Showing posts with label book covers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book covers. Show all posts

Monday, June 27, 2011

10 Good Things on a Monday: Ten Fantastic Book Back Covers

10 Good Things on a Monday is a weekly feature  I am doing dedicated to every person's compulsive list-writing.  Every Monday we are going to make a list of 10 things that will cheer us up and help tide us over the whole week.


Here's how it works:
  1. Think of a particular group of good things you want to make a list on, does not necessarily have to be about books, e.g. your current book wish list, or your favorite book foods (you know, foods you love to eat while reading, if you're like me), or your favorite girly names, whatever you can think of, as long as it makes you feel good.
  2. If you have no ideas for a list, you can always visit my blog post to check out my theme for that week and you can take a cue from my list.
  3. Post your list on your blog, grab that cute ARGH button above and put it on your post too, so we'd know you're doing this meme.
  4. Leave the link for your post on my own 10 Good Things post for the week, if you see others doing it, comment too and let's share our good things with everybody.
  5. Everybody goes through the whole week happy!
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My 10 Good Things for this weekTen Fantastic Book Back Covers
 

Just recently, I did a list of Ten Fantastic Book Covers.  Obviously, it showed us the front covers of the books.  And while it's only common that we should show what's in front, I sometimes wonder how a book's back cover feels - if it could feel anything at all.  So to give tribute to the terribly underrated part of a book, let's see some back covers that rock my socks :D


1.  This cover of Wuthering Heights is already tons of awesome, but you see that back part?  I am love, love, loving that window!


2.  I can't exactly tell you what I like about this back cover - maybe the fact that there are some phrases that were enlarged and given more emphasis?  Maybe because it echoes minimalism?  The gray color?  Maybe all of the above!


3.  What I like about this one, I can definitely tell you:  The colors!  I like that it has those smudges of colors arranged in a very orderly way but still looks like it was just thrown together.


4.  I was initially confused about which goes in front and which goes in the back, then I figured it out (obviously the one with the title and author goes in front, stupid me), and although the back part just features words, words, and lots of words and less focus on the design, I loved the awesomeness that the written message tells me.


5.  I have never seen a frumpy cover for Brave New World, every copy of that book looks really cool, and this one by far looks really cool - it just screams 'Acid rock!' to me.


6.  I have this book and I just can't stop staring at the back cover.  It's so clean and really relates to the whole story. 


7.  Where are you?  Why not try asking me what I like?  Because I'm really liking this back cover.


8.  Those wings look really glorious!


9.  When have you ever seen a kiddie book that does not have a really attractive cover?  And this back cover looks whimsy and fun.


10.  Graffiti love! ♥


So tell me, what are your Good Things?


Monday, June 13, 2011

10 Good Things on a Monday: Ten Fantastic Book Covers

10 Good Things on a Monday is a weekly feature  I am doing dedicated to every person's compulsive list-writing.  Every Monday we are going to make a list of 10 things that will cheer us up and help tide us over the whole week.


Here's how it works:
  1. Think of a particular group of good things you want to make a list on, does not necessarily have to be about books, e.g. your current book wish list, or your favorite book foods (you know, foods you love to eat while reading, if you're like me), or your favorite girly names, whatever you can think of, as long as it makes you feel good.
  2. If you have no ideas for a list, you can always visit my blog post to check out my theme for that week and you can take a cue from my list.
  3. Post your list on your blog, grab that cute ARGH button above and put it on your post too, so we'd know you're doing this meme.
  4. Leave the link for your post on my own 10 Good Things post for the week, if you see others doing it, comment too and let's share our good things with everybody.
  5. Everybody goes through the whole week happy!
----------

My 10 Good Things for this weekTen Fantastic Book Covers
 
I know, I know, I have done this so many times now, but I just can't get enough of awesome cover art!  So for the nth time, a list of awesome book covers:

1.  Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.  I really do not understand what I like about this cover, but I do.  I love the overall concept.  That's all I can say.

2.  The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.  I mostly see the other cover where the woman wears black, but this looks way, way better.  The color and the design are more minimalist and it's really pleasing to the eye.

3.  Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss.  I love drawings, and I love bright colors, and this is totally eye-catching for me.  I could stare at this for hours!

4.  Entwined by Heather Dixon.  This retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses does not only promise a beautiful story, but also boasts a beautiful cover.  I love the gown!

5.  Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.  This is by far the best cover for this book, in my opinion.  I like how the colors were reduced to a minimum, and the picture really reflects the story.

