Top Ten: Favorite Book Covers (May 21st)

This week's Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by the bloggers over at The Broke and the Bookish ) features an aspect of books which, I'm definitely not too much of a book snob to admit, I do care about and pay attention to: book covers and cover design.  I love looking at the different editions of books, especially older books which have been out there for a while and re-published with lots of different covers, and comparing them.

Some of my favorites are the new Penguin Classics with the art by Ruben Toledo-- these are all so beautiful, though only a few have been published by Penguin so far.  Getting those out of the way, here are ten covers I really adore, because they represent the book so well or are just plain amazing to look at:

1.

The Chronicles of Narnia omnibus by CS Lewis

I haven't re-read these books in ages, but seeing this beautiful (and gigantic) Barnes & Noble edition makes me want to revisit The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe at the very least.

2.

The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld

Pretties is my favorite cover of the trilogy+1 spin-off series, but all these books have beautiful covers of beautiful models.  This series is a few years old, and I have a suspicion these covers helped inspire the current "close-up of beautiful girl" trend for YA covers.

3.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
This newer Penguin cover is soo gorgeous-- I love covers with silhouettes, and this edition with Elizabeth and Darcy is one I badly wish I owned.

4.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling
I just love this Sorcerer's Stone cover, the first of the new set of seven which will be released in August.  Hopefully, these fun, artistic covers will appeal to a new generation of young Harry Potter fans.

5.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
This is a Penguin Threads edition (yep, I'm definitely Penguin-partial).  I love the amazing thread texture and the myriad of little illustrations in the string-- especially the quotes from the book in the inside jacket.

6.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
I have a cheaper paperback edition of The Hobbit, and I actually really like it.  The art is unique and whimsical; the different illustrations feature scenes from the story and fit the book so well.

7.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
This book has the feel of the 18th-century journal which Andi finds in the story-- the pages are rough-cut and there's a cool red ribbon as a built-in bookmark.  I love the juxtaposition of the cover model and the painting.

8.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Looking at this cover, you just somehow know the story within will be fantastic (which it is).

9.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
I've already talked about my love for this cover in a separate Jane Eyre Cover VS Cover post.

10.

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
It's easy to see why this edition of The Great Gatsby is so popular.  Beautiful, haunting, and mysterious, this is also a nod to the new movie-- which I haven't seen yet,  but really want to.


I'd love to check out your favorite book covers, so leave a link to your Top Ten!

Cover VS Cover: The Jane Eyre Edition

Wow, has it been a long time since I posted a Cover VS Cover feature!  It's always difficult to find a book or series which is ideal for the meme: there have to be a ton of different covers, so usually a very popular or older book, and the covers have to be interesting and diverse enough to compare against each other.  In this case I knew exactly which book I wanted to feature, after receiving this gorgeous edition of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre for Christmas. 

This is the Penguin Classics Illustrated edition, beautifully illustrated by Ruben Toledo and published in 2010.  I love it, and all the new illustrated covers for other classics.  Receiving this edition made me curious about other and foreign editions of Jane Eyre...

Like these two, probably the most familiar to those who first read the classic novel in school (though I was never lucky enough to read Jane in English class).  The one on the left is the earlier and more common Penguin Classics edition; the right is a Bantam Mass Market edition.  Both resemble Romantic portraits and paintings, which fits the book's era.  I really don't care for the Bantam one.

And here we have some (much) more modern editions of Jane: the first being one of a group of romantic classics re-released by Harper Teen in 2011.  It appears to be Jane Eyre meets Twilight-- a smart marketing move, maybe, though in truth even the romances of the novels have little in common.  The cover on the right is a Portuguese edition, also from 2011.  It seems to be following current YA cover trends.  The model is incredibly pretty, but doesn't resemble my mental image of Jane in the least-- she looks so modern!

With the release of a multitude of movie adaptations, the mental image many readers have of Jane has changed forever.  Both of these two are movie tie-in editions, tying in with the 2011 movie.  The one on the left is the one I first read from the library, but the one on the left is maybe most striking.  It has a Red Riding Hood feel-- very beautiful. 

Moving on to a Dutch edition, which highlights the book's creepy, Gothic feel.  Jane looks like she may be a vampire, but overall I like this one.  This delightful purple cover creation is a very recent (2012) edition released by Splinter.  Haven't heard of them, but I love the illustration-- it's reminiscent of the newest Jane Austen editions' covers.  Maybe Jane's books (ahem, Jane *Austen*) will soon be the subject of a future Cover VS Cover feature.

I'd love to hear which of these editions is your favorite, or your least favorite.  Do you approve of movie tie-in editions, or are you a Mass Market kind of reader?  Which edition do you own, and which book or series would be perfect to feature in Cover VS Cover?

Shelf Candy Saturday #1: His Dark Materials Omnibus

This is my first time participating in Shelf Candy Saturday, a weekly meme hosted by the amazingly awesome Maria at her blog A Night's Dream of Books.  The purpose of this meme is to spotlight beautiful book covers, illustrations, etc and generally judge a book by its cover.  I knew immediately what book I wanted to feature as my first ever Shelf Candy pick. *drumroll*....

