Friday Face-Off: Inn
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“And, though there should be a world of difference between the smile of a man and the bared fangs of a wolf, with Joss Merlyn they were one and the same.”
~ a cover featuring an INN
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Shining by Stephen King
Halloween is almost here! To celebrate, I’ll be featuring the classics on Friday Face-Off for the full month of October. This week, we shine the spotlight one of the most infamous haunted hotels to have graced the horror genre and the big screen. Here’s a selection of some of the more interesting covers, many of which I chose because they featured interiors and exterior scenes of the Overlook:
From left to right:
New English Library (1980) – Random House Mondadori (2001) – Hodder & Stoughton (2011)
Anchor (2008) – Cemetery Dance Publications (2017) – Subterranean Press (2013)
Hodder (2007) – Portuguese Edition (2009) – Hungarian Edition (2018)
Romanian Edition (2019) – Russian Edition A (2012) – German Edition (1985)
Swedish Edition (2014) – Chinese Edition (2012) – French Edition (2000)
Thai Edition (2015) – Danish Edition (2006) – Dutch Edition (2012)
Winner:
I have a clear favorite this week: I just love the Swedish edition! Not only is it visually arresting, it calls to mind one of the scenes from The Shining movie.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
That would be my choice, too:)
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Quite frightening, isn’t it! 😀
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Fabulous choice of book for this week’s theme, Mogsy! And you have made it REALLY hard this week with a brilliant selection of covers. It’s a tie. I love the Chinese edition with the axe embedded in that armchair. I’ve visited lots of places with those chairs and that type of wallpaper – seeing the axe was a real shock – and I really liked it that they didn’t see fit to splash about a lot blood, either. And my other favourite – the Russian edition above. The little mite sitting on the stairs reading a book in that horrible spooky place just looks so heartbreakingly vulnerable. Great stuff:))
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Haha, it was tough for me too – there was a staggering number of covers for this book, and I only chose the best of the bunch to feature 😀 And I know what you mean, there’s certainly a furniture/carpet/wallpaper motif that a lot of people now associate with “Creepiness” because of this book/movie! 😀
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lol… soft furnishing now lift the hair on the back of your neck:)
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I liked the New English Library (1980) version myself. While King’s name is a bit too big and flashy, I really like the stark grey and white of the hotel and background. It just says “Ominous” to me 🙂
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I like that one too, though yes, they really do want you to know KING WROTE THIS!!!!! 😛
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This is hands down my favorite King book and I’ve actually read it three times – not bad for someone who doesn’t reread. I love to watch the movie at Christmas – I know, weird time to associate with The Shining but it’s all that snowed in atmosphere. I think I like the Danish edition but the entire second row is pretty awesome. I ADORE the Subterranean Press one but this editions are so pricey I sometimes just ignore they exist. Great choice for INN.
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Gosh I really need to do a rewatch and read of this book – especially since I love snow-ed in settings in horror too!
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You and I are definitely on the same wave length this week😁 I’m going to have to go with the Sub Press edition, it’s still my favorite!
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Haha, I just had to feature it! It’s too classic! 😀
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I agree with your choice! Tho I also like Russian Edition A (2012)
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Yeah, that one is creepy! The boy looks like a phantom in that image!
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I did The Shining, too!
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Great minds! 😀
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🙂
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The red tide in the cover you choose is very iconic for this story – both in the book and in the movie – and it’s very dramatic as well. I also like the Hodder & Stoughton cover: the child in front of that sliver of of light from the door gives me the creeps 🙂
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Oh yes, the infamous red tide scene! Gotta love it! 😀
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All are pretty boring, but I like the Anchor one
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Oh yes, redrummmm, redrummm!!!
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I’ve never seen The Shining but it’s always kinda freaked me out haha- the parts I HAVE seen (the iconic clips and all that). I think I like the Thai edition here, oddly enough, with the room key thing, and the Hodder 2007 kinda works for me too.
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It’s been so long since I saw the movie, I think I need to watch it too 😛
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I like the portuguese and Danish covers. They fit with the plot nicely.
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I agree, the image of the ax is soooo ominous!
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I liked the one you chose as well! 😍😍❤️❤️ 👻👻
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Thanks! It’s so simple, yet creepy!
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Sounds like a the perfect one for this season! ❤️❤️
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I like the Anchor one! Been a long time since I read/watched The Shining – wonder if I could cope with the creepiness these days o.O
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For some reason this book didn’t even occur to me for this theme at first. I think because I think of inns as cozy LOL.
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Oh my yes, that cover definitely calls to mind a very particular scene indeed. I loved this book, surprisingly more than the film (I saw the film first and it really scared me). I like the first book just purely because it’s the one I read and am most familiar with but overall all, and although I love your choice because it’s so well done, I think I’d go for the Hodder because it really shouts King at me.
Lynn 😀
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