Thoughtful Thursday – Book Covers – May 1, 2014

Reading Is Fun Again created Thoughtful Thursday. Each week, she posts a new bookish thought that she discusses. Everyone is welcome to join. 

 

May 1: What features do you like in a book cover? Do you like plain covers? Do you like covers with drawings on them? Do you like covers with photographs on them? Do you like movie-tie in covers?

 

I almost always read books in some sort of e-format (my particular favorite right now is Kindle, which kindly tells me how many hours past my bedtime I’ll have to stay up to finish the book I’m currently reading), so I’m not really that concerned with book covers.  Book review requests come in all sorts of different formats, but I’ll tell you this – if I have to click a separate button to download the .jpeg of the cover art, chances are I’m not going to;  I’m a blurb kind of gal.

If I had to choose, though, I’d say this:  plain covers are best.  Most of the time the images on the cover don’t match with the images I conjure while reading, and that disconnect can be annoying.  I’m ESPECIALLY, FANATICALLY anti-movie-tie-in, most recently because, GOSH I loved Divergent, but there’s NO WAY I want to see the teen mom from The Secret Life of the American Teenager on its cover, no matter how many tattoos she has (yeah, I saw the movie.  No, I didn’t like it).

I’ll give memoirs and biographies a pass on photographic covers – I like to see exactly who I’m reading about if it’s a real person.  Generally, though, cover art doesn’t impress me – it’s the wordsmithing that I care about.

 

Be sure to check out the other posts on this topic at Reading Is Fun Again.