Sunday, September 23, 2012

Not My Emily


One of the things I like about my Kindle is that it shuts itself off when it's been idle for a while. Even better, it displays sketches of famous authors.  Alexandre Dumas looks downright cuddly.  Mark Twain looks like he's being dashingly portrayed by Sam Elliott. Charlotte Bronte has been prettified, but not too much. Harriet Beecher Stowe looks so grandmotherly -- like she might slip you a just-baked gingerbread cookie.  John Steinbeck is handsome in a startlingly contemporary way.

Emily Dickinson?  Not my favorite picture of her.  Why didn't they choose the famous one?  That's the Emily I see when I'm reading her beautifully economical slant-rhymes, not this creepy-eyed thing in a clown collar.  I'm actually reminded more of Emily Bronte.  The woman in this picture looks fully capable of seeing Catherine Earnshaw's ghost at the window and dreaming up a brooding, detestable character like Heathcliff.

10 comments:

Melissa said...

Completely agree! That picture of Emily drives me nuts every time I see it come up on my Kindle, too.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

I'm not a fan of the Emily picture either, but I love seeing the pictures when I'm about to turn on my kindle. I just finished The Count of Monte Cristo and it was always fun with Dumas popped up!

Jenny said...

The Nook displays pictures of famous authors too, but I got tired of them quickly and switched to nature scenes. It's better that way and I never feel cross that they've chosen a bad picture of an author I like.

The Relentless Reader said...

Oh weird, that's not a good one at all. Have you seen the newly discovered photo of her? http://ow.ly/dZDoA Pretty groovy :D

Nan said...

Yes, it is creepy, and the one that comes after -the guy and the snakes. I click past both of them very quickly so I don't have to see them. :<)

Bybee said...

Nan, I kind of like the snake guy. He's pretty fit!

Ryan said...

I think Virginia Woolf looks very attractive.

Bybee said...

Ryan, I like the Woolf picture, too.

Rebecca @ Love At First Book said...

Haha! I always wonder why it looks like her eyebrows take over her face in this photo! I can't stand it when it pops up!

Unruly Reader said...

That Dickinson picture makes me want to punch her.