Book Bitching

People say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Both metaphorically and literally, this is true. There are plenty of books out there that have less than stellar covers, and yet are glorious in actual substance. There are plenty of books with highly attractive covers that, upon reading, actually suck. However, I think that covers are a very important aspect of selecting a book, assuming you’ve wandered into a bookstore without a specific purchase in mind. Publishers certainly put a lot of thought into them - they don’t just pick a random artist to slap something together. There are documentable [Don’t lie to me, Firefox, “documentable” is totally a word.] trends in book covers of different genres over periods of time. Sarah Rees Brennan, whose debut novel The Demon’s Lexicon comes out in July, recently wrote a great, brief field guide to cover trends in Young Adult literature on her blog . [I’m a huge fan of Sarah’s, and am more excited than I could possibly express about her book! I will be there, breaking down the bookstore’s doors, the day it is released!]

I admit that I am quite influenced by covers. If there’s a book I know I’m interested in that has a terrible cover, I’ll probably still buy it.. But in some cases I have reservations about carrying it around in public. Take Mélusine by Sarah Monette , for example. I’ve heard nothing but good about this book and its author, and the premise interests me. I’ve wanted to read it for a while now. But I’ve hesitated - partly due to having so much else I want to read even more, and partly due to the cover. I recently sucked it up and bought the book, by the way, and it’s sitting by my bedside waiting for me to finish three other books before I finally pick it up. But what about the cover made me hesitate? Well, it features a hot man. Normally not a problem. But this hot man happens to be shirtless and looks like Fabio. In short, it looks like a trashy Romance novel, when in truth it’s Fantasy. I am prejudiced against Romance novels, I will freely admit. When I say a book reads like a Romance novel, it is an insult. Or when I say that they should reshelve the post-Obsidian Butterfly books of Anita Blake into the Romance section, and that I’m insulted to have them invading my beloved Fantasy section, that too is an insult. Now, I’m sure there are a few really epic Romance novels out there. But mostly they are pure gratuitous sex, and of extremely - and I stress the extremely - poor quality writing with no discernible plot whatsoever. I can find the same thing online for free, in a short, don’t-waste-my-time condensed format, in the form of Draco/Harry slash, and better written. It makes me cry inside to hear my friend Miranda describe the Romance novels she’s reading. [It also makes me cry inside even more to hear her describe the new Anita Blake books, and the Merideth Gentry books by the same author which, excuse me fans, seriously need to get the hell out of my Fantasy section.] But this isn’t a rant about Romance novels; I digress.

My point is that I would be embarrassed if someone thought I was reading a Romance novel. Normally I don’t care what the heck people see me reading, and I’ve carried around Anita Blake novels before, which tend to have suggestive covers. But they’re nothing like a Fabio. It’s just toeing the line for me. This one I may stick to reading at home, and have another book in cycle at the same time as my out-and-about book. [I always carry a book. It’s one of the reasons I have a big purse.]

Conversely, some covers really attract me. When the artwork is beautiful and gives me a tantalizing snippet of the story in image format, I will pick it up, read the back blurb, and consider its potential. This is why publishers must really think about their covers, and its appropriateness for the book’s target audience. Sci-Fi fans like to see machines and space-scapes on their covers, one assumes. Fantasy fans will be drawn to a mystical creature or a person with unusual marks, objects, or who is glowing in some way. Etcetera. It’s pretty much a no-brainer. The hard part is picking a cover that will appeal to as broad an audience as possible, while still being interesting and eye-catching.

So, what I want to know is this: How much are you affected by covers? Have you ever swallowed your pride and bought a book with an embarrassing cover? Have you ever been terribly disappointed in a book that had a great cover? Have you ever bought a book just for its cover, hit or miss? What are some of your favorite covers? Tell me!

While I sip my cherry limeade - having already nommed down a Sonic bacon cheeseburger, which was delish - let me tell you how much I love the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series.

I love the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series so much, the night before last I was up until 4am finishing Dead as a Doornail. I then promptly got on Facebook, added a bunch of Flair featuring Alexander Skarsgard as Eric Northman on True Blood, sent this same barrage of Flair to my friend Alison, and then wrote on her wall, “HAVE I MENTIONED HOW MUCH I LOVE ERIC LATELY?” She is used to my crazy by now.

I love the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series so much, I just came back from buying the next two books - Definitely Dead and All Together Dead. I usually try to limit myself to buying one book at a time, in an effort to spread my money as far and thin on my toast as I can. But these books are such a good read, and I fly through them so quickly, I decided I had to have all of the ones out in paperback NOOOOW. The eighth book is out, but only in hardback.. And the paperback version comes out March 2009. Dammit. It’s going to be a long couple of months unless I go to the book store, sit down with a coffee, and just read it right then and there.

