Judge a book by its cover

"Don't judge a book by its cover"

I couldn't even begin to tell you how many times I have been told that, but I actually think that in relation to physical books, it is an outdated concept. Of course, a book doesnt have to be beautifully designed with a catchy title for it to be good, and equally an amazing title and beautiful artwork doesn't ensure greatness. But I can't deny that the appearance of a book is playing more of a role than I care to admit.

Books are everywhere, book shops, charity shops, online. There are thousands upon thousands at our disposal and my own collection is a minuscule dent into what is a seemingly never-ending supply. Sometimes I walk into a book shop and I am so overwhelmed with what I see that I really don't know where to start. So, ashamedly, I start with the front cover. Yes, I judge a book by its cover. But unless a book has been recommended to me or has been surrounded by hype, it is hard to decide which book out of the mass of unknown, is worth my money.

A catchy title is important, it should be relatively short and snappy, so that it rolls off the tongue and is memorable. The cover doesn't necessarily have to be bright or colourful but it needs to stand out. Then I always look to the blurb, a short passage which doesn't give too much away but gives a tiny insight into what the book offers, I dislike it when the back cover is just quotes from reviews, I like to know a little bit about what I'm letting myself in for. Equally I do like to see some quotations from good reviews, I know that they will be completely biased but I tend to look at the credibility of the publication they have been taken from.

Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events

What is so brilliant about the design of A Series of Unfortunate Events is that by giving the series itself an all encompassing name, Snicket was able to give each individual book a quirky and brilliant title whilst still keeping them under one umbrella name. Back when I was buying the books they were hard backs with a bound spine and lovely thick paper that was slightly jagged at the edges, it added character to the book and I also liked the uniformity of the series. Each cover has a beautifully drawn image that sums up the story line of the book and it is almost framed in the centre as a glimpse into the world you are about to enter. I really appreciated the time and thought that went into the creation of the physical book and there was something about it that meant I couldn't just stop at one, not only did I want to finish the story but I also wanted to complete my collection.

Susan Cain: Quiet

I don't really know how well known this book is, I don't see it get spoken about a lot and I suppose that is because if has quite a niche market. It discusses the value of introverts and the success they can achieve despite this preconceived view that they are akward and shy. The books brilliance comes from its simplicity. The title is sharp and short and brilliantly sums up the book in a matter of fact way. You almost can't help but whisper it. The cover is all white and has a shine to it, with the title raised slightly from the page. From a distance it seems to be nothing more than a blank page which is actually quite successful in drawing you in. It is a front cover that matches the words within and it is very effective

            

F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

As far as I am concerned, The Great Gatsby has always had very successful covers, ranging from the simplicity of the Penguin covers to the iconic blue cover that I have always associated with the book. The title is brilliant and draws you in and because it is so well known the designers have pretty much had creative freedom in regard to the cover as the title speaks volumes. Yes I fell prey to the beauty that is what you see above. I am not ashamed.

 

Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden

This cover really stood out to me, the drawings are lovely and the hard back is a cloth cover which makes it feel a bit more special. The pictures within are also beautiful and it all helps add to the magic of The Secret Garden

Judy Chicurel: If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go

Right, so my problem here is the length of the title, I don't think that it is necessary and I can't imagine why there was the need for it to be so long. Maybe if the book had been amazing I could have forgiven it, but it wasn't and to this day it still bugs me that the title was allowed through the editing process. For me a shorter title is often more effective as it is easy to remember and simply rolls off the tongue so much better.

Here are another two books which I think have beautiful covers and I would be lying if I said that their covers didn't play a role in my decision to buy them.

Let me know in the comments how much the cover of a book effects your decision to buy it!

Eilidh 

If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful I Never Would Have Let You Go*: Judy Chicurel

Title: If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful I Never Would Have Let You Go
Author: Judy Chicurel
Publisher: Headline/Tinder Press
Release date: October 30th 2014
Order here: Waterstones Amazon













This book follows the ins and outs of 1970s Long Island as told through the eyes of Katie, an 18 year old girl who is witnessing teen pregnancy, drug abuse, racism amongst other things. She tells of an everyday life in a working class seaside town.

