Top Ten Tuesday is the weekly meme hosted by the excellent blog The Broke and the Bookish. This feature has been on hiatus for the past few weeks for various reasons, some fun (the Texas Library Association Annual Conference in San Antonio), some less so (bronchitis and a busy work load). But I’m back now and will, hopefully, keep up with the weekly topics!
This week’s list is more visual than usual, as it is all about beautiful book covers! I fully admit that I judge books by their cover all the time. Maybe that’s a failing, but I choose to think of it as a challenge to publishers to create stunning, eye-catching book covers. Here’s my list of ten book covers I would love to frame as art.
1) Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal – I love all the covers in this series, but this is my absolute favorite. Her dress and coat, the birds, the expression on the man’s face… So dreamy! (The book, on the other hand, is bonkers. Sigh.)
2) Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein – I was so upset when they changed this cover for the paperback edition of the book because, despite the fighter planes flying in the distance, it looks too light-hearted. The original cover better captured the tone and theme of the novel and was starkly beautiful.
3) Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl – Another book where the paperback cover is a huge disappointment. I love everything about the original cover: the color palette of blues and purples, the title font and the detailings around it, and the castle precariously perched on the cliff. So pretty!
4) Wonder by R.J. Palacio – Of all the covers on this list, this one is the simplest, and I think that’s why it works. My favorite feature is the placement of the title around Augie’s eye.
5) Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler – Another book with a simple cover; yet another book with a different paperback cover. In this case, I like both covers, but I do still prefer the hardcover edition, particularly how the title words seem to be spilling out of the teacup.
6) For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund – This cover seems to have some white-washing controversy attached to it, but I still love it. The starlight shining on her is gorgeous. It gives the cover a magical, dreamy quality that is impossible to resist.
7) Fire by Kristin Cashore – I have no idea where this particular cover came from because I’ve never actually seen it on a book. Despite that, it remains my favorite version. The colors are amazing, and Fire looks both elegant and fierce.
8) Entwined by Heather Dixon – I’m not usually a fan of the “girl in a ball gown” covers that are all the rage in YA literature right now, I’ve certainly included enough of them on this list. This is yet another of those. Simply put, this cover is gorgeous.
9) A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin – I saw this version of the cover on a blog a few weeks ago and fell in love. Apparently it’s a new hardcover edition by Harper/Voyager UK and I WANT IT. (The rest of the minimalist covers the publisher released can be seen here.)
10) The Curse Workers Trilogy by Holly Black – I recently stumbled across the (I believe) UK covers for this series, and I was immediately smitten. This is a fantastic series, but it suffered from cover problems and a style change partway through the series. (I just can’t forgive publishers for that. My books don’t match now!) The UK covers are vastly superior.
So what book covers do you find most appealing?
*Cover art belongs to the publishers
