Task #20: A book with a cover you hate

[Joy]

I just finished The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin for a local book club, and I’m using it for this category because I detest movie covers on books.

[Teresa]

Terri, same here.

[Shelley]

I chose . I had it heartily recommended to me by someone whose opinion I trust. On more than one occasion I picked it up & then put it back because I found the cover unsettling (hate is a strong word). So, I thought of it for this task. I'm glad I read it. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, and really interestingly told.

[Kerri]

Fantastic book, but the cover is underwhelming, at best.

[Caitlyn]

I went with The Ex by Alafair Burke. The cover does make any sense to me,

[Beth]

I went with Children of the New World for this one. It's not so much as a hate for the cover, but it just makes my eyes hurt. Why would someone make it look like the title was highlighted?!

[Courtney]

I came into this thread because I thought I would struggle to find a book cover that I truly hated, as opposed to just thinking it was boring, but my eyes have been opened--there are some truly hideous covers out there.

Weirdly, something about the cover for Gabi, A Girl in Pieces triggered my memory of another cover that I had completely forgotten about that always squigged me out: A Confederacy of Dunces. I have only heard amazing things about the book itself, but that garish cartoon cover just inexplicably gives me the willies, so I've been avoiding it for years. It seems like the perfect book for this challenge, but I have to admit I've been adding a number of the books others have posted on this form out of morbid curiosity at reading more books with such atrocious covers.

[Patty]

Elizabeth wrote: "I look forward to seeing everyone's hated covers! Mine is Gabi, a Girl in Pieces ."

Not a great cover, but a wonderful book.

[Ellyn]

I just finished It Devours! for this task. I really enjoyed it, maybe even more than the first Welcome to Night Vale novel. If you're unfamiliar with Night Vale, the original podcast has been described as "'A Prairie Home Companion' meets Stephen King." it's not gory at all, it just takes place in "a friendly desert community somewhere in the American southwest where ghosts, angels, aliens, and government conspiracies are parts of everyday life."

I really enjoyed this book, and I'm so glad that I bought it when it came out, despite the horrific cover design...

[Stephanie]

Cool--pretty much sold by your review and the hideous cover!

[Beth]

Ellyn wrote: "I just finished It Devours! for this task. I really enjoyed it, maybe even more than the first Welcome to Night Vale novel. If you're unfamiliar with Night Vale, the original podcas..."

I agree with you there! I wasn't a fan of the cover, but the book was amazing.

[Carol]

For some reason this cover annoys me, so since it is on my TBR list and I already own it, this will be my choice.

Unless I find something else that folks are recommending!

[Bella]

Courtney wrote: "I came into this thread because I thought I would struggle to find a book cover that I truly hated, as opposed to just thinking it was boring, but my eyes have been opened--there are some truly hid..."

This is on my TBR, let us know how you find it!

[Tammy Dayton]

I am using Jennifer Latham's Dreamland Burning because while I was reading I wanted to look at their faces. Whenever images are included, I will study and study faces. I don't know why. Because the book only had half of the two protagonists' faces, I did not like the cover. This book could also be used for one sitting. It is a phenomenal read.

[Pauline]

For this I'm reading: The Rat Catchers' Olympics. It is in the middle of a series, which I haven't read, but am having no problem just reading this one book in the series.

[Felicity]

It's interesting to read what turns people off certain covers! There's a few mentioned here (Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, A Little Life, It Devours!) that I actually quite like - I love that edition of A Little Life, but if it turns anyone off, there's this one - read it, it's incredible! :D

For me, I think I'll go with - I've been meaning to read it for ages but that cover hurts my eyes to look at! I find similarly busy and awful. Might also use this as an opportunity to finally read , because while I'm super keen to read the book I'm always put off by the cheesy romance-y looking cover :)

[Anna]

I just finished .

It's a delightful collection of short stories. And, thankfully, once you open the book you don't have to look at the cover. (Also a good reason to get an ebook...)

[katy]

Felicity wrote: "It's interesting to read what turns people off certain covers! There's a few mentioned here (Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, A Little Life, It Devours!) that..."

The Kushiel's series is solid. (at least the original trilogy) totally better than the cover.

[Carol]

Anna wrote: "I just finished .

It's a delightful collection of short stories. And, thankfully, once you open the book you don't have to look at the cover. (Als..."

Oooh! That is ugly. It also sound like something I would like. I am going with this! Thank you for this suggestion.

[Allie]

Felicity wrote: "It's interesting to read what turns people off certain covers! There's a few mentioned here (Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, A Little Life, It Devours!) that..."

It's been a while since I read it, but I really liked Wolf in White Van!

[Bonnie G.]

Riah wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Riah wrote: "I've had The Mexican Flyboy on my TBR list, but I definitely hate the cover, so that's what I'm going with.

"

W..."
Two months in, and everything still pales in comparison to Riah's pick, .

[Elle]

Bonnie wrote: "Riah wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Riah wrote: "I've had The Mexican Flyboy on my TBR list, but I definitely hate the cover, so that's what I'm going with.

[bookcover:The Mexican Flyboy|..."

Two months in, and everything still pales in comparison to Riah's pick, [bookcover:The Mexican Flyboy|...

Will there be a prize at the end of the year for the person who picks the worst cover? : )
I have to agree with you, Riah's pick does top the most dreadful covers I've seen so far.

[Bonnie G.]

Elle wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Riah wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Riah wrote: "I've had The Mexican Flyboy on my TBR list, but I definitely hate the cover, so that's what I'm going with.

[bookcover:The ..."

I feel like Riah must have already won, I cannot imagine anyone finding anything uglier. In addition to being ugly, its kind of offensive. Double whammy.

[Vanessa]

That cover for Mexican Flyboy is mega hiddy. It also doesn’t look like something I’d want to read, despite the surprisingly positive reviews.

