Fingolfin’s Findings LXXXII: The American Library Association’s Celebrity READ poster campaign

Once again browsing the internet - and at some times reddit can belong to the more interesting parts of the internet - I found something that I had somewhere in the back of my mind but that did not reach me, consciously, as it is culturally different to how libraries are doing things in my country.

There is no judgment here, just to be clear, as libraries in the United States have to fight a different fight every single day than the libraries in Germany - but fight they must, all of them, wherever they are.

Anyway.

[I am a huge supporter of #GLAM (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and I have been so for all of my life. In a different life I would have become a librarian or archivist. Libraries made me who I am and they are a second home to me.]

This is what I saw.

This particular sub, r/TerribleBookCovers (Si apre in una nuova finestra), has a very telling name.

Bad book covers. Sometimes books have covers that are just bad. Please post them here.

And what drew my attention was not really Cindy Crawford - I have always been a Tatjana Patitz (Si apre in una nuova finestra) kind of guy, particularly since George Michael’s Freedom! ‘90 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is my go-to-karaoke song¹ - but the comment underneath the link:

This sub's Ricky Gervais Hobbit cover was featured on Cindy Crawford's READ poster in the 90s.

I am saddened to see Ricky Gervais named anywhere near any Tolkienian book cover - he may be hilarious at times and witty af, but in connection to a story like The Hobbit this does not really make any sense at all.

It is most certainly one of the weirdest covers out there, the ’50th Anniversary’ Ballantine Edition (1987) (Si apre in una nuova finestra). Particularly The Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in its mass market paperback edition.

Why prolific US artist Michael Herring came up with this - he did other Tolkien book covers that do not seem so odd to day - will never be answered, possibly?

Have a look at this work with isfdb (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

[And maybe you’ll get lucky and can buy one of his originals (Si apre in una nuova finestra).]

When I started to figure out what the title READ meant and what magazine (?) it was I obviously could not make the simple connection for a lot of US citizens - that it was a poster campaign (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by ALA (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

One that you can buy in the ALA’s shop right now - and for the best of reasons! - is…

Right now there are 34 celebrity posters (Si apre in una nuova finestra) available in the shop.

One of the best reading campaigns I have ever seen.

I mean, I would have expected to find Jess (Si apre in una nuova finestra) there (GG fans, unite!)… and then I realised I needed to work on my own prejudices. The joy of reading is given to so many people, I should not be surprised with any of the people on this current list.

And there are almost 200 going back in history.

In 2024, Literary Hub published this list:

And yes, Orlando Bloom did the campaign as well in 2004 - with The Lord of the Rings (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The first celebrity READ poster, featuring popular actor/comedian Bill Cosby, appeared in 1985. Since then, more than 180 stars have lent their support including Orlando Bloom, Eva Mendes, Daniel Radcliffe, Rachel McAdams, Hugh Jackman, and Oprah Winfrey.

The concept has become so hugely popular and successful that you can do your very own READ poster (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

And there is a list of people who have supported the ALA so far (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [PDF].

Crawford did the poster in 1997, Bloom - as mentioned before - in 2004.

What is missing, in a sense, are three photos from Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, and Liv Tyler, obviously in connection with the films, used as bookmarks (you can see them in this TORn post (Si apre in una nuova finestra).)

This was done in connection with Teen Read Week (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Oh, and by the way - I am not sure whether this is still current - but you could possibly buy the Cindy Crawford one (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [PDF] 😅

It might be limited to US customers but I am sure you’ll be able to find a Tolkienist in the States helping you out to have Cindy and ‘the almost Ricky Gervais’ Bilbo on your wall!

Do support the ALA and any other libraries, wherever and whenever you can.

The ALA is celebrating its 150th Anniversary (Si apre in una nuova finestra) this year, here’s to 150 more!

1. Reworked in 4k glory (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