since The Last Station (the book) was the inspiration for The Last Station (the movie).
says:
Exactly what I thought Andrea! But then I thought well Parini must have utilised these late writings of Tolstoy in their raw form, so indirectly, in a very roundabout way, Last Steps in terms of its content, did inspire the movie.
Hey Rob, from what I remember he came across Bulgakov’s diary somewhere, and that’s what sparked off his research for The Last Station. The book is a story of Tolstoy’s last year based on loads of writing from the characters involved, not just Tolstoy.
says:
Thanks for the extra info Andrea. Always love getting a bit of extra detail. So it’s looking as though ‘Last Steps’ may be even less of an inspiration for the movie. Oh dear!
Well, I don’t know about all readers, but this reader does not need to know about related movies via some tacky badge on the cover of fine reading material. Sorry you’re stuck with that.
says:
Hear, Hear Nancy!!