[Cendaquenta]

This is going to be a hard task for me - I don't tend to bother about covers except when they're really pretty, and I feel as if I'd hurt my books' feelings by saying I hated their covers! :p

There is , which is a migraine to look at, but I have it on my Kindle, which I feel like personally I wouldn't count since I don't generally see it.
There's also - don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Aidan Turner, but having him glowering at me for years from the TBR shelf is a tad creepy! Plus I dislike adaptation-tie-in covers generally.

[Katie]

Katie wrote: "I haaaaaaate this cover and got the book for Christmas, so this task was absurdly easy for me to choose:
"

Well, I read it and I hated it almost as much as I hated the cover.

[Allie]

Vanessa wrote: "That cover for Mexican Flyboy is mega hiddy. It also doesn’t look like something I’d want to read, despite the surprisingly positive reviews."

LOL at "mega hiddy" and I am so going to try to use that IRL. A tip of the hat to you!

[Leslie (updates on SG)]

I love the audiobook, but hate the cover. Why superimpose a title over a face?

[Vanessa]

Allie wrote: LOL at "mega hiddy" and I am so going to try to use that IRL. A tip of the hat to you!

Haha! I’m sure I probably swiped that from somewhere, but glad to be there for you friend! :)

[Tracy]

I read Mood Indigo by Charlotte Vale Allen. I first read it 20 years ago and really loved it- and I found it as an ebook on Amazon. The cover is terrible, and if anyone else is interested she has a lot of books which sound good but have horrifically ugly covers.

[Carol]

I can hardly look at his face. I thought about Helter Skelter too but yuck. This also serves as true crime.

[Cosette]

I can't stand this cover but I've always wanted to read it

[April]

I bought this one because I read so many reviews that said it was great, but I hate this cover so it has been sitting in my TBR. I read it for this challenge - I wish I had skipped it. This time I could have judged the book by its cover!

[Britany]

Finished by Ian Morgan Cron -- 4 Stars

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Carol]

Hmmm, might switch mine to

Girl in Pieces.

[Jenn]

I thought I'd have a hard time finding a book that satisfies the "Read a book with a cover you hate" requirement, but then I read Eleanor & Park.

One of the great things about E&P is that Eleanor is fat. The book is a romance that humanizes fat people in a way that not enough books do. What does Eleanor look like, you're wondering? Oh, well, let's take a look at the cover and find out.





As you can see here, Eleanor is about the size and shape of Park, who's straight-bodied and thin.






"I concur," this cover says. "Eleanor is a straight-bodied gal. Possibly she's got some curves under that bag she's wearing, but more than likely not."







"Um, yeah," says this edition, "I'm pretty sure Eleanor weighs 100 pounds. Also, she has straight blonde hair."




I love that a major theme of E&P is that fat people are deserving of representation, and yet--these covers. Fuck these covers well and truly.

[Vanessa]

I didn’t know any of this about E&P. This is a good choice, versus the “Find the ugliest cover I can” strategy.

[Jenn]

Vanessa, thank you. :)

[Amanda]

I can say I honestly don't dislike many covers and usually the thought doesn't cross my mind "wow I really hate that cover." I picked up this book at the library bookstore last year just because it was Ian McEwan and when I pulled the book out, I was like how did this happen? So:

[Amanda]

I just finished It Devours! for this task. I really enjoyed it, maybe even more than the first Welcome to Night Vale novel.

I thought the same at first, but the cover does represent the simplicity of the Night Vale artwork but also a little excitement. I also really loved the book!

Here is the cover:

[Hope]

Rebecca wrote: "I had been planning on a weird self-published book about cults, but now it looks like Michael Wolff has made it so easy.Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. I mean, what's n..."

I hadn't planned to use this book for this task - until I found that I cringed every time I saw the cover!

[Jordan]

Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic.

That awful, awful cover(all subsequent sequel covers as well) just turn me off. They remind me of those books people leave behind at beach-house rentals to pass the time with.

[Ashley]

Cheryl wrote: "Hate feels too strong an emotion for book covers. I've seen a lot of bad/ugly ones on self-published books, and old science fiction and fantasy. But hate, no. The closest I can come to, so far, are..."

I'm choosing that book because I've hated every cover I've ever seen for that book.

[Karen]

by Michael Wolff.

Enjoyed the book but not gone at all on the cover

[Ashley]

I thought this was going to be an easy one to choose because I am super judgy about books covers in the first place but a lot of the ones I tend to hate tend to fall outside of my interest zone anyway. I've decided that I'm going to read because I freaking loved and I love the cover but I've been too embarrassed to carry around a book with a Ken doll/GI Joe on the cover to ever read Noggin too

[Margaret]

The best cover I've found so far is Sweet Tooth, Volume 1: Out of the Deep Woods by Jeff Lemire. I think it's the combination of the extreme anxiety, the skeletal thinness, and the chocolate(?) around the mouth that I thought was blood. The book should be quite good though, as it was included on an NPR List of 100 Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels. I've been using that list as a reading checklist and haven't been disappointed yet.

[Octavia]

I think I said earlier in this thread that I planned to read Hrolf Kraki's Saga by Poul Anderson for this and I've just done it. What a terrible cover to put on such an excellent book! It's a retelling of one of the Scandinavian sagas - hence the horned monstrosity - and is far more literary and accomplished than the cover indicates.

[Joy]

I’ve had Hrolf Kraki’s Saga for a while now. I’m glad to hear it’s a good one.

[Sara]

I went with audio version of The Leavers. Having to see the CD box in the passenger seat in my car for days made me more uneasy than any book cover would.


Just glad I'm done with this one!

[Heather]

Loved Ready Player One but didn't like the cover at all.