6.  Forgotten by Cat Patrick.  Exquisite!

7.  Epileptic by David B.  I haven't heard of this book before, but if I were to just judge according to its cover, this is probably a bestseller!

8.  Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin.  The title itself is interesting, what more the cover?

9.  That Salty Air by Tim Sievert.  A very beautiful illustration.  Apart from being as stunning book cover, this could also be a really beautiful mural.

10.  Monoculture:  How One Story is Changing Everything by F.S. Michaels.  Bright and colorful.  ARGH would approve.


Don't you just agree with me that these look fabulous?  I can look at them for hours!

So tell me, what are your Good Things?


Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Quiz: How Well Do You Know These Teen Fiction Book Covers?

And I am back with another fun quiz courtesy of ProProfs.com and today's quiz maker, emagain.  I literally squealed with delight when I found this quiz on that site as I was really looking for something fun and a bit challenging.  And book related.  Have you noticed that I have been posting quizzes every week now?  I thought this would be great entertainment for us readers and bloggers while we are not thinking about reading and/or blogging, which is what?  Less than one percent at a time?  I know, we are all totally hooked on books and even these quizzes I grab are book-related, but that does not mean we can't enjoy it, right?

So enjoy answering this quiz and you can brag (or rant - whichever way is allowed) about your scores in the comments section.  Game!




Was it too hard/easy?  Are you having fun yet?  There were some books in there that I got really curious about and darn, my TBR pile just got bigger!

UPDATE:  I forgot to include my score when I did this quiz, I got 17 out 20 correct.  Not bad, right?  Maybe hanging out at bookstores does help.  :D



Friday, April 8, 2011

Freaky Follow Friday!



Freaky Friday is upon us again, and here in another edition of Follow Friday by Parajunkee's Views is a pretty interesting question that we all need to answer.  But before that question, let me show you the featured blog for this week:




And for the question:

Q. Do you judge a book by its cover?

I typically look up book reviews of a particular book I like.  But when I'm consumed with a desire to splurge on books when I go to bookstores, I am usually lured by the pretty covers so yes, I do judge a book by its cover.  That is why I've fallen victim to pretty-book-cover-bad-books a few times.  I do, however, also got books that did not have that cool a cover but was pretty awesome.  Like this one:


I'm not too crazy about that book cover, but I was pretty intrigued by the title and the synopsis so I went ahead and read it.  It was totally great!  Read my book review of Eating Fire and Drinking Water by Arlene J. Chai here to see what I mean.  Better yet, read the book yourself!

Have a great weekend ahead of you!


Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Nina vs. ARGH: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares US vs. Aussie Cover


You all know how crazy I am for Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.  Believe it or not, every time I see a post about that book, I'll make it a point to read it, though I don't comment much (sorry, I'll try to improve on that).  But there was this one time, when I saw Chachic's - of Chachic's Book Nook - book review of Dash and Lily - ,  I discovered this awesome, awesome book cover, which she said was the Aussie edition.  ARGH and I loved it, but I told him I still liked the US version. So we decided to do a Small Review and make a 'Cover Crazy'-like comparison (argument) between the two.

Here's what we're talking about:

                                              Aussie                                                    U.S.


I said that I liked the U.S. cover better because:
  1. It's the cover of my own Dash and Lily copy.
  2. It's red, which reminds me of the red notebook they passed back and forth.
  3. It gives you that Christmas-y aura and the feeling that you are getting a piece of New York, those things reminded me of their adventure through passing the red notebook back and forth.  For me, that Book of Dares was what made Dash and Lily's relationship special because really, how often do you meet a person through a notebook in a bookstore?  Dash and Lily may be different and under ordinary circumstances would never think of hooking up, so making them come together is romantic enough, but it only gets more awesome and book worthy because they met in a totally unique way, knowing and understanding each other before they actually met.

On the other hand, ARGH liked the Aussie cover because:


  1. It features a caricature of Dash and Lily which shows how different they are from each other.  That makes ARGH appreciate more how these two teenagers who are worlds apart in their personalities and backgrounds come together.
  2. The sketch enforces the visual he has of Dash and Lily in his mind and helps him think clearly and empathize more with the characters because the picture helps him think that they are actual persons.
  3. He is crazy for bright colors, which attracts a lot of attention especially for monsters like him.



So there you go, can you help me and ARGH settle this discussion once and for all?  Which do you like better, the U.S. or the Aussie cover?  Are you with ARGH or with me?