I kind of hate the phrase 'never judge a book by it's cover.' Yes, it applies greatly to real life, but not to books. I cannot help but base what I read on the cover art. A boring cover may mean a boring book, and there is just not enough time in this world to go around reading boring books.
I have found that there are certain things that appeal to me in a book cover. For instance: the color pink (I discovered this when I passed by a Valentine's book display that was made up of pink books and realized I had read almost of them), realist pictures, and swirls. Quite likely there are more things that appeal to me, but these are what I am very aware of.
I also enjoy when I find a cover that uses the same image as another (notice
here,
here, and
here), but I have made it a point to not actively seek these out but to instead be surprised and delighted when I come across them.
I first came across this series when I was about 7. My mom bought me the first 20 in the
Little Sister series (yay yard sales! And yay 7-year-old
persistence!). I quickly made my way through those and the library's entire collection. So I started on The Baby-Sitters Club series. To this day, there isn't a book that fills me with quite the same feeling. I love these books dearly and have made it my personal goal to own every book associated with Ann M. Martin. I remember the first time I came across the updated cover for Kristy's Great Idea. I was absolutely delighted with the detail it entailed (and especially with the Nancy Drew book). I am certain that had I not already been so attached to this series, this cover would have made me give it a shot. I also enjoyed that the new covers included pictures of which girls were in the books. Since there are so many in the series, it made it easier to remember continuity when I didn't read them in order. I like the newly updated covers too. Though they don't catch my eye the way the old ones do (and I really do miss the BSC logo), I feel that they appeal to girls in today's generation (boy, saying that makes me feel old).- especially more that the picture of four girls in 80's apparel.
I stumbled across Cate Tiernan's
Sweep series while browsing the YA section at my library. I was impatiently waiting the release of the next installment in the
Harry Potter series and didn't quite know what it was I wanted to read. I think these caught my eye because they had pink on the spine (again, I have an odd obsession with books that have pink covers). Frankly, I find the original cover a bit boring, but I loved the books (I know, I know, don't judge a book by it's cover). However, I LOVE the new covers (and am glad that they keep an image from the original). This is a case of my liking swirls. It is rare that I am tempted to get a new copy of a book I already ow, but these covers almost make me want to.
So here is an example of a book I did buy a new copy of after I already owned it (okay, I had to get a new copy of
The Princess Diaries because I pretty much wore my paperback copy out do to re-reading). This book series fits the bill of covers that get my attention because they are pink. My goodness are they pink. I read the book after falling in love with the Disney movie but am fairly certain I would have picked them up regardless- again, they are pink!
Lastly, here is the series that I desperately want a new copy of. I LOOOOOOVE these covers! I own the amazon.com issued covers that are pretty cool, but not nearly as cool as the St. Martin's covers. I read the first book after my boyfriend read an article about Hocking's self-publishing success. I found her story interesting and thought that I would give her books a try, so far so good, I love what I have read. Now everytime I pass one of the
Trylle novels on display, I have to fight the urge to purchase something I already own. They are SO pretty!
So that is my rambling for the day. Overall, it's not neccesarily covers that get my attention when wanting something to read, but I have learned what I find attractive.
Happy Reading!
-Melly
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