I can’t really say much about Dead as a Doornail without ruining parts of the series for people, but I will say this: In this book, Jason is pat-him-on-the-head adorably vulnerable, Bill is jealous, Eric continues to be awesome, Pam is so completely awesome I kind of want to marry her, Alcide is kind of an ass, Tara is in deep shit, lots of people get shot, and Sookie is sick of it all and needs some Midol or something for her super-action PMS. And, as a wise blogger once said, “Vampires always multiply existing crazy by like a factor of three.” She was saying it in regards to the Twilight fandom, but I think it applies here too.

I spent pretty much the entire day curled up with Merlin, my cat, and reading - I’m quite close to the end of Dead as a Doornail, and may even finish it tonight.

Another bulk of the day I spent uncluttering the books I have stored in my closet. I desperately need another bookshelf - my five-shelver is overflowing. I’ve had my less favored books stored in my closet for a long time, including some non-fiction ones that were from a phase of my life that has long passed. When I see those books sitting there in my closet, not doing a whit of good to anyone, it just reminds me of how stupid I was to buy all of them, barely even reading them except to page through to the different sections. So I decided to do something about it. Hey, it’s a new year - I should do some housecleaning and make a dent in all the clutter in my room anyway. So I pulled out all of these books, and wrote out exact notes on their condition. I take very good care of my books anyway, but these I had barely touched at all, I’d just bought them to feel wise and important, honestly. But when I sell or swap books, I always take note of even the slightest of imperfections, because I feel the buyer/swapper has every right to know. I had some places where I could list up those books and people might be interested in them, so I organized it all - setting my selling rate for the price listed on the book, minus two dollars - and posted them up. I feel rather accomplished. I did something productive today. I could use some cash to feed my book addiction anyway, so it was a practical move.

I may eventually list up some of the fiction books I have no attachment too, though these are few and far between. I get very attached to my books, which is where my problem with funds comes in. I prefer to own books, rather than borrow them from a library. First of all, the books are in better condition and I feel better about curling up with them in my clean bed. Library books tend to squick my OCD. But I also like the fact that I own the book, and I own the story, and I can see it there on my shelf, and revisit it like an old friend. I brush my fingertips across the spines of my favorites, and feel comforted. I am sometimes seen in bookstores, “visiting” these same favorite books that I already have copies of at home. People sometimes say I talk to them, but they are lying liars who lie.

Vampirephiles, this post is for you!

I’m currently reading Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris , the fifth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series (also called the Southern Vampire series). When I initially read Dead Until Dark , the first book, I only thought it was so-so. Compared to the earlier Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books by Laurell K. Hamilton, they were sub-par. [By the way, I say the earlier Anita Blake books, because after Obsidian Butterfly the series has taken a severe nosedive. Anita used to be such an awesome, strong female character. She was sarcastic and badass. Now.. She’s skanking things up, and recycling the same quips over and over. But I’ll discuss this another time, I’m getting sidetracked. My point is this: I refer to Obsidian Butterfly and before as “vintage Anita Blake”. Just so you know.] Then I heard that the series was getting turned into a TV show, and I grew curious about it. When viral marketing for the show, which was to be called True Blood , showed up, I grew even more curious. After watching the first couple of episodes, I knew I was addicted. Though it was far from a perfect show, it was cheesy and hilarious in a way that really worked for it. Another factor in addicting me to the show was the recaps written by the illustrious Cleolinda Jones , whose parodies I adore. [I even own and frequently pimp her book, Movies in Fifteen Minutes .] After a couple more episodes, I knew I wanted to pick the series back up again.

My first course of action was to re-read Dead Until Dark. As I suspected, I liked it a lot better now that I had some good visuals in my head. Before, I kept picturing Sookie as the chick from the TV show The Closer, and it really wasn’t working for me. Anna Paquin , who plays Sookie on True Blood, provided a much better visual. And Stephen Moyer , who plays the main vampire, Bill, provides a good visual too. A damn good visual. A fine visual. Ahem. I could hear the characters’ voices as I read, and it was just all-around better. And so I picked up the next book, and continued on. And the next book. And the next.

I am thoroughly hooked. They’re pretty light books, but they have great plot and fun characters. [For the record, Eric is totally better than Bill.] They don’t go overboard on the sex, like Anita Blake does. The show differs from the books in some aspects, mainly in giving certain characters bigger roles than they originally had, but these differences are certainly understandable for the change in medium.

In conclusion: I love the books, and intend to read them all! I love the show, and can’t wait for season two!