This is the latest (2011) omnibus edition of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy-- a wonderful and classic children's fantasy series and some of my all-time favorite books, for those of you who haven't already guessed from their constant appearances in my Top Ten Tuesday lists.  It was published by the Everyman's Library-- which tends to release gorgeous editions of popular books-- and the illustrator/artist is Kate Baylay.

I first laid eyes on this eye candy of an edition while wandering the narrow aisles of the university bookstore a block from my dorm.  I think I gasped aloud and cradled it in my hands for a long moment, being careful not to smudge the soft black cover with my fingerprints.  Since then I have revisited it many times, subtly gaping and marveling at how wonderfully **shiny** it is.  The price is a bit much for me-- broke college student, remember?-- and I do already own other editions of these books.  But I have made a promise to myself that if I do really well on all my exams in December, I will spend whatever funds I have left to buy this.

While checking out Kate Baylay's website, I was also delighted to discover this:

"Mrs. Coulter, loosening the cramped way some roses had been bunched into a vase, saw that Lyra wasn't moving and glanced pointedly at the door."  --(from The Golden Compass)

What an eerily intriguing illustration of Mrs. Marisa Coulter-- who is something of the villainess of the His Dark Materials series.  I love how her golden monkey dæmon looks here, as I always imagined in the books when I was younger, eerily omniscient yet somehow slightly cute and, well, hug-able.  Kate Baylay's artwork is so beautiful and unique; I really enjoyed looking through it and would recommend anyone else to drop by her site, as it is definitely worth visiting.

Well, I guess that's enough gushing about this cover!  I would love to see what shelf candy you're featuring this Saturday.

Cover VS Cover: Vampire Academy

Cover VS Cover is a semi-weekly meme here at A Myriad of Books that I started because I've long been fascinated with the different international covers of the books we all know and love to read.  This week I'm taking on a pretty extensive series, which makes for the longest Cover VS Cover post yet: the Vampire Academy books by Richelle Mead.  I always try to feature every book in a series for these posts, but in this case I've decided to split the feature in half because of the sheer volume of covers out there.  This week we're looking at some of the many, many faces of the first three books-- Vampire Academy, Frostbite, and Shadow Kiss. 

US

The two sets of US covers are very similar, yes.  I think the second set with the expanded gates is newer.  Those are the covers I have, so I personally prefer them.  The only major difference is Dimitri's presence on the third cover.  

UK

The first covers are so close to identical to the US covers, except for the swirly black backgrounds.  The red UK covers may be my personal favorites, because I'm just a sucker for covers with emblems or symbols on them.  Particularly like the snowflake on the Frostbite cover.

German

The German covers definitely have a darker feel to them.  St Vladimir's looks like Count Dracula's castle in the background there.  They're alright, though. 

Swedish

Tsk, tsk.  When will these Swedish cover designers learn: you can't transpose the same image of a girl's face onto all three books in a series, change the colors around a little bit, and call it a unique design?  (See the Swedish covers for the Hunger Games.)

Dutch

I kind of like these covers... but don't really see what most of them have to do with Vampire Academy.  Maybe it's been too long since I read the first few books, but I don't remember any butterflies or girls with swords facing down very friendly white wolves.  Ah, well, at least they're eye-catching.

Greek

Reminiscent of the US covers... I like the computerized look of the model, for some reason.  The pose on the third book is an odd one, but the other two seem to work.  Meh.

Russian

Well, this girl doesn't resemble Rose, nor Lissa.  And what's with the bat tattoo?... I thought Rose had marks on the back of her neck for each of her Strigoi kills.  Now that would make a cool cover for Blood Promise, the fourth book: the Strigoi marks tattooed into the back of a girl's neck.

Turkish

Gee, I didn't realize Dimitri was Edward Cullen's long-lost, Russian brother.  They blatantly switched models for him, too.  And Lissa's (??) eyes on the first cover are weirdly sunken in.  She looks like a Buffy vamp with her game face on.  Not really a fan of these.

Japanese 

The manga art style on Japanese covers is something I'm personally always a sucker for... but here Rose and Lissa look about eight and half Dimitri's height.  Oddly enough, anime Dimitri is closer to how I imagined him.  Except for, you know, the whole manga-ized thing.  I think these covers could have been a lot better.

So, that's 32 covers from 9 different countries.  I did find several more international covers for the Vampire Academy series which I didn't include due to how long this post was getting.  If you want to check out the Dutch and Italian editions, you can at Goodreads.com -- that's where I get 80% of these covers.  Hope you guys enjoyed looking at all the VA covers, and as always, let me know what you think! 

