“Yeah, I Said It!”

My heading was actually used before. It was the title of Wanda Sykes book, ‘Yeah, I Said It,’ which sets the tone for this post inspired by a blog post I recently came across over at Fi Phillips Magical Writing Haven… What kind of book covers do you like?

The comment I wanted to leave on Fi’s blog was too long, but her post was so darn inspiring I had to write one of my own.

I really liked the way Fi approached the topic; blogging on book covers she liked. I, in fact, enjoy reading Fi’s blog. It’s one of the more uplifting blogs. She frequently puts a positive spin on what she writes, and that I just love. I can’t get enough of those who see glasses as half full.

And so now here I go, perhaps another reason I shunned adding my comment. I just try so darn hard to see glasses as half full, but if it’s not for being misread...so often, then it has to be I’m one of the very ones who see glasses as half empty...too frequently!

All to say, that caption I pulled together are book cover images that grabbed me. I like book covers that are DIFFERENT... QUIRKY... PLAIN... book covers that when I walk by, I darn near get whiplash whipping around for that second take. That’s what happened when I breezed by Wanda Sykes’ book, and I’m Down by Mishna Wolff. Those are two books I snatched up right quick, solely on account of the title... and cover image.

Except then, here comes a BIG peeve of mines.

Number One. I’m old-school. I’m very familiar with those books that just about read: The Book by the Author. Apparently there are still traditional publishers following that old-school mold. See the non-fiction titles I’ve captioned, which brings me to my number two peeve.

The whole point of reading is to read a great book, a dynamite story that’s going to encourage me to want to read another book. If I get tricked into reading a book based on an extra flashy splashy cover, and then open the book to find a story that doesn’t speak to any of my moods…and I do have many, then I might get jaded and dissuaded from reading another book.  Already I must confess, I’m biased against buying books with photographs on the cover, unless OF COURSE, it’s a memoir.

So I agree and then disagree with the preoccupation put into designing covers. However a reader might see the covers I’ve captioned, I can say one thing about the story… It was really, really good! …And oh! These were some of the books I’ve purchased in part based on the cover.

Yeah, I said it!