The best and worst of book covers
April 1st 2008 04:00
Thanks to all of you who left comments on my last post expressing various opinions about whether a book cover (of an unknown author) would ever make you buy the book. Most of us agreed, that a book cover is a hook, but not enough of a hook to clinch a sale. It goes: cover – blurb – first page/flick through. A book has to pass all three tests. Unless of course you’re so famous, it really doesn’t matter. I noticed that more effort tends to be put into fiction covers than non-fictions covers (is this right? Maybe just in the few I looked at).
It got me going. So I’ve trawled through my collection of books to find the best and worst of book covers.
One of my all time favourite books, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert has a lovely text-driven cover, but with the little flourish of pasta, rosary beads and petals. I think it’s gorgeous. It graphically reflects the contents, not a misleading cover.
This is another one of my favourite books, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I think this is one of the ugliest covers I’ve ever seen. It hurts my eyes. But it’s effective, in it’s own way. He’s definitely after a particular look and feel, as his second book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close follows the same formula.
I picked up Nicole Krauss' book because of its cover, I loved the simplicity, the butterfly … hey, I only just realised the connection with the cover of my book Things Without A Name. I read the blurb.. then I read the first line ‘When they write my obituary.Tomorrow. Or the next day. It will say, LEO GURSKY IS SURVIVED BY AN APARTMENT FULL OF SHIT….’ Irresistable. But without the cover, I wouldn’t have picked it up. Actually, I also really liked the name – it intrigued me.
A friend of mine Sarah Naphtali has written two fabulous books about motherhood and Buddhism, and I just adore the covers. I really am drawn to this style, making the book feel friendly and reminding me of some of those lovely greeting cards you can get.
Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief has one of the most striking covers I’ve ever seen.I do think this is a book cover masterpiece. Only outshone by the title. I have complete title envy. This is a brilliant book that scores high on all levels. (Zusak himself is drop dead gorgeous).
Just to contrast that with this next one - Susan Scott’s Fierce Conversations, is probably one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read, but how is this for a really truly crappy cover that someone has clearly put absolutely no thought into? It came so highly recommended this book (and it is absolutely wonderful), that I didn’t care about the cover. But someone ought to have.
Toni Morrison has to be all round, probably my favourite author. What do you notice about the covers of her books?
See how her name is as big as the title itself? And if you have ‘Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature on the cover,’ it wouldn’t matter if the book was called, ‘Horse Poo over the ages,’ or ‘Come lick my toenail,' or whether Picasso himself had designed the cover.
Here is one of my favourite covers. I love this book, I love the title, Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things.
Finally can I just say that I absolutely hate Jodi Picoult’s covers. Unequivocally.I can't include any images here because I don't own any of them. But they sell like crazy.
I'd love to see some of your favourite book covers....
www.joannefedler.com
It got me going. So I’ve trawled through my collection of books to find the best and worst of book covers.
One of my all time favourite books, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert has a lovely text-driven cover, but with the little flourish of pasta, rosary beads and petals. I think it’s gorgeous. It graphically reflects the contents, not a misleading cover.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
This is another one of my favourite books, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I think this is one of the ugliest covers I’ve ever seen. It hurts my eyes. But it’s effective, in it’s own way. He’s definitely after a particular look and feel, as his second book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close follows the same formula.
Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
I picked up Nicole Krauss' book because of its cover, I loved the simplicity, the butterfly … hey, I only just realised the connection with the cover of my book Things Without A Name. I read the blurb.. then I read the first line ‘When they write my obituary.Tomorrow. Or the next day. It will say, LEO GURSKY IS SURVIVED BY AN APARTMENT FULL OF SHIT….’ Irresistable. But without the cover, I wouldn’t have picked it up. Actually, I also really liked the name – it intrigued me.
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
A friend of mine Sarah Naphtali has written two fabulous books about motherhood and Buddhism, and I just adore the covers. I really am drawn to this style, making the book feel friendly and reminding me of some of those lovely greeting cards you can get.
Buddhism for Mothers by Sarah Naphtali
Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief has one of the most striking covers I’ve ever seen.I do think this is a book cover masterpiece. Only outshone by the title. I have complete title envy. This is a brilliant book that scores high on all levels. (Zusak himself is drop dead gorgeous).
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Just to contrast that with this next one - Susan Scott’s Fierce Conversations, is probably one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read, but how is this for a really truly crappy cover that someone has clearly put absolutely no thought into? It came so highly recommended this book (and it is absolutely wonderful), that I didn’t care about the cover. But someone ought to have.
Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott
Toni Morrison has to be all round, probably my favourite author. What do you notice about the covers of her books?
Jazz by Toni Morrison
Sula by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
Love by Toni Morrison
See how her name is as big as the title itself? And if you have ‘Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature on the cover,’ it wouldn’t matter if the book was called, ‘Horse Poo over the ages,’ or ‘Come lick my toenail,' or whether Picasso himself had designed the cover.
Here is one of my favourite covers. I love this book, I love the title, Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things.
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Finally can I just say that I absolutely hate Jodi Picoult’s covers. Unequivocally.I can't include any images here because I don't own any of them. But they sell like crazy.
I'd love to see some of your favourite book covers....
www.joannefedler.com
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Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
I absolutely hate the cover for fierce conversations. Terrible. I could have made it.
Jonathan Safran Foer's I think are very good, in that they suit the content. Very bold and quirky.
Toni Morrison's are terrible. My version of Sula has a different cover though, and is a lot better.
One of mine I can't stand is the cover of my version of Jane Eyre. It's a portrait of Charlotte Bronte. That seems stupid to me. Why put a picture of the author on the front?
I love the covers of Marian Keyes' books, and I really adore the covers of Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate, Margaret Atwood's Blind Assassin (but I hate the Cat's Eye cover) and Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber.
Comment by Joanne Fedler
Look, don't get me started on Jodi Picoult - the formulaic method of her writing annoys me. Maybe I'm being unfair, I did think My Sisters Keeper was brilliant. But it stops there.
Love your Sula cover. Why didn't I get one like that?
Agree about the Vikram Seth cover - stunning. Don't like The Blind Assassin.
Hey Michaelie, if we'd designed Fierce Conversations, we'd have kicked that cover's arse. I'm looking at my non-fiction books, and the covers do tend to suck. Do you have any really great non-fiction covers in your collection?
Thanks for the effort of your reply.
Jo
Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
As far as covers go, I really enjoy the pulp magazine and novel covers from back in the day... when the covers were illustrations and painted!
Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Absolutely! Lol.
Raven, the military is a serious business - you need very serious covers.
I think non-fiction books in general are a bit lacking in the cover department, but I do LOVE Judith Butler's Gender Trouble cover.
Quite appropriate too, I think!
Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Amen sister!
Here are some bookcovers of a different nature that I think might tickle your fancy JimJamZoo
The Book Thief is one of my all time favorite books!
Comment by Joanne Fedler
thanks for this!
Jo