Cover VS Cover: Beautiful Creatures & The Caster Chronicles

The English-language covers of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's Caster Chronicles books are beautiful in their simplicity.  For this week's edition of Cover VS Cover, I have gathered a cadre of international editions, many of which are equally stunning.  In many countries the first book, Beautiful Creatures, is actually known as 16 Moons, and Beautiful Darkness as 17 Moons.  As always, I hope you guys enjoy checking out the different covers and don't forget to weigh in about which are your favorites! 

English

This set of covers are used in all the English-speaking countries, as far as I know.  I love the Gothic feel of the title font and especially the shading of the swamp-like trees on the first cover, which is definitely my favorite of the lot.

French

  The French cover of Beautiful Chaos/18 Moons is the only one to have been released so far, other than the English edition.  I really like it the best of this set!  I love how perfectly these three covers match, though I'm not sure why the second book has the sunflower... maybe I've just forgotten something important.  Love the first cover.

Bulgarian

One thing I've learned from seeking out covers for so many of these posts: Bulgarian YA covers=yummy.  Love both of these, especially the first one.  A lot of Bulgarian covers I've featured seem to have that imagery with a girl in a dress with long, dark hair.  

German

The German take on The Caster Chronicles... the covers would give me the impression the books are about shapeshifters, if I didn't know better.  But I love how the silhouetted crow (or raven) is now about to take flight on the second book.  I suppose it will be airborne on the third cover?  The model's eyes are really striking.

Serbian

The Serbian cover for Beautiful Creatures *drools*.  I love the slants of light filtering down and, yes, just generally everything about it.  Love the leaning trees, which do have that swampy Southern Georgian or Floridan feel to them.  It's all very Gatlin.  

Dutch

I couldn't find a very good image of the Dutch cover, not one good enough to read the tagline to the left or whatever the logo is at the top... sorry about that. This cover is exceptionally simple.  The font reminds me of the font on the English-language editions-- nice.

Portuguese

Here is-- in my humble opinion-- the best saved for last.  I LOVE this cover-- could not imagine seeing it sitting on a bookstore shelf and not wanting to page through it immediately.  The cobweb tendrils of the tree branches is darkly gorgeous.  

Thanks for reading!  If you have any suggestions for next week's Cover VS Cover theme, be sure to tell me in the comments.  

Cover VS Cover: Harry Potter Edition

I had decided to do a special edition of Cover VS Cover featuring the various covers and international editions of the Harry Potter series, in honor of the premiere of the final HP film.  However, the task at hand immediately proved to be intimidating to say the least!  The Harry Potter books have of course been translated into not dozens, but hundreds of languages, and published extensively around the world.  So instead I'm highlighting two very different, but very beautiful, sets of the seven books for your comparison and appreciation.  Both editions are published by Bloomsbury in the UK-- the adult set is also sold in the US and other English-speaking countries.

The Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone

Hey, I could have taken the pic of the quartz for the cover shot of the adult edition!  Kidding.  Seriously, there's something mystical in its simplicity, which is exactly how I always imagined the Philosopher's Stone.  The sword-wielding chess piece is simply enchanting on the children's cover. 

The Chamber of Secrets

The lettering for the Harry Potter logo on both of these sets is so different from the blocky US logo I'm used to seeing.  I do like the new fonts, though.  The entwined snakes on the adult-marketed edition of the Chamber of Secrets is really entrancing... like a knocker on the Gaunt House's front door.


The Prisoner of Azkaban

Azkaban looks somewhat like Alcatraz on the second cover-- very atmospheric and eerie.  I love the bright colors and the glow surrounding Harry's stag Patronus on the children's edition cover-- it might be my favorite of the set.


The Goblet of Fire

LOVE the Dark Mark!  It looks a bit like a Day of the Dead skull, and it's brightness prevents it from being as sinister as the real thing.  Again, I like the simplicity of the magic object featured on the adult edition, here the Goblet of Fire.


The Order of the Phoenix

Initially I was very puzzled by the orb on the first cover... then I smacked myself in the forehead.  It's the prophecy!  It's just that many people have probably come to think of it as being among shelves and shelves of others identical to it in the Department of Mysteries.  The adult cover reminds me a little of the Hunger Games, but I like it overall.


The Half-Blood Prince

Love the illustration of Harry and Dumbledore-- Dumby's looking very wizard-like indeed here.  The waves below the cliffs remind of that famous Japanese painting of the ocean.  Love the tattered quality of the Prince's textbook, too.  


The Deathly Hallows

Headstones on the front cover of a book, well that's kind of ominous to say the least!  I would've picked the dragon the trio ride to represent the last book, but I know another UK edition already used a similar illustration.  The amulet on the adult cover is very eerie and, again, perfect in its simplicity.


Both of these new editions were designed to attract new audiences to Harry Potter.  The illustrated editions are supposed to be for a new generation of young HP readers, and the adult editions are, duh, supposed to convince adults to find out what the Pottermania is all about.  In the end, I like each of the sets equally.  They are polar opposites as far as marketing goes, so it is impossible to really pit them against each other in Cover VS Cover fashion.  Hope you guys enjoyed seeing these covers, if you hadn't already.  :)