“Do! Judge A Book By Its Cover” is a semi-regular feature on Pop! Goes The Reader inspired by Katie’s feature Cover Love on her blog One Page At A Time. The idea is being used with her gracious permission.
I think we’re all familiar with the age-old adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. And you know what I have to say about that? Rubbish! Covers are an invaluable part of a book’s package. A truly great cover can tell you a lot about the novel contained within its pages. Book covers can also catch your attention and attract you to a novel you might otherwise ignore. So go ahead, judge a book by its cover – We all do it!
For the eleventh edition of Do! Judge A Book By Its Cover, I’ve decided to take a look at the covers of the Liteary Fiction genre. What is Literary Fiction, you ask? Good question! A term that was originally coined in the 1960’s, ‘Literary Fiction’ ordinary denotes works that could be considered more serious, scholarly, or acclaimed than their other fictional counterparts. That said, this is a relatively broad, wide-ranging term that’s open to interpretation and can mean different things to different readers. Simply interpret it as ‘adult’ fiction, if you will! In any event, I knew that I wanted to highlight this genre at some point, although I must admit it was quite the Herculean task. While there were some covers I fell head-over-heels for, like A Million Heavens by John Brandon and Idiopathy by Sam Byers, I never expected to struggle with this week’s theme as much as I did. That said, I’m quite happy with the selection I eventually settled on and I can only hope you’ll enjoy them, too!
Now it’s your turn! What are some of your favourite literary fiction covers? Did I list one of your favourites here or is there one I forgot that just has to be included? Let me know in the comments!
14 Responses
I seriously love and adore your eye for covers. I know I suck and I don’t comment on all of your posts for this series, which is stupid because you know how much I love and adore it. But really, your eye for covers is pretty amazing, Niles.
Frasier recently posted…Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Oh, Niles. Each and every one of your comments means more to me than I could ever adequately express *Squishes*
Jen @ Pop! Goes The Reader recently posted…Top Twelve Sequels I Have Yet To Read
The cover for “The Great Perhaps” is so lovely! I really appreciate when graphic designers think outside of the box and go in a different direction. It’s shallow, but nothing makes me put a book back on the shelf faster than a stock photo.
Isabella @ Delicious & Fictitious recently posted…Recipe: Banana And Nutella Wontons
Isn’t it lovely? That cover immediately caught my eye as well! It’s so bizarre and abstract, and certainly increased my interest in a novel I might otherwise have overlooked. 🙂
Jen @ Pop! Goes The Reader recently posted…Top Twelve Sequels I Have Yet To Read
I feel I say this every time I read one of your Do! Judge a book by it’s Cover post, but I think this one may be my favorite yet! There’s not a single one of these I don’t like. Ways of Going Home and This is the Way in particular stand out to me! But they’re all rather eye-catching and original.
Stormy @ Book.Blog.Bake. recently posted…Looking Forward & Looking Behind: Horror October Edition
Aw, you’re too sweet, Stormy, thank you so much! *Hugs* I was worried that given the rather niche market for Literary Fiction there wouldn’t be much interest in this week’s Do! Judge A Book By Its Cover, but I was so pleased to be proven wrong!
Jen @ Pop! Goes The Reader recently posted…Top Twelve Sequels I Have Yet To Read
HOW GORGEOUS. i saw this on twitter and was like LITERARY FICTION: WIN. SO many gorgeous coversssssssssssssssssss!!!
Cassie recently posted…Favorite Factor: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
Thanks, Cassie!
Jen @ Pop! Goes The Reader recently posted…Top Twelve Sequels I Have Yet To Read
This may be my favorite “Do Judge a Book By It’s Cover” yet! Literary Fiction is one of my favorite genres to read and I love how imaginative and original the covers are. I personally love some of the covers for Ishiguro’s works as well as the Murakami covers.
alice-jane recently posted…Morning Glory
Wow, thank you very much! I can’t tell you how much that means to me 😀 It was a bit of a struggle compiling this week’s selection as I’m not as familiar with the Literary Fiction genre as I would like, but I was absolutely blown away by the creativity of the covers I found. Some of them, like Shall We Gather At The River and The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. were absolutely stunning, while others, like Idiopathy and This Is The Way were wonderfully strange and mesmerizing.
Jen @ Pop! Goes The Reader recently posted…Top Twelve Sequels I Have Yet To Read
I’m a huge fan of typography, so naturally my eye was drawn to the majority of the covers you have featured today. Specifically.. We Sinners, Mountains of the Moon, Ways of Going Home, and A Million Heavens jumped out at me the most. I think Literary Fiction has some of the best covers.
Ginger @ GReads! recently posted…Save the Date for: NOGGIN by John Corey Whaley
Typography is an extremely important consideration for me as well, but I don’t think I realized quite how important until I began putting together the Do! Judge A Book By Its Cover instalments every week. It’s definitely something that can make-or-break a cover, and as in the case of Mountains of the Moon or Ghosts of Manhattan, can often take centre stage and demonstrate that less is often more when it comes to a cover’s design.
Jen @ Pop! Goes The Reader recently posted…Top Twelve Sequels I Have Yet To Read
Although I read a lot more YA than I do adult books, I’ve always tended to love the covers for adult books more. YA books, I think, are pressured into fitting the trends so we get inundated with covers of girls in dresses, etc. whereas adult covers don’t feel that pressure, so we see a lot more creativity. Every single one of the covers you showcased are stunning, and all are so unique in their own way. Looks like my to-read shelf isn’t going down any time soon!
Nikki @ The Paper Sea recently posted…Teaser Tuesday {14} — More Than This
STOP FINDING ALL THE BEST COVERS!
I don’t know if it counts as literary fiction, but one of my favorite recent adult fiction covers is Cascade by Maryanne O’Hara. It is SO gorgeous!
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