Different Books, Same Design

Well, I'm on the homestretch with Gravity's Rainbow. Really, I am. With only 47 pages to go, I should finish it in the next couple of days. Actually, it's a nice night out, maybe I'll sit on the patio and finish it right now. I can smell the freedom already!

But before I do that, I thought I would share some more book covers with you. Many times I've found the same photo on two different books (three different books on one occasion!), but yesterday I found something new.

These are two very different books; one is a novel by Martin Amis (who wrote my 55th read from the list) and one is a political book about how Stephen Harper is evil. I read Lionel Asbo: State of England a couple of years ago when he was appearing at WordFest, so I was familiar with the cover. When I came across the 2nd book at the library, looking for something else, it jumped out at me.

Siam Scarlett

I can't believe I forgot to mention this last week, but while in Thailand, I had a run-in with one of the list books. It wasn't until we were going through our photos last night that I remembered...

As I've mentioned many times before, I always enjoying perusing a bookshelf. It could be in somebody's home, at a hotel, in a library, or in a bookstore; it doesn't really matter, I just like walking my eyes over the spines of books. I suppose the fun is that you might come across something unique or something you've never heard of, and it just might take your reading in a new direction.

After having spent over five years reading through this list, I'm still little amazed how often I come across these titles. Of course it shouldn't really come as any surprise, after all they are 100 "all-time novels."

Anniversary Covers

My love of book covers, and talking about book covers is no secret. But what may be less known, is my distaste for 'Anniversary' covers. Most recently, I read the "75th Anniversary Edition" of Their Eyes Were Watching God. It really felt special to be reading such a special edition of the book. I can't imagine how much less I would have got out of it had I read the 2012 edition.

Now I understand why publishers do this, obviously it's to sell more copies. And I'd be wrong if I said it didn't work. Unfortunately, people are suckers for this kind of thing and publishers know it.

I've never actually heard somebody say they love picking up anniversary covers however, which is probably because people don't usually announce why they're buying a specific copy of a book, but I can imagine the thought process in their heads. I can't believe it's already been 10 years since Boba Fett: A New Threat came out! I should get this anniversary copy to commemorate the year this was re-released."

Three Covers and a Little Boy

Last month I posted about The Great Gatsby and Rules of Civility sharing a cover photo.  While I think it's rather odd two books would use the same photo, it did make  sense why each book had; they were both set in the same time period and the same city for that matter.  The image was accurate for either book.  But that isn't always the case when books use the same photo on their cover.


Bill Bryson is probably one of my favorite authors, and I've read several of his books.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, he writes on a wide variety of topics, including travel, science, Shakespeare, the English language, and...himself.  I haven't read the book on the left, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, but know that it is a memoir of his growing up in 1950's America.  The photo used on the cover seems to fit the book quite well, as I'm guessing the Thunderbolt Kid was Bryson's alter ego growing up.  Overalls featuring a crudely drawn thunderbolt, a cape, and some goggles, and you have yourself a respectable, young, backyard super hero.


Then I saw this book, Tweaked by Patrick Moore.  Described on the cover as "Moore's unforgettable account of life as a crystal meth addict--a tweaker-- chronicles a twenty-year trip that stretches from Moore's lonely childhood to the day he sits, naked, in a Los Angeles rental, hallucinating about psychorobbers while talking to a possum he's sure is God."  I suppose it is a memoir, like Bryson's book, but somehow the crystal meth part doesn't seem to match the happy-go-lucky 1950's I picture from the Thunderbolt Kid.  Perhaps the goggles represent Moore's blindness to his addiction?  Maybe the cape represents his hallucinations, him thinking he can fly?  Or perhaps, when one is on a meth bender, cape, overalls and goggles are simply the preferred outfit, I don't know  But it does seem odd that these two books would use the same photo, only reversed.

But, that's not all.  Yes, I have managed to find three books that use the same cover!  This book, Why Not: How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small, would be found in the Business section at your local bookstore.  I'm not sure where this overall-wearing punk fits in here.  Maybe this kid wasn't fitting in at school or was getting bullied, and needed a way out.  Would overalls, cape, and goggles be his 'everyday ingenuity?'  When I think back to my days in elementary school and junior high, I think this kid's get-up would more likely be a 'prelude to more beatings,' instead of a solution to his problems.  Then again, maybe his problems were entirely different, and this costume did fix them, though I can't think of what those problems could possibly be.

I figured The Great Gatsby was more deserving of the cover image it shared with Rules of Civility because, well, it's The Great Gatsby, and that trumps most things in the book world.  Here, I'm not so sure which book 'wins.'  My bias has me leaning toward Bryson as I've heard of him and enjoy his work.  But looking at when all three were published, I see that Why Not was the first, back in 2004, while Tweaked was published in 2006, and this particular edition of Thunderbolt wasn't printed until 2010.  However, I think the photo probably best fits Thunderbolt as it is fairly clear why it was used, while the other two have me guessing.

