Andrew Marcec » Do You Judge A Book By Its Cover?

Do You Judge A Book By Its Cover?

Apr 28, 2010 | No Comments

This is one question that I constantly ask myself before I pick up a new book of the shelf. I think that we have all run into that experience where we’ve favored the book with the flashy cover only to realize its one of the most boring books you’ve ever read.

I try so hard to make sure that when I do pick up new books they’re based around author’s I’m familiar with, series I’ve heard great things about, or in a general niche section of books I enjoy. My taste generally tend to lie in the horror/fantasy realm now. When I was in high school my taste was in uber depressing fiction, however I think a lot of working people out there can sympathize with me in the fact that after working a long day the last thing you want to do is read a depressing book.

Also, it’s hard to find a book cover that catches your eye in fiction anyway, their covers tend to lean more toward the bland or pretentious. By that I mean you see a lot of black and white photos, minimalist art, or even sometimes just the books title. This both helps and hurts their cause in my mind. It helps because it will get you interested enough to read the back of the book, thereby totally ruling out the cover judging. It’s more counterproductive to me as the fiction section suddenly becomes a giant set of arrows pointing me toward the horror section.

Growing up, covers always influenced my book decisions. The story of my father’s hidden box of Stephen King books in the spooky basement is obviously one great example of this, as I still remember the story today, and the book covers too.

So, with that, let’s take a look at some really cool book covers I love, that also accompany fantastic stories inside.