Let's Judge Books By Their Covers!

May 21, 2013 Art, Blogging, Chick Lit, Coming of Age 38

Hey Bookworms!

I’m sorry about being out of pocket yesterday, but I had a very taxing weekend… Well. That’s a relative term I suppose. My sister’s weekend was certainly MORE taxing than mine, as she spent most of it laboring to make me an aunt for the first time, at least the first time BIOLOGICALLY. I’m an honorary aunt several times over (and I love each and every one of those pumpkins just as much as my new little guy) but THIS one can’t disown me. Good luck, Nathan! Muahahahaha.  I also had an extended conversation with a toad I found in my garden and relocated to the neighbor’s yard so I wouldn’t get startled by a hop and squish him. Then I spent time with friends, saw a movie, drank a martini called “lizard on a mattress,” planted MORE beautiful flowers, and got my crafty on helping a friend with wedding planning. I’m back now. Just in time for TOP TEN TUESDAY!

toptentuesday

This week the ladies of The Broke and The Bookish have asked the bookish blogosphere to list out their top ten favorite book covers. I do the vast majority of my reading on my kindle, so I don’t connect with book covers the way that I used to. Also, there are so many different things I like about different book covers that I decided to rebel. REBEL, I tell you! In my tenure as a blogger, I’ve been lucky enough to be taken into the bosom of some incredibly talented and generous blogger/artists. Some of their work is so incredible it deserves to be on book covers. So. MY list this week will feature art that is NOT on book covers, but should be. Ready?!

hummingbirdpoppies

Courtesy of Lillian Connelly

1. This watercolor was done by the fabulously talented Lillian Connelly. You may know her from her blog, It’s A Dome Life. I absolutely adore the colors and the hummingbirds and the poppies. Couldn’t you just see it as the cover art for an Alice Hoffman or Kate Morton title? I love this piece so much, I bought a necklace of it. Oh yeah, she’s got a zazzle store. Click HERE to get all swagged up!

Courtesy Sandra at BuLaMamaNi

Courtesy Sandra at BuLaMamaNi

2. Sandra at BuLaMamaNi does some amazing collage work, like the piece above. I love that the little girl seems to be crying flower petals. Can’t you imagine it as the cover of a tragic tale of innocence lost? Forgotten childhood? Beautiful.

3. How cool is this?! It’s wacky wonky paper dolls and it’s trippy and fabulous. I imagine it going with a quirky coming of age tale. Some teen angst, perhaps? So cool!

4. Sandra provides another awesome image. See the horses with the super long legs in the background? They remind me of the imaginary creatures at the end of His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, or some of the fantastical Harry Potter animals.

Lillian Connelly

Lillian Connelly

5. Lily, my dearest dear. Please forgive me this terrible pun, but I cannot resist. This piece would be the perfect cover for some Chick Lit!!! (Wah wah wah…)

BuLaMamaNi

BuLaMamaNi

6. Another piece from Sandra. I adore this one. It feels like childhood and playing in the rain and chasing butterflies. It belongs on a book that embodies these feelings!

7. Okay, okay. Chrissy isn’t an artist in the traditional sense of the word, but occasionally she dabbles in magazine collage. It makes me laugh because it’s so… Her. I like to think this should be the cover of her autobiography, entitled Snowing Like A Banshee. She gave her final creative writing project that title in college. I hated it because it made no sense. The phrase is “yelling” or “screaming” like a banshee, because a banshee is a mythological ghost that flits about making endless wailing noises. It has nothing whatsoever to do with weather. But that’s Chrissy. She makes no damn sense, but she’s tough to resist.

Art by ME!

Art by ME!

8. This is what happens when I try to draw stuff. It should never be a book cover, but I thought it would be amusing to remind you of my limitations. That’s an alligator. Saying “rawr.” Fierce.

Alright. So that’s only 8 covers, but since I cheated at the topic I figure I can fudge the number. What do you like to see in a cover, Worms? What pulls you in? It’s speech bubbles on poorly drawn reptiles, isn’t it?!

38 Responses to “Let's Judge Books By Their Covers!”

  2. Michelle Proulx

    I would like to buy the rights to your alligator art for my upcoming novel “RAWR in the Name of Love”. How does 5,000 fake dollars sound? I can send the money by carrier pigeon or owl — your choice 🙂

    Reply

    • Lillian Connelly from It's A Dome Life

      Hilarious! I love paying people in fake dollars (especially the invisible kind) by carrier owl. It’s nice to know I am not the only one!

      Reply

    • Lillian Connelly

      This is hilarious. I am glad I am not the only person who offers to pay people with invisible fake money and have it delivered by carrier owl. It’s like we should form our own tribe of people or something!

      Reply

  4. JoulesDellinger

    I love the chick picture so, so incredibly much. It’s just so adorable and happy and makes me smile. And I kind of love chick lit so it makes sense!

    Reply

    • Words for Worms

      I’m pretty sure you can get the chick picture on stuff in her zazzle store. Then you could love Chick Lit and have a Chick Magnet. I’m incorrigible.

      Reply

  6. Lori

    Congrats Auntie Katie!! I am an Auntie x 5 and my first niece will always have a special place in my heart as she was the first baby I fell in love with 🙂

    Reply

  9. Megan M.

    Dude. I used to totally rock the magazine cutout collage. I had them all over the walls in my room. Then I started putting them on posterboard. They were so cool! So I vote for Quirky Chrissy and “Snowing Like A Banshee.”

    Reply

  10. Daddio

    Well “Alligator with Speech Bubble” would be a great book cover since the alligator could say the title. On the other hand, collages have always been one of my private passions. Now a collage of hand drawn alligators with one speech bubble saying something deep, would take the cake.

    Reply

  11. Quirky Chrissy

    I think that your alligator would make an excellent children’s book. Or a coming of age novel. Or a dystopian post-apocalyptic novel about a world that becomes overrun with aligatordogs.

    Reply

  13. Laura Lynn

    My fav covers are the old detective series from the 40’s and 50’s and 60’s. -the ones with the evil lady, the smoking gun and the LOOK in her eye…also the re issues of the Rex Stout series are really great.
    No need for a blurb on the inside cover, the art work says it all.

    Reply

  14. Lillian Connelly

    I am really struck by Bulamamani’s collages as book covers. I can totally imagine myself browsing through a bookstore, having my attention captured by one of these covers and picking the book up to read the synopsis. I never thought about the power of collage in book cover form. I am really grateful to you for doing this because it has made me think about the many directions art can take me (and others) in. Also, it’s funny. I could totally see your alligator cover on a humorous memoir.

    Reply

  15. A.M.B.

    I love the “Chick Lit” cover suggestion! Ha! Book covers are one thing I don’t miss now that I’ve transitioned to e-books. They’re often so bad! (and my topic tomorrow, coincidentally).

    Reply

      • Words for Worms

        Thank you! LOL, I was looking through some of Lily’s paintings and I couldn’t resist the pun! 🙂 I’m excited- I’m hoping to meet my little nephew this weekend. New baby smell!

        Reply

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