Top Ten Tuesday {3}

Posted October 18, 2011 by Asheley in Uncategorized / 21 Comments

Click HERE to check out Top Ten Tuesday 
at The Broke and the Bookish.

What a great topic this week for Top Ten Tuesday!
This Week’s Topic:


Ten Books
I’ve Read or Bought
Based on a Pretty Cover


Cover art means so, so much to me. I will both happily and sadly admit that yes, I do judge a book by its cover. Sometimes this is a great thing and sometimes not so much, but that is another story for another time. Here, I just want to give some examples of some books I’ve read this year that I chose to read based INITIALLY on cover art. I do not own that many books, so it was impossible for me to come up with ten books that I bought based on the cover. So I chose ten that I’ve read/bought/requested for review based on a pretty cover. So here we go, in no particular order: 

1.  The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The cover of The Night Circus is as magical as the book. 
I remember reading about it on Erin Morgenstern’s website
Designed by Helen Musselwhite from handcut paper. 
Stunning. 
2.  Soulless by Gail Carriger
Part of The Parasol Protectorate series. 
Steampunk paranormal romance. 
I’m not sure any further explanation is needed. 
This cover is badass. 
3.  Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok
In this case, I kept coming back to the mixture of color and culture. 
So, so beautiful. 
Honestly, without this cover I might not have read this book, 
which would have been a tragedy. 
One of my favorites of 2011. 
4.  Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. 
I am always a fan of capital letters, 
especially when they’re scribbled. 
And these look exactly like MINE. 
This cover is the first thing I noticed about this book
and this book is a favorite of mine. 
I. LOVE. IT. 
The cover details the book perfectly. 
5.  A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. 
This cover is so gorgeously pretty. 
Each book in this series is as beautiful as this one. 
I could hate these books and still want them for my shelves 
because of their beauty.  
(But I don’t. I love them.)
6.  The Mephisto Covenant by Trinity Faegen
I requested this book for review based on the cover. 
This is another case of ‘girl-in-dress on a cover.’
And actually, I don’t think this scene is in the book, 
but the cover is still beautiful
and still the reason I wanted to read this book. 

7.  When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
This is my favorite cover of the year, so far. 
My favorite color is RED. 
So it stands to reason that I’d love this cover. 
Front and back, it is amazing. 
It totally embodies the story. 

8.  Wither by Lauren DeStefano
I have no rhyme or reason for loving this cover
except that it is so gorgeous. 
I bought this book based on the cover
and THEN the raving reviews. 
Another case of ‘girl-in-dress on the cover’ 
but this time with a birdcage and a pretty font!
9.  The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly 
I walked by this book on the shelf of Target for a few weeks 
before I picked it up. When I finally read it, I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. 
It was amazing, and the cover was a perfect picture of what the story told. 
There are a million things stories hidden in this cover art, 
just like inside this story. 
(If you love adult fiction, or older YA fiction, PLEASE read this!)

10.  Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

No explanation needed!
And yes, I loved the book!

11.  Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

Because I had to, a final book that I requested for review
because of a beautiful cover.
Here, what I loved most was the use of COLOR!!
And I loved the story! 

In truth, I could talk for DAYS about pretty covers. 
But I’ll just do us all a favor and stop here!
Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

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21 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday {3}

  1. I absolutely love the covers for The Parasol Protectorate too, they're scrumptious! I keep noticing that 11th book, Dearly Depaarted, but i've been burnt too many times from buying YA based on their covers (like Wither – great cover I agree, but I didn't like the story at all.)

    Here's my list!

  2. I agree with lots of your books here!! Soulless is one I've wanted to read because of the cover. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter is DUH! lol And I also love the color red, so maybe I'll check out that one too.

    AGATB was not one of my favorites, but I love the cover too. Wither is a spectacular book with an awesome cover image :o)

    Great post!
    Mickey @ imabookshark

  3. Hah! You chose Soulless, too. I'm not a huge fan of the book itself, but man, the cover. And I did a previous post on the prettiness of The Night Circus. The British cover's awesome too, but I don't know if it's as shiny as the American one. And I haven't read The Book of Lost Things yet, but the cover definitely makes me want to.

  4. Oh A Great and Terrible Beauty! If I'd seen the cover before I bought the book I would totally have bought it based on cover alone. And The Mephisto Covenant was one I also chose based on its cover and a little for its title.

    I never turned the book over to see the back cover of the Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter book. Now I really want to check that one out. That is one seriously GREAT cover. So gruesome and yet it has that daguerreotype feel still!

    Great picks!

  5. The Night Circus has a lovely illustrated cover that's been popping up everywhere! I really want to read it soon.

    The Book of Lost Things is an intriguing title – and the cover art has just sold me on it!

  6. I love The Book of Lost Things. I kind of chose it because of its cover as well 🙂 But I was pleasantly surprised by the story – it was the perfect combination of children story and adult literature, I really enjoyed it!

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