Alli, I love your examples of Nicholas Sparks' movie book covers. I never really gave it much thought, but it is insane how much alike each of them are, down to the face-caress.
I pretty much share everyone else's sentiments. I normally read the book before seeing the movie, and often find myself saying, "that actor looks NOTHING like they did in my head," so for me it's always frustrating seeing their faces sprawling across covers at the book store. Also, I agree that having the movie poster as the book cover devalues the thought and skill that may have otherwise gone into the original design. Using Lapedra's example of the cover's for The Help, I still haven't seen the movie (because I loved the book so much), but the cover that shows the chair and the tea set immediately take me back to Aibileen's kitchen where Skeeter interviewed her and so many other women. The movie poster evokes none of those feelings.
The book(s) I am actually planning to bring on Tuesday is Wicked by Gregory Maguire. It was written in 1995 but was then adapted into a Broadway musical in 2003. After the success of the musical, they decided to use the artwork from the playbill, posters, and merchandise for Gregory Maguire's book. This has always bothered me a bit because even though the book and musical have the same characters and a similar premise, the stories are vastly different. Also, the musical is very family friendly while the book is not at all PG.
