Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Top Ten Favorite Covers of Books I Haven't Read


Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is a freebie about book covers. I thought it would be fun to list my favorite book covers that appear on books I haven't read. The ones that make me happy every time I see them even though I may have no interest whatsoever in actually reading them.


1. Leaving the Sea by Ben Marcus
I have no idea what this is even about and I have no intention of ever reading it but it's one of my favorite covers ever. So tactile, so three-dimensional, so satisfying. Peter Mendelsund is the designer of his covers. (see also The Flame Alphabet.)

2. She Rises by Kate Worsley
I've actually heard that this book is good and would kind of like to read it someday. But for now I just enjoy the art.

3. Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
I've heard from a trusted source that it's not very good so I'm just going to remain content enjoying the cover.

4. Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Reading this book is not out of the question, though I have no definite plans to do so. Her book Monstrous Affections also has a great cover.


5. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
I didn't like Arcadia so I probably won't read anything else by this author, but I do love this cover.

6. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
I read about a page of this book and it just wasn't my style, which is too bad because I love the beautiful cover and poetic title.

7. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I tried to read it, I tried to listen to it, I failed. I wanted to love it as so many people seem to, but couldn't get very far at all because somehow it just seemed overly fond of itself. But I still love the cover.

The last three I reserved for cookbooks. I love looking through beautiful cookbooks and have picked many of them up based on the beautiful, delicious-looking cover photos. I don't actually enjoy cooking though, so my fantasy is for someone to cook all of those things for me. At any rate, I don't recall the titles of the ones I've loved the most but here are three that I did identify as having seen before and really liked.

8. My Bread by Jim Lahey
I love rustic, earthy bread and that round loaf on the cover is even in a cast-iron pan. Someone recommended this book of no-knead breads to me and I went so far as to check a copy out of the library before remembering that kneading is actually the part that I like.

9. Art of the Pie by Kate McDermott
Who doesn't love pie? The title font and edge of a hand towel just make it that much more homey.

10. Baking by Dorie Greenspan
I think this is the one I recently saw on a return cart at the library and stood there looking through it while completely forgetting what I was there to do. So many delectable baked things, beautiful photographed. What I would not do for that cake on the cover.

I almost included the Smitten Kitchen cookbook because the cover is wonderful, but I may actually have made things from that one before. I definitely made some Smitten Kitchen recipes, though I don't recall if they were from the book or the website. Either way, there is no shortage of gorgeous cookbook covers to choose from!

What are your favorite book covers?

5 comments:

Louise @ Foxes and Fairy Tales said...

I've never heard of She Rises, but the cover is so beatiful. I love the picture and the way that it's been drawn.
My Cover-themed TTT

Unknown said...

Boy Snow Bird made my list too! It's such a great cover. I read Oyeyemi's short story collection for my book club, which made me intrigued about her full-length work so I'm looking forward to getting to this one...she definitely has a very particular voice, though, which I could totally get being alienating

Susan said...

I've read THE NIGHT CIRCUS. I really liked it and the cover is gorgeous. Haven't read the other ones, but I agree -- they have very pretty covers!

Happy TTT!

Lindsay said...

"Boy, Snow, Bird" is a book I picked up because I liked the cover, and I ended up being less than impressed. The main thing I remember is that the girl's father is a very horrible person who works as a rat catcher. But the cover is lovely! So is "Hausfrau," a book I have no intention of reading either. The cover of "She Rises" reminds me a bit of a book I just read, "Swimming Lessons" by Claire Fuller.

Chrystal said...

Leaving the Sea is an interesting cover. And I've always loved the cover on The Night Circus even though it's still sitting on my shelf unread.