haha I got my mom hooked on The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins!
she loves them! she made me give some stuff away though because the suspense was too much for her!

I don't usually judge a book by it's cover, but there have been times I didn't want to buy a book because the cover was so awful. I once wanted to get a friend a copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera as a present, but discovered the edition currently in shops has what I think is an incredibly ugly cover. I wound up combing through second hand book shops until I found an older edition that was less offensive

Years ago I was meandering through a bookshop looking for a book to read on a car journey and this cover caught my eye -

I was almost horrorstruck, what would possess someone to give a book such an ugly cover? I'm not referring to poor old Jack Nicholson here, but the lurid orange with the unpleasant black lettering. I spent a little while staring at it in discust before wondering...it must be one incredible book, to get away with that cover. I suddenly decided to buy it to test this theory. And, I'm fairly sure anyone who's read One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest will agree with me - I was right So for once an ugly cover actually came in handy

I recently purchased The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene over the internet and didn't see what the cover was like until I arrived. It's probably on of my favorites, I sat and admired it for a few minutes before eventually cracking the book open -

Haha, Shantih! That is a rather horrific cover

Speaking of good covers...why don't we all post our favorite covers of books? *thinks* Probably some of my favorites would be thus:

(I just can't get over how much I love this one )

This cover still properly gives me the chills (great book too, btw!)

Besides the fact that I find this cover very visually pleasing, it totally sums up the "feel" of the book. I saw it in the store and bought it without having heard anything about it, yet I knew I'd love it...and I did.

I haven't read this book yet, and I don't really know what it's about--I just know I'm in love with the cover

Sorry. That was kind of image-heavy Anyway, please do all of you post your favorite covers, I'm awfully curious to see them!

Covers: The cover of a book does influence whether or not I get interested in it, but not as much as the title and the blurb. Some books that I enjoy very much have unpleasant covers. (most notably Rosemary Sutcliff's The Lantern Bearers)

I've always thought this one is beautiful:

The writing is also high-quality - except that Donnelly messed up on two important (to me) points: she does not capitalize "Bible" (c'mon, it's a book title, whatever else you think!) and there are a lot of gratuitous adult situations mixed into the tale. This is a YA book, so I did not expect that at all. I loved her style otherwise, but those two problems spoiled the book for me.

Way to keep at it with LotR, sandyentersNarnia! I really hope that when you finish you will be as big a fan as I am. I'm sorry, but I can't remember how long it took me to read the trilogy my first time through; it's been at least four years. I believe more recently it took me 2-3 weeks.

sweeetlilgurlie The Hound of the Baskervilles is a great story - and yes, quite spine-tingling in places! Have you read any other Sherlock Holmes mysteries, or is this your introduction?

That first cover is completely hideous, Shantih!

Adeona, I love that book, A Northern Light! And I agree, the cover is beautiful (even tho, as I already said, I don't usually like covers with people's faces on them). And yea, those situations you mentioned definetlly annoyed me when I first read it a year or so ago. In light of other things I've read they maybe weren't terribly shocking, but I totally wasn't expecting them in what I thought was a YA type book. I'd highly reccomend it except for those bits.

Well here are a few of my favourite covers:

The Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke:

Not only beautiful covers, but truly enchanting books! (I feel I sing their praises a lot )

Lord of Snow and Shadows by Sarah Ash:

It's a really good book, but the cover is what originally drew me to it. I love snow!

Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson:

I cannot sing the praises of this book enough! I'm usually not a fan of prequel work (particularly when it's done by somebody other than the author) but this book is beyond fantastic. The cover is crisp, fresh, and simple, and I love the contrast between Anne's green dress, and the faded yellow of the cover.

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis:

I've seen a lot of covers for this book, but this one always strikes me as something beautiful! (Suitable for my favourite book ever)

At any rate. . . those are a few of mine.

I've always thought this one a great work of art:

Haven't read the book yet, but it's at the library waiting for me right now!

I agree, the cover is beautiful (even tho, as I already said, I don't usually like covers with people's faces on them).

If that's so, Valiant_Lucy, how come 3 of 5 covers you posted feature a face?

The cover for Lord of Snow and Shadows is beautiful, DiGoRyKiRkE.

Yes! I was going to post that one. I think it might be my all-time favourite. I really like Alexandria of Africa's cover too, and that cover of TWHF. Some of my favourites are:

(the book was cheesy and nothing special, but there was some gorgeous artwork inside )

Plus anything by Brett Helquist (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Listening for Lions) or Pauline Baynes (CoN, various Tolkien stuff, The Princess and the Goblin.)

