Musing Monday is hosted by Becca of Just One More Page. Pop over and read lots of interesting comments & post your own. This week bijou Becca asks about book covers…
We all know the old adage about not judging a book by it’s cover, but just how much sway does a book cover have when it comes to your choice of book – whether buying or borrowing? Are there any books you’ve bought based on the cover alone?
Let’s face it publishers have taken a leaf out of Mother Nature’s book, designing their covers with the express aim of attracting unsuspecting prey. One of my favourite memes is Marcia’s cover attraction over at The Printed Page. Each Wednesday the most amazing artwork is posted by Marcia and those participating in the meme but Marcia’s gorgeous blog is covered in covers - I like visiting her blog just to look at them.
While I’ll pick up one book and not another, based solely on the cover, I rarely buy that way. If the blurb matches the cover in the way of attraction I’ll go for it but I’m often disappointed when the blurb doesn’t match the potential in the cover.
A quick scan of my bookshelves revealed something interesting, most of my books were chosen for their renown; award winners, classics from the cannon, authors of repute… the only books I can acknowledge as true cover attractions are fantasy books.
Amongst others these standout because I knew nothing about them before I bought them and was completely engrossed from page one, for all of them.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson
The Belgariad by David Eddings
The Saga of the Exiles by Juliann May
4 comments:
bijou - leant a new word today, thanks!
I agree with you, while covers often influence what books I pick up, the blurb and the first few pages have to draw me in first.
Hey, I have the Exile Saga on my shelf. A friend gave them to me, but I haven't read them yet, should I bump them up the list?
Those covers look interesting!
Mondays: Musings/Whereabouts
I think it must be pretty tough on publishers because so much of beauty is (as the cliche says) in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes their great artwork could end up being, for some person, a turn-off. It's Catch-22, huh?
I am so shallow that I always fall for a book with a good cover, sometimes I will read the book without even knowing what the book was about if the cover is good enough.
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