Turn all book covers into wallpapers

July 17, 2012 11:04 AM

Turn all book covers into wallpapers [via mefi projects] Lovely book cover images from classic novels, remixed with "the most defining quote" from each book.
posted by exceptinsects (15 comments total)

What a beautiful concept and execution. Thanks!
posted by Isadorady at 11:11 AM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

I hate to be that guy, but the Slaughterhouse Five one is completely inaccurate.
posted by Hey Dean Yeager! at 11:12 AM on July 17, 2012

Is it just me or are the images disappearing as soon as they load for everyone? Thought it was AdBlock but that didn't fix it.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:26 AM on July 17, 2012

What's cover with the clouds? Infinite Jest?
posted by leotrotsky at 11:49 AM on July 17, 2012

When I read the title I thought it meant wallpapers, like, for your wall. And then I clicked over to the 1984 one with the unblinking eye and thought if that was on my wall I might never sleep again.

(which IIRC kind of happens in that book)
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:53 AM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is the exact opposite of Irish school children in the eighties who used wallpaper for book covers.
posted by TwoWordReview at 11:56 AM on July 17, 2012

I, too, was hoping for interior decorating. But these are also really fun. I especially loved Catch 22.
posted by chatongriffes at 12:13 PM on July 17, 2012

This is now* my go-to resource for changing the desktops of public desks at work. Thank you.

I scan interesting covers I find in the donation bin at work, but usually they're from books you wouldn't know so well and ones that wouldn't necessarily have such good pull-quotes. Should the opportunity arise though, I'm totally co-opting this idea.

* Replacing Unicorns Barf Rainbows, another fine MeFi Project.
posted by carsonb at 12:42 PM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

What's cover with the clouds? Infinite Jest?

Jes
posted by Flashman at 2:07 PM on July 17, 2012

I bet MeFi can come up with a bazillion different, better quotes from IJ.
posted by papercake at 3:10 PM on July 17, 2012

I know this sounds uncultured but I would like to know the names of the books ... These classic covers aren't always _my_ classic covers. I mean, I know that cover of Catcher in the Rye, but the rust colored one that beats up nicely is the common one ... Or are these first editions?
posted by chavenet at 4:14 PM on July 17, 2012

We got most of them, but had to google a fu :) Awesome stuff, need moar.
posted by Sportbilly at 4:27 PM on July 17, 2012

I hate to be that guy, but the Slaughterhouse Five one is completely inaccurate.

...can you explain this maybe? Because I'm not seeing that and I just reread Slaughterhouse-Five a couple of weeks ago.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:22 PM on July 17, 2012

Tomorrowful: The raid described by Vonnegut in the book, the most destructive of the raids against the city itself (as opposed to the subsequent raids targeting the train yards around Dresden) was conducted by the R.A.F. flying Avro Lancasters. The clip art here is of a B-17G, an American bomber not used en masse by the British. Also, the ordinance dropped on Dresden by the R.A.F. were primarily incendiary bombs, which are loosed in bundles and are long and stick-like in appearance. Here, "So it goes" is written on the silhouette of the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

This is all really, really unimportant and nit-picky, I know. But mistakes like this really bother me. I can't help but see it as laziness on the designer's part.
posted by Hey Dean Yeager! at 11:16 PM on July 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

A six year old judges books by their covers.
posted by chavenet at 3:09 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]