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Original poster

AIBU to think that these are the ugliest book covers ever?

87 replies

TowelMouse · 08/09/2021 19:10

Can you beat them?

Also, what do you hate about book covers and what physical book features do you hate? I can't bear deckled edges. They give me the shivers.

AIBU to think that these are the ugliest book covers ever?
AIBU to think that these are the ugliest book covers ever?
AIBU to think that these are the ugliest book covers ever?
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Fabbydabbydoozey · 08/09/2021 21:36

I remember those! This has made me laugh.

EarringsandLipstick · 08/09/2021 21:35

@IDontDrinkTea

Given a choice, I’ll always buy an illustrated cover over a cover that shows the tv/film adaptation actors.
Yes! I can't buy a book with the TV adaptation photos on it.
SpittinKitten · 08/09/2021 21:33

I see your Christies and raise you a Greer...

PenCreed · 08/09/2021 21:33

I opened this thread thinking "it can't be worse than the 70s Christie covers". And there they are, in all their weirdness.

IDontDrinkTea · 08/09/2021 21:32

Given a choice, I’ll always buy an illustrated cover over a cover that shows the tv/film adaptation actors.

EarringsandLipstick · 08/09/2021 21:32

I agree about Re-educated & the orange colour. It put me off too.

I am quite interested in the book but read the first chapter & she just sounded so smug & self-satisfied with her Big Life Changes I just didn't buy it. I probably will tho!

EarringsandLipstick · 08/09/2021 21:30

Oh this brings back memories! When I was small I was sleeping in my Grandma's house & there was a pile of Agatha Christie's on the nightstand. All in the vein you shared. I was petrified.

FindMeInTheSunshine · 08/09/2021 21:24

Oh, agre about the change part way through a series. Even more annoying when they changed the size of just about all the paperbacks and I've got several series where the second half no longer fit my bookshelvesAngry

Flamglimglubberty · 08/09/2021 21:18

I really can't stand book covers that change theme half way through a series and then don't match!

elkiedee · 08/09/2021 21:13

Interesting. I received a survey about a cover that I really dislike of a book which I've actually read recently as I heard a radio abridgement and it sounded interesting. The book is Re-Educated by Lucy Kellaway, and I most dislike the orange colour and, yes, I know this is pedantic, the full stop at the end of the subtitle. (No! to full stops in subtitles!)

Reading this, I think I tend to choose books through information either online or on the radio, mostly - I buy physical books in charity shops and often even with those I look at known authors, publishers/imprints which specialise in a particular type of book. But I wish the blurb was easier to find on Amazon than silly pretend subtitles and writer/reviewer puffs that don't actually tell me what it's about, so I suppose this is similar to the lack of proper editorial blurb on the back cover (or just inside the front cover with many hardbacks and some posh paperback editions).

citygirlinwellies · 08/09/2021 20:24

My goodness they are bad! It looks like the results of reception class self-portrait session. I agree about the lack of blurb, I've noticed it a lot lately. So annoying having to Google just to find out what they could so easily just print on the back!

Original poster
TowelMouse · 08/09/2021 19:18

I also hate this trend for not putting the blurb on the back of the book. It's very frustrating. I love a nice cover as much as anyone but I'm unlikely to buy it on that basis alone. I want to know what the book is about or I'm not buying it.

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