“Everything immediately surrounding her – boring countryside, inane petty bourgeois, the mediocrity of daily life – seemed to her the exception rather than the rule. She had been caught in it all by some accident: out beyond, there stretched as far as eye could see the immense territory of rapture and passions. In her longing she made no difference between the pleasures of luxury and the joys of the heart, between elegant living and sensitive feeling.”
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert is by no means a typical beach read, but I still highly recommend picking up a copy and reading the classic novel this summer. I bought mine a few years ago at a used bookstore for just a few dollars, but now that I’ve read it I think I might need an upgrade. Which of these covers would you choose?