judging books by their covers

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 29 May 2007, 13:36

Book cover art and blurbs can be as subtle as putting fake cowhide on the outside of a milk carton. Here are my loathes :

1. Using the words "Irish" and "childhood". Even better, use them together. It's a tear-jerking ragged-trousered empty-bellied cryfest for sure.

2. Dayglo/pastel chick-lit throwaway airport trash covers with their cartoony Bridget-esque handbags and lipstick. Make sure the guys on the blurb don't have surnames, or are posh if they do.

3. If you're going to have a photo of breasts on the cover, make sure to give the impression it's artistic. Cos then it's not smut because it's artistic.

4. Wacky travel - Sammy Spiky travels round Bangladesh doing wacky stunts with his wacky mates - wacky! (but yet still with a whiff of respectability because they faced danger and visited a remote place). Let's take a fridge!

5. If you want poignancy, go for a watercolour. In "The Poignancy Of Watercolour Cottage" - Cynthia and her long-lost aunt revisit the ruined cottage in the moors evoking reminiscences of heartbreaking but ultimately warming story of a tear-jerking something or other etc etc

Grr.

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 29 May 2007, 19:10

So, things like this irritate you?

(Funny travel book)

(Not so funny non travel book)

But what about

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 29 May 2007, 19:41