ROADS Designer Classic Series

Oh Lord, these are a thing of beauty. I have quite the penchant for beautiful books. I know, I know, "don't judge a book by its cover", which can often be fairly sage advice but these particular books contain some of the greatest literary works of all time- intricately woven tales of love, loss, intrigue, scandal, mystery and horror, so in this case the stunning exteriors are in keeping with the content. 

In this series of ten novels, each book cover (designed by a premier Irish design studio) features a striking yet simple design in a soft pastel with a symbolic icon on the spine- in the case of my books, glasses for the Great Gatsby and a key for Wuthering Heights. Very aesthetically pleasing.

These are so well made and are just excellent quality. When you hold the weight of a good book in your hands you instantly forget about the somewhat lacking experience that e-readers provide. People often say "it's just not the same as a real book" and they're not wrong but that's probably never been more evident to me than when I laid my eyes on this collection. In fact I may have "oohed" a little bit..but I was on my own so it was secretive nerdishness.

I can imagine this collection would be an absolute treat to receive as a gift, especially the entire set, as a housewarming present or to mark a graduation perhaps. It needn't even be something that momentous, I personally have plans to buy the rest of the series and display them in all their pastel-hued glory on the Ikea shelves I have my eye on, once I eventually move to a bigger house. But that's another story. Until then, I'll just admire the ones that I have and when it comes time for my yearly re-read of Gatsby and Wuthering Heights, I know which editions I'll gleefully be reaching for. 

Also available in the series:

• The Hound of the Baskervilles: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
• The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

The independent Irish publishers ROADS are launching this series, which are available now at all good bookshops for €12.50. Any other book lovers out there lusting after these too?!

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*Pr sample