Recent comments in /f/books

dreamingfusedshadow t1_j8bj7yc wrote

Reply to Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

I believe the cover to be one of the most important things about a book.

This is how I see it: Imagen yourself going to a bookstore. You don’t know what book you’re looking for; you just want to buy a book. You will be attracted by those with the most appealing covers. You see a cover you like, you take the book, see what it’s all about, and if you find it interesting, you buy it.

A nice cover doesn’t guarantee great content, but I think that it’s the main thing (or one of them) that draws people’s attention.

I had heard of Stephen King before reading his books or watching any of the movies inspired by them, but I was never really interested in his work, until I found myself in a store and on a shelf there was The Outsider. I was so captivated by that cover that I started to look it up online and finally decided to get it. If it wasn’t for that cover, I probably wouldn’t have read King today.

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BEST_POOP_U_EVER_HAD t1_j8beoc0 wrote

Reply to comment by RainbowToast2 in Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

I feel that certain types of books are associated with certain types of covers, and overall design choices.

For example, imagine three different covers. The titles of these books might be similar if not the same, and there's a picture of a woman on each cover. Depending on how the cover is designed, I can get very different impressions on what the book is like.

Cover A depicts a woman drawn in a pop-art graphic style and bright colours. She is smiling, fashionably dressed, and she's holding a pair of keys. I would think this is a lighthearted, romantic comedy type of book.

Cover B is a blurry photo of a women sitting alone in a meadow, next to a small shed. You can't see her well but she is dressed in 1950s clothing. I would assume this is a more "reflective" book, more likely to be sad than Cover A.

Cover C is a black and white photo of a woman in a business suit and there are sunny side eggs laid over her eyes. This makes me think the book is more likely to be experimental than A or B. Maybe heavy on irony.

These rules are not 110% obviously but with so much to choose from on a shelf, the brain makes shortcuts when it can. And unless a book cover is really poorly done (suggesting the publisher didn't think it deserved more care) I don't necessarily make assumptions about quality when I do this-- just what I might be in store for, content wise.

I think publishers know people have different assumptions about certain types of covers too. You don't want to put two violet eyed badasses holding swords on the cover of a fantasy book with a post-modern bent, wherein all sword fighting is only done in surreal, ptsd-induced traumatic dreams.

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Moist_Professor5665 t1_j8b8yl3 wrote

Reply to comment by WilliamMcCarty in Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

Usually I'll see the author or the title before I notice the cover. I'm a little more merciful to shoddy covers of older books, than newer ones. Older books are usually just victims to the wide effects of being in the public domain, in my experience. Newer ones: We live in the age of graphic designers and photoshop. No excuse.

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TheBalancedScholar t1_j8b4u17 wrote

Reply to Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

I don't tend to judge a book by its cover, however , with that being said I have noticed that I am put off by a book if the cover has one of those stickers that can't be removed saying something "as seen on netflix". Just when I see that I have an instant feeling that the story won't be as enjoyable anymore.

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RainbowToast2 t1_j8b4ax2 wrote

Reply to Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

Don’t want to takeover the post, just to piggyback off the idea a bit, lots of people are saying their drawn to the cover art, so now I’m curious as to what it is about the artwork that draws you to look at it over something else? I start with the book title first personally. If a book has made it to a traditional book store generally the cover art is always going to be of high quality, so what about it makes you look?

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beeofhoney t1_j8b46jc wrote

Reply to Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

I let the universe decide! (Almost…) While my silly little designer mind is filled with design principles and appreciation for beauty in all its forms... I can never say no to a truly hideous book cover.

Additionally, I do have a personal preference for worn or second-hand books, so most of the books pit-stopping at my place look like they’ve lived a lifetime or two. Especially since I try to put in extra effort to blind-pick books to widen my horizons.

So if the cover is either clever, gorgeous, worn, or a visual crime, there’s a high chance I’m bringing another buddy back home with me 🐝 ✨

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darkbloo64 t1_j8b25nk wrote

Reply to Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

I can't browse for books in-person any more. At a certain point, I just get overloaded with all the titles and authors I don't recognize that my eyes glaze over and my mind stops processing any of them. I need a list of what I'm looking for going in, or I don't walk out with anything.

Don't get me wrong, I love physical establishments for books, especially libraries and independent bookstores, but window shopping for books just doesn't work for me.

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MrSpindles t1_j8b1dev wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

I remember being struck by the cover of The Passage by Justin Cronin, a writer I'd never read and it was enough to get me to read the sleeve notes, which in turn was enough to encourage the purchase. It was a fantastic read, and I bought the 2 following books in the series (which were not so great).

It was that the cover reminded me strongly of the visual language of the covers of the 70s and 80s horror novels of James Herbert that led to me picking it up, it wasn't in fact anything much like any of his books (which I enjoyed in my youth) but I'm glad it caught my eye.

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gingerbreadguy t1_j8b0xik wrote

Reply to Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

I will pick up a book because of its cover, but I confirm with the description, reviews, and a bit of the inside whether or not it's for me. I like sophisticated/artsy covers but I don't like overly pretentious writing, so it's a bit of a trick. My most recent discovery with this method was John Danielle's books. It was the Devil House cover that got me interested. Ironically I enjoyed this two earlier novels much more.

I think Curtis Sittenfeld is the author for me who is most betrayed by her marketing/covers. She's written some killer literature that gets marketed as chick lit, which is a fine genre, but her books surpass that.

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Myythically t1_j8axrmp wrote

Reply to Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

My first judgement of a book I've never heard of actually comes from its title. If it has a beautiful cover and a title that doesn't pique my interest, I probably won't take a second look. Once I see a title that sticks out to me, then I'll look at the cover art, summary, and maybe flip some pages to see stuff like chapter titles and page number.

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pussycatzzzzz t1_j8aw4j9 wrote

Reply to Just finished Her Body and Other Parties by IndigoBlueBird

Agreed! I really enjoyed it. The only story I wasnt really into was the one where she was sick during some sort of art residency. I just did not really get it and found it quite boring and weird.

You should check out "Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century" its also short stories! I'm enjoying it so far and it reminds me of this book.

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fourstarlasagna t1_j8au7wj wrote

Reply to comment by KittyLord0824 in Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you look at when deciding whether to rent or buy a book? by KittyLord0824

Technically it had “dragons.” Victorianish setting and the dragons were all walking around shape changed into people but it was 100% a historical romance. I got really frustrated before I figured out what was happening because I wanted to know more about the dragons and the shape changing and the lore and whatnot. The cover was a solid color with a gold dragon in a circle eating its own tail. It really had the feel of some publisher going “You know what women like? Dragons!” And then forcing the author to make it dragon-y.

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Helstar-74 t1_j8atvix wrote

Reply to comment by ThuliumNice in The Voice in Naomi Alderman's The Power by ThuliumNice

For now there's only the trailer out on Youtube (look at the reddit page https://www.reddit.com/r/ThePoweronPrime/ ). First episode will be released on 31 March (one each week, 10 episodes).

I hope it will be ''meta'' like the book, else a lot of people won't be able to understand its message... they must introduce the male author and his top business friend (the woman writer) at the beginning, though I'm pessimist about that. Maybe they gonna appear at the very last episode (or... worst case scenario, never)

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