Let's Talk Bookish; Good Covers VS. Good Contents?

It's Friday and perhaps time for a new Let's Talk Bookish post, courtesy of Literary Lion and Eternity Books. The theme of the week was good covers versus good contents.


Although I can't deny that a beautifully made covers draws me to the book, but I ultimately buy the book if it sounds interesting. A well-made cover is just not enough. It's almost like a beautifully wrapped (Christmas) present that has crappy/disappointing content, if you know what I mean. Then I would actually prefer a well-written book with a boring/uninspiring cover.

That said, misleading covers can also trick the readers a bit. A few years ago I read the Norwegian edition of Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg (Fergen) and due to the cover, as well as the blurb on the back, I believed it to be a crime novel of sorts. Spoiler alert for those who haven't read it yet, but intend to do it, it's a vampire novel and I only found out roughly 100 pages in. Not that I complain about reading a vampire novel with a ferry setting, but it would be nice to know in advance that it's a vampire novel and not a crime novel. By the way, here's the cover for the Norwegian edition. I can't be the only one who was fooled?


Speaking of crappy covers, even if I know a lot of people like them, I really struggle with movie-adaption covers. Like, I believed most graphic designers were a bit creative? Can't you come up with something else than just using the movie poster? Or is it a sale-gimmick from the PR department, just to make more people by the books, as they recognise the photos/graphics from the movie?

Alright, cover rant over. Although I have an eclectic mix of books in my shelves, both in terms of covers and conents, I rarely unhaul any books, regardless of reason, as one of my biggest dreams is to have my very own library room once (and therefore need quite a bit of books), but if I have to choose, I would rather have shelves packed with good stories over beautiful covers (not that there's anything wrong with a beautiful cover of course).

That said, I do collect various editions of some of my favourite books, such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, so it's not like I'm totally immune towards beautiful covers and/or editions.

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