The other day I was at Costco and, as usual, made a run through the book section. What I saw there had me cracking up for the rest of the day:

Classics. Right on. Why so amused, then?

Because the books were all neatly displayed at the young-adult end of the table, next to the Twilight series. Sorry, “saga”:

I’m all for encouraging folks to read the classics, I just think it’s kind of… amusingly sad I guess?… that publishers are resorting to this sort of transparent pandering.

What really gets me rolling, though, is the idea of a sparkly Heathcliff.

Sparklecliff!

::giggle::snort::

I wonder how effective these covers will be in selling these books, and I wonder how the people who might never have given them a chance otherwise will feel about them. I fervently hope that at least a few 13-year-olds will have their reading horizons broadened in a way that will instill a love of books in them forever. Meanwhile, OMG, go to the store and get one of the classics in a cover that isn’t so horrifying to carry around.

Sparklecliff!