I do know who the winner will be when it comes to sales though, and I'm sure Bryson will sell more copies in a week than the other two will, ever.  Looking on goodreads, Thunderbolt has 17,286 ratings, while the other two have a combined 206.

With this remembrance, that you use the same

I was thinking about book covers again, which continue to fascinate me.  My interest this time was in Rules of Civility, a fairly popular book from last year.  I don't really know anything about the story or author, but I know the hardcover version featured the cover to the right, a woman lounging on a chair, likely from the 1920's, as a man sat beside her, holding a drink.

When I first saw it on the bookstore shelves, I recognized it immediately as the same photo used on the Penguin Classics edition of The Great Gatsby.  Disappointment is all I felt.  While the photo likely fits both books, I guess I had just always assumed that the photo was taken exclusively for the purpose of putting it on the cover of one of the all time great novels.  Never for an instance did I think it was merely a stock photo of the 1920's for use, wherever.  The photo just screams Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan!

Even without knowing anything about Rules of Civility, I know it is no match for Fitzgerald's masterpiece, and therefore is not deserving of sharing the same cover image.  To me, this is as if somebody had slapped Ferrari's bucking horse on a Lada.  Sure, they're both cars from Europe, but never should the two be sharing anything of this magnitude, and never would anybody confuse one for the other.

I think it also says a little about Rules of Civility, or at least its publisher.  A book cover is so important and good ones can be so effective at making people pick a book up, which makes me wonder why a publisher would put so little effort into marketing a new book by simply using a stock photo.  While the same could be said of Gatsby, it is a book that sells itself on reputation alone, and doesn't really need a fancy cover. Having said that, I'm a little disappointed that Penguin would use a stock photo for a book of Gatsby's magnitude.  You'd think there are more than enough photos to go around, and that books needn't be sharing them.

Books of a Feather, Flock Together

For those of you unfamiliar with the Canadian Football League, there were, for quite some time, two teams with the same name.  Although there were only eight teams in the league, both the Ottawa and the Saskatchewan franchises were named the Roughriders, and shared the name for 85 years until Ottawa folded in 1996.  Of course some will defend the name sharing, noting the Ottawa team used the two-word 'Rough Riders,' while Saskatchewan the one-word, 'Roughriders.'  But really, that was just an excuse to help explain why a quarter of the league had the same name.

I was at the bookstore toady, wandering up and down the aisles, when I cam across a couple of western novels by William W. Johnstone that caught my attention.  First, there was the story of Falcon MacCallister dealing with anti-union types in Oklahoma, entitled Blood of Eagles.  Sounds like a thrilling enough premise, with a grab-your attention title; but what about the book only a couple of spots farther down the shelf?  It was another of Mr. Johnstone's over 100 exciting titles: Bloodshed of Eagles, the story of Falcon MacCallister fight anti-union forces in Colorado!

Suddenly I was back in the CFL of the 1980's staring at two books with seemingly identical titles and plots, battling it out to be amongst the worst books in the store.  I suppose I shouldn't rush to judgement, but I doubt these rate up there with Tom Clancy, never mind I, Claudius or Catch-22.  Of course there is an entire section of 'Romance' titles, which these wouldn't even approach for 'unreadability,' and I really shouldn't comment on these, until I've read them; which will be never.

Now both of these books are part of the aptly named, 'Eagle Series' so I suppose a little understanding is in order.  They're also by the same author, feature the same character and have roughly the same plot.  But I keep picturing how Johnstone's meeting with his editor must have gone as he prepared to release Bloodshed.  

"You've got to come up with a title for you next book Bill," said the editor, trying to hide the situation's desperation.

"Well, how about...Blood of Eagles!!?" replied Johnstone, excited and determined.

"No can do Bill, you've already used that title," he responded,with a hint of frustration.

"What about...," pondered the author, glancing out his editor's window, at the grounds keeper's shed that sat across the street, "...Bloodshed of Eagles!!??"

"Sounds like another bestseller to me Bill!" he exclaimed, stamping miscellaneous forms with approval.

Surely they could have come up with something a little more original than a mere extended version of the previous title, couldn't they?  I'm guessing the use of blood is meant to signify the violence that no doubt appears in the book, but there are dozens of words that could be used with 'of Eagles' to signify violence, death, or old west problems in general.  How about carnage, massacre or slaughter?

Oh, wait, he's already used those as well:

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Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot,

Last week I talked about a couple of books I read, only because of the cover.  I don't consider this to be a bad thing at all, as that is exactly what covers are supposed to do; draw readers to the book.  And walking the shelves of the book store, one sees such a wide variety of covers.  At the end of the day, every single one of them was chose for a reason, be it commercial reasons to sell more copies, or merely to fit in with the author's artistic vision.

But whatever the reason, a great cover is one that makes me pick up the book.  Of course it helps to have a great title if it's a novel, or to be about a topic I'm interested in if it's non-fiction, but the cover is what will almost always catch my eye first.  Two of my favorite covers from books I've read the past few years are Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan and The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt.  As is the case with these two books, I find non-fiction much more likely to have a photograph on the cover, opposed to a drawing on the cover of a novel.  I suppose this makes sense, as one is depicting real world events while the other is fictitious.