Right, so lets start with the glaringly obvious issue first, the title. I am all for a long title, don't get me wrong, I don't want anything to do with this one word business, but there is long, and then there is this. A title has to roll off the tongue, it has to be memorable, you have to be able to pass it along in recommendation. This does not tick off any of that criteria and whats more, I am reluctant to type it again in this post because it breaks up a sentence so clumsily. Many a time I stumbled over my words as I tried to tell friends what I was currently reading: 'wait was it "if I had known"...no "if I knew you were going to be..." gahhhh' (you catch my drift). But, regardless, I do actually like the meaning behind the title, I think it would have been brilliant as a little sub title, a follow up to a catchier, shorter title, or even as a part of the blurb. But, alas, it wasn't to be. How it got through the publishers, I do not know.

But anyway, I went in with an open mind, 'don't judge a book by its cover' and all that. I had high hopes, the blurb created a brilliant picture of 1970s America, war veterans, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy amongst other things. It painted an exciting, dirty image of Long Island which would be told through the eyes of teenager Katie, as the world around her changes, as she falls in love, as she dreams of a life unlike the one all of her friends are falling into. It was all very promising. But, sadly, I found it to be somewhat lacking. There was a lot of description and not a lot of action. A lot of time was spent describing people and places, which is fine, in fact I often find that many books are lacking in quality description. But, in this book, the description was so excessive that I would forget where the story was heading. When the plot did move it was so slow and without purpose that I couldn't quite figure out where it was heading or if in fact it was heading anywhere. It was beautifully written but for the life of me I couldn't stay interested. A tragic case of style over content. You can be a good writer but not a good storyteller.

It deals with homophobia, sexism, racism, drugs, teen pregnancy, being a war veteran. All very important issues and I do feel that they were dealt with beautifully in a raw and realistic fashion. But they were almost told in mini stories, in little tangents from the main story line. This only added to my confusion as to where the story was heading. Too many issues were dealt with and really the author should have focused on one or two aspects and told them in a beautiful cohesive story. What the author was able to do was create an amazing image of 1970s America, but a story isn't simply about painting a beautiful picture, it has to give more than that. The blurb I read before picking it up suggested that there was going to be some sort of focus on this elusive boy that Katie was in love with, sadly this wasn't the case and he only appeared sporadically, with most of his story being told in the last couple of chapters.

I felt very distant from the characters and I felt as though they were merely a medium to deal with other issues. I didn't feel as though they were really present in the story which is sad because the glimpses I did get of some really quality character development was brilliant and I just wish that the author had paid more attention to making a few characters a bit more three dimensional, rather than bombarding the reader with an endless supply of minor characters.

It reminded me of one of my GCSE english language exams where we were told to describe a view from a window, the descriptions were over drawn, excessive and a teeny bit pretentious. It may win all the awards for fancy writing and good use of vocabulary, but as far as I was concerned, it wasn't a story my brain was willing to stay connected with.

There was a brief mention of Katie 'reading a book about growing up in the 1950s when life was simpler with happier endings' I liked this touch, the author putting the main protagonist in our position, reading a book about a not so distant past, but it being distant enough to be rose tinted. For me it was almost inceptionesque, and although simple, it made a powerful point about how the bad gets forgotten and people look to the past with a fondness. There were a couple of other lines in the book that really stood out to me: 'I was tired to renting other peoples dreams' and 'I never liked the look of a retreating back'. In reality they are portraying very simple actions or feelings but the author has said them in a more interesting and obscure manner.

The problem with reviewing this book lies in the fact that I thought the writing of it was absolutely beautiful, in fact I wish I could write like that. The issue however still lies, that the story to me was just not strong enough, you cannot imagine the times I had to reread pages just to make sure I understood it. Sadly I won't be passing it on, nor will I be rereading. But I can see huge amounts of potential, and I will be definitely looking out for any future novels in the hope I can be proved wrong!
Please let me know what you thought of this book in the comments!

*I was given the opportunity to read and honestly review this by Negalley and all opinions are my own.

Eilidh