I love to read.  I usually read 3 or 4 books at a time.  My voracious reading habit is part of what makes owning a Kindle so perfect for someone like me.  But, if I do pick up an actual book, I’m one of those weird people who prefers to read a hardcover book without the paper wrapping; and, what better way to do so than with a pretty cloth-bound book like the ones above?  They’ll look great perched just-so on my bookshelf in their rainbow of shimmer and I know one would look great peaking out of my bag too -although it will certainly weigh my bag down more than my Kindle.

As much as I love my Kindle, these new clothbound Penguin Classic Books made my heart flutter when I saw them.  They’re soooo pretty.  The covers and spines are printed with matte colored foil on cloth with designs that are timeless yet modern. I truly want to own each and every one of them.  The covers were designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, a self-proclaimed detail enthusiast.  Her penchant for detail does not disappoint.  What makes the collection so unique is that the cover of each book depicts an a central theme of the novel – waves for Homer’s The Odyssey, peacock feathers for The Picture of Dorian Gray, Scissors for Little Women and so on.  So very cool and oh so stylish!

And to think, you thought style was just about clothes.  Maybe I can convince my book club to agree that we should re-read the classics  . . .

[images courtesy of Penguin Books]

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