Admit it; it’s hard not to judge a book by its cover.
Especially if it looks like this:
Egads!
Yes, what’s written under the hood is more important than fancy artwork, but there’s no better feeling than a book cover that captures your imagination and then the words that follow blow your mind even more.
We asked the Writer’s Bone crew what their favorite book covers are and here’s what they came up with:
Daniel Ford:
I know there’s a more iconic cover of this book, but this is the one my older brother put in my hands and kicked my love of reading into hyper drive.
This isn’t only one of my favorite covers; it’s one of my favorite short story collections of all time. And that’s exactly how men would be without women; just beating the hell out of each other in a boxing ring for no reason.
Groovy.
Perfect comic book cover. Perfect comic book period.
Stephanie Schaefer:
I loved Dr. Seuss growing up and my mom gifted me this book for my high school graduation. The cartoon on the cover kind of reminds me of the stage of life I’m at now. He looks a little nervous to take a wrong turn, but the pastel colors are comforting. Essentially, he’s the quintessential 20-something.
Brightly colored and mysteriously symbolic, it doesn’t get much better than Fitzgerald’s flapper-esque cover.
The rainbow fish had sparkly, shimmery scales. Need I say more? #alliteration
Dave Pezza:
There is something about the simplicity of The Hobbit and his adventure and what he idealizes that makes this cover. Some beauty that’s deeper than the aesthetically pleasing vista of Middle Earth.
Kind of random, and not even a real favorite of mine, but for some reason I love the cover art.
Lindsey Wojcik:
The photo of the Los Angeles skyline covered by smog in the sepia image on the book's cover immediately caught my eye. Admittedly, I am drawn to cityscapes, but the book's title almost gets lost in the haze, adding to the intrigue. The lightness on the cover is strikingly different than the book's dark tone, yet the image begs the reader to see through the smog and continue reading.
Emili Vesilind:
It was totally intriguing to me as a child—the idea of taking colorful little tubes to feel one way or another. Dolls!
Catherine Kearns (Daniel’s college cohort, future Writer's Bone contributor, and mother of two):
On trips to Upstate New York my grandmother would bring a chair down to the pond to fish. She was never able to carry it up since her arms would be tired, so she would leave it down there and I always remember looking at the chair on its own from the deck. It was nice to see the chair in this cover, even if she wasn't in it.
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