Inspired by I Want To Read That and Not Enough Bookshelvesas well as my own love of pretty book covers, Books and Sensibility presents Cover Wars. Whose book covers will reign supreme? (yeah, I watch too much Iron Chef)
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What the Epigraph ?
I love epigraphs! You know, those little quotes, poems or phrases at the beginning of books? I bet you’ve flipped past them without a second look sometimes. Epigraphs are cool because they are like clues to what is about to happen in the book. Sometimes they tie the book to a greater piece of work or set up for some important themes in the novel.
Here is a list of my 5 favorite epigraphs, in no particular order. What are yours?
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Princess Bookie’s Cover Re-Design Contest : Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A few days ago we made a post gently mocking the cover of Jennifer L Armentrout’s Obsidian. When I saw Princess Bookie’s Recreate a Cover Contest I decided to try my own hand at re-imagining this cover. I am not the best with photoshop, but I tried.
For my image I used a picture from the UK Glamour photoshoot of Nikki Reed and Kellan Lutz. The building in the background is Olgebay Hall at West Virginia University, I got the image via Bawwomick.
Paranormal romance isn’t always my speed, but I have blogged about this book so much I am probably going to go out and get it.
Waiting on Wednesday Vol. 1
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Release Date : January 10, 2012
I have recently become a fan of John Green after reading several of his books and I am so excited forThe Fault in Our Stars to come out. The novel is somewhat inspired by Esther Earl–an amazing fan of his who died at age 16 of thyroid cancer.
Green is hand signing all of the first printing and I already pre-ordered mine off Amazon and I can’t wait ! I’m anxious to know what the cover art will look like. Until then, I will have to look at this Tumblr of fan made covers.
Top 100 YA List : How Many Have You Read ?
Novel Thoughts posted this list of top 100 YA novels. I’ve seen this list all over book blogs and I wish I knew where it originated (for some reason I’m guessing Goodreads). I can’t believe how many I’ve read. I bolded the books I’ve read, how many have you read ?
1. Alex Finn – Beastly
2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
3. Ally Carter – Callagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)
4. Ally Condie – Matched
5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)
10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3)
18. Christopher Paolini – Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3)
22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)
26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)
31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines
37. John Green – Looking for Alaska
38. John Green – Paper Towns
39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)
40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
44. Lemony Snicket – Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)
46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
48. M.T. Anderson – Feed
49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
52. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)
58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
60. Meg Rosoff – How I live now
61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
63. Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
66. Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4)
67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind
69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline
70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 )
73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks
79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
85. Scott Westerfeld – Leviathan (1, 2)
86. Scott Westerfeld – Uglies (1, 2, 3)
87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92. Stephanie Meyer – The Host
93. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)
94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)
97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped
Tied Up with Tie-Ins;The Good, Bad & Ugly of Movie Tie-In Book Covers
Ah, film tie-ins. Those wonderful (read: sarcasm ) things movie companies come up with to make even more money than they already have. Film tie-ins often come in the form of video games and collectible toys, but now we are seeing more movie tie-in book covers. You bought Breaking Dawn two years ago , right ? Well, You don’t own the one with Rpatz face on it !That’ll be $10.
I kind of have a love/hate relationship with tie-in covers. Mostly though, I hate them. They don’t serve much of a purpose except to make you buy the book again. Let’s take a look at the good, bad and ugly of tie in covers.
Better than the original
I like this cover. In fact, when I bought the book, I chose it over the original. The design of the tie-in seems to have become somewhat of an icon for Lauren Weisberger. All of her book covers are now released with a similar heel design, she even uses the heel motif on her website.
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| Original American Cover |
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| Movie Tie-in Cover |
The Good
Some tie-ins know how to blend the best of both worlds. They will just take elements of the original and work it together with the film tie-in. Both of these tie-ins used similar coloring and positioning as the original.
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| Original Cover |
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| Movie Tie-in cover |
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| Original Cover |
Don’t Look Now
This may just be a coincidence,but I was in the bookstore and I noticed when it comes to romantic themed novel tie-ins,they pretty much follow the same position;look deep into each others eyes and don’t look into the 4th wall. Usually this is done when it is a ‘celebrity romance’ they are trying to push. I think the reason they use this position is to draw our attention to the couple but, it was funny to me all the tie-ins follow this. Also, notice none of the original covers even have faces on them.
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| Movie Tie-in Cover |
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| Original Cover |
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| Original Cover |
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| Movie Tie-in cover |
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| Original Cover |
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| Movie Tie-in Cover |
Look Who is in This Book . . . Not, Really.
Some tie-ins just shamelessly put the actor front and center. A little shelf candy for your home library. I don’t know what Charlie St. Cloud is about but, ooh Zefron !
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| Original Cover |
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| Movie Tie-in |
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| Movie Tie-in |
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| Original Cover |
This is not my childhood
I find it really bizarre when suddenly the books of your childhood get the film tie-in cover. The Narnia covers of my childhood were the 1994 HarperCollins by Leo and Diane Dillon. You know, the purple and white ones. I mean okay, I admit . . . I do own the Prince Caspian with Ben Barnes on the cover.
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| Original Book Cover |
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| Movie Tie-in |
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| 1994 HarperCollins Cover |
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| Movie Tie-in |
Harry Potter
And then there are series like Harry Potter and it’s film tie- in covers. Oh wait . . . Harry Potter don’t play that. There are no film tie-in covers for Harry Potter because they don’t need them. I mean, okay I will admit as far as merchandising tie-ins Harry Potter does seem have everything else. Still, I’d rather eat a bag of Beritie Botts Every Flavor Jellybean than buy a book I already have because Daniel Radcliffe is on the cover.
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Written By Kat