Judging books by their covers.

I have a confession to make: I sometimes judge books by their covers.

I may never have read Alistair McLeod’s No Great Mischief if it had had a different cover. And I was a little miffed when The English Patient arrived from another Bookmooch member with a cover other than the one shown in their listing*. Call me misguided or shallow, but I like my books to be pleasing to the eye as well as the imagination.**

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*One of the shortcomings of Bookmooch is that members sometimes don’t take care in selecting the correct edition of a book for their listing.
**That’s not to say that I won’t read a book if I don’t like its cover, but there is a reason books have designed covers rather than just uniform text. Sometimes this purpose works on me.

6 thoughts on “Judging books by their covers.

  1. MayB

    I do the same thing. I will not necessarily base whether or not I will read something on the cover, but I admit it does sway me. Once, I had to print off the cover I liked better and glue it over the one I had because it kept distracting me.

  2. Marc

    Well look at this. I’m not alone. Blogging as therapy!

    MayB: Hilarious. Perhaps I should do that with The English Patient. The cover isn’t ugly, mind you, just not the one I was expecting.

  3. Simon

    This is the exact reason why I never, ever read Dan Simmons’ Hyperion until a friend actually mailed me a copy and made me read it. Never have I seen such a gulf between how crappy a cover can be and how awesome the contents it conceals.

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