As I predicted, two weeks in, and I already messed up. The thing is, I got carried away and didn’t have enough time to prepare for these weekly posts and the result, I missed last week’s post. It’s fine though, I’m fine, I’m back at it and this week I’m sharing with you guys ten book cover related facts – positive, negative, random, anything goes!
1. NOT RACIST BUT DAMN THOSE WHITE COVERS !
If I could show you my book-case (I could but it’s a mess and it’s overflowing), you’d notice that it’s quite colourful, and it is, which is fine. But if I had the chance to choose the colours for book covers myself, they’d probably be all white. Like, no offence to beautiful covers that aren’t white, but I love a white cover like there’s no other.
2. SHALLOW LOVER OF PRETTY THINGS
In addition to my not-racist-white-cover love is the appreciation for all things pretty. I can’t help it, it’s sort of like a flaw of the human kind, judging a book by its cover, and I’ve fallen to the trap. I’ve bought quite a few books based on their cover, hated some, loved others, and it’s alright. It’s okay to love pretty things and if more people were to buy books based on their covers, well, then more beautiful covers would appear – so it’s a win win situation.
3. NOT JUST ABOUT THOSE COVERS BUT ALSO THOSE SPINES THO
When I got my bookshelf in November, I was immediately struck by the fact that spines are beautiful. You don’t want to know how I used to store my books but now I have them all facing me with their gorgeous spines and I especially like when a book series manages to emphasise the spines. For instance, my edition of the Shades of Magic series looks fabulous with its coherent spines because the entire series was clearly visioned from the beginning. It’s stunning.
4. BOOK SPINE CARETAKER
Now, it’s almost impossible to avoid wrinkles on a paperback book, but I would always give it my best to avoid them. I’d use this trick where I gradually bend the spine before I start to read a book and so far I think I’ve done a great job at taking care of my paperback collection. Taking care of your book’s spine is like taking care of a person, it’s important, in my opinion.
5. REAL VS DRAWN
It has come to my attention that the current trend of book covers has steered away from actual photos of people and into the land of illustrative art. Thank the gods, because I do not like actual people on the cover. It looks weird, and it rarely works. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before works because it’s thought through and the girl looks exactly like Lara Jean. The Mortal Instruments earlier editions look awful though, with those people having their heads cut off, and then not, and it’s just. No. I prefer illustrative art on the covers and that’s that.
6. COHERENT COVERS
No book series should ever, EVER, change their cover design mid-series. EVER!! It is forbidden and you should never do this. I’m thankful that my book love started in the recent years because I’ve noticed that publishers have gotten a lot wiser in regards to this, and all the series I own have the same design, but if I ever saw this happening again, I might have a fit of rage. Also, on a more relevant note, STOP changing book sizes! I would appreciate if all my books were the same size, sure, but I’ve accept that they are not, but what about books in the same series? Why would you do this!?
7. SPECIAL EDITIONS MAKE ME FEEL SPECIAL
Having two sets of Harry Potter series has made me appreciate the work that goes into special editions. Like, I’ve yet to purchase the illustrated Harry Potter books, but there is a chance I will do it because I love the series. But to justify buying a fourth set of the series might be difficult, unless they bring out THESE!! My god, it’s not so much about the book series and the love for Harry Potter but the sheer need to have something that gorgeous on my shelf is overwhelming. And I know if I they brought out like a special edition of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (my favourite YA contemporary), I’d buy it because they make the special editions so much more special, and it makes you as a reader feel special when you buy them. And then everyone’s special!
8. THE MAGIC OF THE DUST JACKET
Since the majority of books I own are paperbacks, I rarely experience the joy of a dust jacket but man, have I got a few of the most beautiful books thanks to their dust jackets!? The first one I bought was Illuminae which is a visual masterpiece throughout. Then there’s Library of Souls, third book to the Miss Peregrine’s series, because removing the dust jacket reveals a turquoise book with all the signatures from the characters. And then there’s Nevernight, which is probably one of my favourites because the theme of the cover is so well reflected in the book itself.
9. NO FUZZ, JUST SIMPLE
I’d rather buy a book with a simple cover, than a one that has a lot going on. Doesn’t matter the colour, if it’s messy, I’d rather not buy it, if I had the choice to get the same book with a much simpler cover design. For instance, Everything, Everything has a movie tie-in book cover, I wouldn’t want that, I like the original, illustrated version. Same goes for all the movie-tie-in book covers with their poster-like covers because simple is better. And if the cover is minimal, my eye will go for that cover, rather than the one next to it, which has a lot going on.
10. COVER PORN
Last but not least, I wanted to share a few covers that I absolutely love because this would not be a real post without some visual examples. So here are some of my favourite covers of books, most I’ve read, most I’ve just eye-balled from a distance.
THIS SERIES IS CREATED BY THE BROKE AND THE BOOKISH
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