When Paris 1919 was first released, I remember the cover jumping out at me.  I found the photo of these three men, Georges Clemenceau, David Lloyd George, and Woodrow Wilson, simply fascinating.  With top hats, which by today's standards look quite silly, and each using a walking stick, despite not having any need for a cane, the three leaders walk the streets of Paris, en route to hammer out a lasting peace for Europe and the World.  Together, they represented the last of the old guard, as Western civilization shifted from the aristocratic, old-money leaders to new, industrial wealth.  It can even be seen in this cover photo, as the men walking behind them wear the much hipper and more stylish skimmers.

Having been quite familiar with the Paris peace treaty before reading this book, I also knew how old fashion their thinking was and how disastrous that would be in the years to come.  This photo just captured it so well for me, and worked so well for this book.  Without a doubt, this is one of my favorite non-fiction covers.

The Sisters Brothers, by contrast, has a completely different style of cover, fitting for a novel.  I first saw this cover when I started working with WordFest, as it was scheduled to be one of the featured books (after being nominated for so many awards, Patrick deWitt was unable to make it to Calgary until two months after the festival).  These two one-eyed cowboys staring right at me, seemingly cloaked in shadows with guns drawn, intrigued me.  Their mysterious nature made me want to learn their story.

But I also love that their heads are lined up perfectly with the eyes of what I assume is Ben Franklin on an American one hundred dollar bill.  Maybe a little foreshadowing to the brothers' main motivation?  Maybe not though.  When I asked Patrick if that was indeed Ben Franklin, he was unsure, saying it was simply a cover by a Portland artist that he really liked.  But I'm almost positive that is Ben Franklin, and I can't imagine that would be a mere coincidence.  Either way, it's a great cover; and a great book.

There are so many book covers that intrigue me, and it's something I truly enjoy talking about.  Not only are there covers that draw me in, but also covers that drive me away.  Sometimes, a cover image leaves me baffled and wanting to learn more about it (not an easy task might I add).  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to write a few more posts about book covers in the coming weeks and months, there are just too many that need to be discussed.

What are some covers that you love or loathe?  Or ones that simply stick out in your mind for whatever reason?

For all that beauty that doth cover thee

In my last post, I mentioned Harry Flashman and the Flashman series, a quick little diversion by George MacDonald Fraser I recently read.  But I never mentioned why I read it, and that is a simple answer; the cover.

While we've always been told to never judge a book by its cover, nobody ever said anything about selecting a book by its cover.  In fact, not only are covers designed to do exactly this, but they're also very successful.  A good cover can pull people in and make them interested enough, in a book they know nothing about, to purchase a copy while at their local book store.

This is exactly what happened for me, after I had passed the Flashman series many, many times at the book store, often pulling a copy out to take a look.  Each of the fifteen or so books in the series features Harry Flashman, the series protagonist, on the cover, usually in some sort of exotic outfit, usually with some sort of exotic woman.

Evey time I stared at one of the Flashman covers, I couldn't help but be intrigued.  Who is this mysterious character, surrounded by beautiful women, apparently visiting every corner of the Earth?  Why does he have one eye-brow raised as if he knows something I don't, while wearing that shit-eating grin on his face?  Soon, I'd think to myself, I have to read these books and find out the answers to these questions!  Of course it wasn't just the covers, but it was because of the cover art that I read the back of the book, and thought they didn't sound half bad.  But long story, short; I wouldn't have ever read the Flashman series if it hadn't been for the pictures on the cover.

This isn't the first time I've read a book, based almost exclusively on the cover however.  Last spring I read The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, which I may have been interested in because it was about books, but really it was because of the cover.   The shadowy figure standing in front of a wooden shelf, filled with old books, conjured up quite the image in my head.  I pictured this sophisticated man, perhaps a mysterious Keyser Soze-type, visiting musty used-bookstores around the world, in search of the rarest and most treasured books ever printed.  I pictured the dapper thief roaming the world looking for his treasures, using elaborate cons and sophisticated robbery techniques to acquire them.

Of course it turns out it was just some loser from California, who stole valuable books by committing credit card fraud.  And he wasn't even interested in the books themselves, only the status they represented, figuring people would think he was smart if he had a rare book collection in his garage at his house outside of Fresno.  I mean, the guy wore sweat pants. Sweat pants!  Disappointing to say the least.  And all of this happened, because I liked the cover and let my imagination run wild.  I suppose the marketing worked. (This isn't to say the book was bad, it was interesting, it's just not what I was imagining based on the cover art).

Flashman was much closer to meeting my expectations, but still fell short in a way.  While Harry was an incredible cad, I was expecting even more, based solely on the various covers.  I wanted him to be so over the top, that when he was anything short of that, I felt a little disappointed.  But then again, how could any book meet the lofty praise I had established based on that cover?  I pictured Harry being to a real soldier, as Austin Powers was to James Bond; a complete caricature.  Instead, the author decided to go with a hint of realism.  I guess that's understandable.