I'm currently reading Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson and I've been raving about it to anyone who will listen. I originally picked it up just because I heard Wilson is writing the screenplay for The Great Divorce film, and I was curious what his writing chops were like.

I love that book. I'm not usually into stream-of-consciousness but it is coherent, in a haphazard kind of way My copy has sticky notes in just about every chapter to mark quotes I wanted to remember. Especially in the chapter on Hell, and The Problem of Kittens or whatever that one was called Can't wait to see what he does with The Great Divorce.

here's some of my favs:
Gordon Korman's Island, Dive, and Everest Trilogys!

Silver the Wanderer:

I forget. I read them before I watched the movies, though. I also rented them from the library, so maybe there was a wait on one of them. But I really don't think it took me that long to read them. Maybe that's just because I'm an abnormally fast reader. I try so hard to slow down and "savor" a book, but it doesn't work.

Wow, I envy you. Reading fast is so tricky to me because I never leave a page when I don't decipher it much.

I browsed the net and suddenly something caught my attention.
I just saw the first book I read when I was beginning to love books, here it is:

Mismatch by Lensey Namioka, this book is cute. I love the story, especially the ending, very touching.

Ooh! I also finished reading Camp Creepy Time

This was really creepy. Good thing it only existed in the book. hihi.

There are better designed book covers out there but these are some of my favourites from my own collection:

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - Volume 7 of 7 of an epic sci-fi/fantasy adventure by Hayao Miyazaki

Beautiful watercolour illustration of the protagonist and some of her followers.

The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher by Rob Stennett

Bizzare imagery that stands out and asks the reader to try it. Strangely relevant to the content.

The Stand by Stephen King

A rather simple but well-done design. Nothing confusing here. The themes are spelt out in the foreboding imagery.

Field of Blood by Eric Wilson

Beautiful colour contrast suggests an exploration of an ancient exotic culture and the clash of supernatural dangers.

Skin by Ted Dekker

Simple but effective. The design suggests a deadly thriller and temporality.

Showdown by Ted Dekker

The Walking Dude in the background suggests a sinister wanderer and just looks stylish. There's also a riddle on the cover that is hugely relevant to the story but it didn't show up in the photo.

Adam by Ted Dekker (foreign edition - not sure what language)

This is very different from the US release of Adam. The creepy eye is the focal point. As such, it's rather chilling. The cracked white skin suggests that the woman isn't altogether human. Brrr.

Here's the US edition for comparison. Still chilling but it's more about evil silence and non-identity than anything else.

I recently bought Field of Blood from my church's bookstore but I've only read the first chapter before I took a trip to the library and got to reading those books. Is it good, W4J?

Also, I started reading Conspiracy of Kings but I haven't gotten around to finishing it yet. Again, library books distracted me . . .

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Rising_Star,

Yes, Field of Blood is great. It has a more literary style than the majority of thrillers and because of that it requires a little more thought and time but the novel is well-written. Despite the subject matter, the story isn't derivative. The Romanian setting for much of the story is unusual but interesting and well-researched. The characters are intriguing and realistically written. I'm not sure what you're used to reading but it's a little darker than your average fiction (written by a Christian).
Field of Blood borrows heavily from the Bible (particularly Jude and the Gospels) but his writings never feel preachy. Eric Wilson also borrows from Stephen King's novel - Salem's Lot. There's a great story here but remeber there are two more books in the series. Books two and three has been released in the US but so far I've only read the first two.

Book 2 - Haunt of Jackals

Book 3 - Valley of Bones (unreleased in Australia)

Hope this helps.

Some of my favourite covers, I've gone only for ones in my own collection -

My Antonia - Willa Cather

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee - Dee Brown

Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

The Neverending Story - Michael Ende

Looking at these, I think I tend towards simple, well chosen covers, although with The Neverending Story I just enjoy that illustration.

Alyosha, some great covers there! I especially love the first cover design of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - the contrasting black and white is incredible. I also find the disorientated design for The Man Who Was Thursday to be fantastic - very appropriate given the wacky chaos within.

Shantih, you also have some great taste (but I already knew that!) I've always had a soft spot for the admittedly odd but nicely illustrated cover of The Neverending Story. The Indian chief on the horse is wonderfully balanced with the title text.

There are some awful covers for books. Here's one of the better ones for C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength (it's from the early 50's). Seems to me the artist has at least read the book and interpreted the final chapters in a rather dramatic manner. But it works. It's a bit difficult to make out all the details though.