Hello! I’m sure you recognize these images as the poster for the movie and the original book cover. The movie poster was re-purposed to serve as a book cover shortly after the film was produced… and, well, there’s nothing I hate more than a “now a major motion picture” book cover!

I get it. If you make a movie of it you want to show it off. But inevitably the “motion picture” cover ends up looking like a cheap ad (admittedly, I’ve seen worse). In the case of Still Alice I definitely like the original butterfly cover best, and it pulls from a good theme in the book. But I figured the cover could use a makeover. Granted, this won’t always be the case with every book we read for Bookly, but for Still Alice I designed TWO new cover options…

“She spotted her running shoes on the floor next to the back door. A run would make her feel better. That was what she needed. Ideally, she ran every day.”

Alice is a character of such intelligence and motivation, and suddenly she finds herself losing her every day independence; a trait that defines so much of who she is. Was? And the first time we witness her symptoms is when she’s out for one of her routine runs. This cover represents that  loss and Alice’s inevitable disappearance.

“The low-branched beech tree towered at least one hundred feet above them and wore beautiful, glossy deep purplish green leaves in the spring, summer, and fall. But now, in January, its leafless, black branches cast long, distorted shadows on her family’s graves, and it looked perfectly creepy.”

If we’re being honest, I like this second cover better. I think it looks more like the story to me… if that makes any sense.

The scene when Alice and John make their visit her mother and sister’s grave site (and father) was so powerful. I think Alice’s approach to that scene says a lot about her character and her story. Although it’s a visit she makes every year, and so much looks the same as it always does, this year there’s deeper meaning in those memories and the gravestones.

{all cover photography art and photography is my own}

Which cover do you like better? I’d love to hear from you!