Top Ten Tuesday: Book Cover Trends I Like/Dislike

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! 
This week's theme is:  Book Cover Trends I Like/Dislike.  I haven't really given much thought to this before, but there are definitely a few things that draw me in to a book.  If I don't like the cover art, I'm very hard pressed to pick up a book and read the synopsis. 

Here are a few things I like:
  1. I gravitate toward darker covers that have pops of color (black, white, and red are really dynamic).
  2. I think steampunk covers are pretty awesome.  They're gritty and have Victorian aspects that immediately draw my eye.
  3. Clean, simple covers also do the trick. 
  4. Font is also important...if it looks too childish (hello, Comic Sans), I'm probably not going to grab that book.  I like clean fonts.
  5. If there are characters on the cover and one of them is wearing an old-time dress (Medieval, Victorian, Regent, Southern, etc), I'll definitely check it out.
And a few things that I don't like:
  1. Angels.  Whether fallen, ethereal, etc...I just don't tend to like them.
  2. Fire or flames.  Boring! 
  3. Incredibly busy covers.  If I have to search too hard to figure out what the title is, who the author is, or what the cover is alluding too...no thank you.
  4. Speech bubbles...they look childish unless they are on a graphic novel/comic book.  I'm not drawn to them at all.  In fact, they might repel me away from a book.  Sad, but true.
  5. Abbreviations...or ampersands.  This is the English instructor in me.  I don't tend to shorten words, even in text messages.  I'll spell out "and".  I don't want to see it on a book cover.
Some of these make me sound incredibly picky!  Wow.  Honestly, I'll read just about anything that's put in front of my face.  Even if it's bad and I can't get into the book, I'll finish the damn thing because I have a problem leaving things unfinished.  I'm weird like that.  What are some of your favorite book cover trends?  Or ones you dislike?

Also, look for next week's Top Ten:  Favorite Classic Books

Happy reading!

Comments

  1. UnknownJune 24, 2014 at 12:36 PM

    I agree. Fire is so boring but so many use it! And I think ampersands are starting to be over used as well. Love your list!

    Our TTT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MelJune 25, 2014 at 8:29 AM

      Yes and yes. Thanks for stopping by, Keira.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Get Wordy!

Popular posts from this blog

2016 A-Z Blogging Challenge Theme Reveal

Image
Oooo...the day is getting closer; creeping stealthily, it will smack you in the face in no time! While we impatiently await the start of the challenge, it's time to reveal our themes.  Yay!  I'm going for something drastically different this year.  Something much more challenging than I've ever done in my previous four years participating in this particular challenge.  Normally my posts are pretty straight-forward, contained, not overly ambitious.  This year is going to be another beast all together. My mission, should I choose to accept it, will be to write one continuous story for the entire challenge.  I know my characters, setting, and where I want it to go...kind of.  All I need to figure out is how to get from point A to point Z.  The first word of each post will start with the letter for the day; some of these will definitely be more difficult than others, but I'm determined. I look forward to writing this, receiving feedb...
Read more

Bianca's Vineyard (Book #13)

Image
I've had Teresa Neumann's Bianca's Vineyard for a while now, thanks to my grandmother, but have been skipping over it to read other books.  I don't know why I did this because it was actually a great read.  Neumann is a local author who decided to write a novel about family history.  The majority of the novel is based on factual evidence and personal family interviews.  There is one portion, which I won't give away, that is only speculated at by Neumann, but what she does choose to speculate is a highly probably scenario. The book is written in a way that suggests it is being told to the reader, as well as Egisto's son and his wife, through flashbacks from Bianca in her 80's.  We know this because the font and boldness of these sections gives personal reflection from Bianca and foreshadows what she will eventually reveal.  She takes you back to the beginning of what changed the course for this family, mainly one brother of the Bertozzi family moving to A...
Read more

Top Ten Tuesday: FREEBIE

Image
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! This week's topic is:  FREEBIE .  Yay!  So, because I missed last week's Top Ten, I am going to go with that topic... Top Ten Complete Series I Have Yet to Finish . Here they are: Inkworld   by Cornelia Funke Finishing School  by Gail Carriger The Chemical Garden by Lauren DeStefano Contours of the Heart by Tammara Webber The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman Edilean by Jude Deveraux The Tudor Court by Philippa Gregory Wildwood Chronicles  by Colin Meloy The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff Some of these I've only read one book in, while others are nearly complete!  What are some series you need to finish? Also, look for next week's top ten:...
Read more