The flip side of last week’s …
Are there any good books that you read IN SPITE OF the cover and ended up wondering what on earth the artist and publisher were thinking to pair up a cover that so badly represented a perfectly good book?
And … if you didn’t like the cover, what made you pick up the book? The author? Assigned reading from school? A recommendation from a friend?
Like I said last week, I’m used to relying on the public library for my books, so I can’t be too picky about covers. And despite the fact that I’m easily distracted by an attractive cover, I’m also, by virtue of being a speculative fiction fan, used to reading amazing books with mediocre covers. I, in fact, delight in bad covers, much as I delight in bad movies; Good Show, Sir is a website completely devoted to silly fantasy and sci-fi covers, which I love.
That being said, there are two covers that have stuck with me for being off throughout the years. I once completely derailed a discussion about Sabriel because I disagreed with Leo and Diane Dillon about a costuming note on the titular character’s sleeves. The copy of The White Plague I got from the library showed a double helix coursing through the English country, which is just weird.
Here’s mine:
http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2012/10/booking-through-thursday_25.html
Thanks for stopping by!
LOL, awesomely bad ones
http://carabosseslibrary.blogspot.com/2012/10/booking-through-thursday_25.html
Thanks for swinging by!
Those covers don’t sound too good.
http://citygirlwholovestoread.blogspot.com/2012/10/booking-through-thursday_25.html
You can always click on the links to take a look at ‘em—don’t take my word for it, to quote LeVar Burton.
Looking at my shelves, I’ve realised I must come across as a sucker for a good cover (and I guess I am). But then there are older books that I like that look older than they are, the covers haven’t been updated, and if they hadn’t been recommended I never would have given them a go. That said they don’t seem as bad as the ones you’ve found.
I am awfully fond of bad covers, though—my favorite awful Lord of the Rings covers come from the mid-eighties, which I think explains a lot.