Just Finished...

It took me a month (I was travelling a lot for work), but I have finally come to the end of it: Stephen King's The Stand (extended edition).

What to say about this book, aside from the usual Stephen King's reviews? 
It's epic, entertaining, gory at times, brutal - it shows America in its true light, and humanity in all its wickedness, amazingness and nakedness.
I love how the characters he portraits feel real, solid.

I'm usually quite disappointed by King's endings - I think he rushes into it as if he would suddenly realise "Holy sh*t, I've already written 1000 pages, better wrap this up asap!", but not in this instance. I think this is one of the best (well, less worse) endings he's ever written.

I really enjoyed the apocalyptic story, so close to us, even though it was written back in the 70's. It's still really valid and while reading I could imagine myself thinking, what would I do in this situation? Which side would I follow - the baddies in the West with the "Walking Dude", or the goodies in the East with Mother Abagail? Hmm. Tough one. I'd probably be dead in a ditch because of Captain Trips (the infection).

The edition I've read is published by Hodder and I loooove the graphics and how they have packaged the books in the series. Unfortunately I don't have the full series yet, but I'm counting on finishing it soon - lack of space permitting.

You can see the whole series here below - I just love the use of colour and black and white. The books are illustrated in black and white, I think it's 1 illustration per chapter, and then the textblock is bled in the same colour of the cover and of the spine. The designer of this series is Jamie Keenan, and according to the FaceoutBooks website they originally were a bit different - you can see some of them at Keenan's website: HERE.

What you see below are the HB editions, which are a bit different, I have taken a couple of pics en passant at home to show my horror collection on Instagram, and while reading another favourite of mine: IT.

According to Keenan: King's name becomes almost illustrative and sets the tone for the rest of the cover while at the same time doing what any other mass market author name in gold foil might do.

So, all in all, good book, good author, good design. Couldn't ask for more!

A Book By Its Cover

This week I'd like to start by taking a look at one of the most prestigious UK prizes for the best book cover: the V&A Book Cover Illustration Award.
Some of the entries for this prize are simply stunning and proper works of art! This made me wonder, because I'm not quite sure how the artistic part works in publishing. I'm pretty sure designers don't read every book they've been asked to design a cover for. Do they get a general idea, or they just go with what the title tell them?
A few covers bring to the surface the content of the book. I call them 'literal' because I like to translate Italian expressions whenever I don't know the right word in English, so please forgive me. If I could say it in English, it would be something on the line of 'it does what it says on the tin', the 'tin' being the book jacket! ;)

Although, then, it really depends on the country which publishes the book, and it's funny to see how the American and Canadian covers for this book are so dissimilar from the European ones!
This makes me wonder: are Europeans intrinsically shallow, and base their reading decisions exclusively on the appearance of the book, while Americans merely look at the size of the tome and the amount of pages they get for a buck?

All 4 covers have this strange sense of panic and inquietude. A lot of trees, and in 3 out of 4, there's also the reference to a female character. I personally was attracted by the second cover... again it must have been that turquoise which I looove! But I also would have liked the 1st one. I wouldn't have recognised Highgate cemetery, which is an amazing place - go and take the tour there, save the cemetery! - but the picture gives away something about the plot of the book.

The third option is simple and nice enough, but it doesn't give away much in terms of content. It would definitely inspire me as some kind of Goth story. Or...Neil Gaiman...Coraline anyone?

I don't care much for the 4th option. It's pretty generic, and reminds me of other book covers. The first title that I would instantly connect to cover number 4 would probably be The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - a very nice book -, or Alice Munro's Runaway - a collection of stories which on the other hand I totally HATE.

Can you see what I mean? Cover number 4, in my opinion, is just bland, and could apply to any kind of generic fiction involving a female character.

I think the first two covers are instead very detailed and unusual. Two identical twins, dressed up entirely in white, in a weird place - in the first cover - or in a romantic setting - second cover -, but the colours are not right, there's not enough softness in the focus to make it look like a title out of an Harlequin series. 

That's what I thought as soon as my eyes caught a glimpse of the cover.

It might sound like a long, boring assessment, but it realistically happened in a couple of seconds. That's really all you need in order to be attracted or repulsed by a cover. 

I appreciate that graphics must be going crazy in the attempt to create a proper artistic cover, so I really want to know if they at least get a brief of the story. I wonder if the author has a saying in all that.

There are then some styles that have become incredibly common, and every time I enter a bookshop, it seems like the same book is being sold over and over again.
One interesting artwork that I've seen copied a million times by others, and of which books I don't remember the titles - I promise I'll look into it properly! -, is Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The mind behind the cover is Gray318, and you can see some of his other works here. He must be an aficionado, because he's created all the UK covers for Foer! And you definitely can see that the author is the same. 

Is this just a matter of consistency when it comes to a certain publisher, edition and author, even if this in not a series? I find it understandable to use the same style when it comes to a specific series, written by one author, or even, say, the classics. But should it be the same with contemporary titles, which are not plot-related to each other?


I'll explore all this, next week ;)


Have a lovely week end and happy belated Paddy's day!

A Book By Its Cover

I've decided to feature every Friday a cover that I particularly like. I'll also try my best to explain why so. I got the idea from this amazing website The Book Cover Archive. Isn't it amazing?
There's something about covers. They drawn the eye, while you're browsing in a bookshop. They can tell you everything or nothing about the story inside - it really depends on the ego of the designer -, and sometimes they visually force you to approach the book.
At least that's what happens to me, all the time. I love browsing bookshops, especially the little, second-hands one near Bloomsbury. They're a magical place I want to get lost in, and very dangerous when it comes to my finances. I could spend hours, zig-zaging among the piles and tables of books in these tiny, crowded, dusty shops. At the end I will always come out with bags full of volumes written by authors I never even ever heard of!
First the cover catches my attention; the colours, the typefonts, the images... Then it's the synopsis usually at the back that seals the deal. 
What I really, really hate is when the jacket is covered up in quotes and praises for the author, without leaving any space at all for the content of the book!
So, yes, I tend to judge the book by its cover , at first, but then I obviously need to have a general idea of the storyline. I'm kind of fussy when it comes to what I read, and I avoid some topics like hell. Unless I know and like the author.


This week winner, and first of the Friday A Book By Its Cover series is Time's Legacy by Barbara Erskine.

I haven't read the story, yet, but it sounds pretty fascinating. You can read the synopsis HERE.
Here are what I think are the strong points of this jacket:

• The colours are beautiful. The combination of that turquoise, green, white and black gives a very exotic feel to it. This is also given by the amazing bird and flowers/leaves on the upper and lower corners.
• The black, smudged frame makes it almost look like we're spying the scene from a space in a garden wooden fence. It's like looking inside a secret garden, with all its beautiful creatures and vegetation.
• The perfect typeface for the title. It's like written with an old stylo - I absolutely love them! - it gives it that old, magic effect.
• The author's name is nicely centred and the dimension is just right, even though I tend to prefer a bigger title, than a bigger author's name! I also like that yellowish colour; it just blends in perfectly with the rest of the artwork.