Is anyone else guilty of buying books just because they like the cover?

[ThreeApplesHigh]

I know the old saying but I still can't resist a pretty cover.

Yesterday I bought the Vintage classics edition of H is for Hawk in a charity shop because I loved the cover. It was £1.50 so a pretty good bargain. It's in excellent condition and has been signed too, which is a bonus. I'm sure that I'll enjoy the contents but my main motivation was how nice it looked.

Does anyone else do the same?

The edition I bought but not my copy as I need to remove the stickers so that I can see it in all its glory.

Me!

I'm resisting a cookbook that is far beyond my skills, cooking isn't even a hobby of mine.... I know I only want it because I love the cover, I'd never attempt the actual recipes! 😂

I'm a sucker for a lovely cover! Vintage Classics are beautiful.

Have you see the Folio Society? OMG 😍

www.foliosociety.com/uk

Definitely! I have a few Du Maurier books that I love the covers of (see below) and I feel a bit sad if I can't find that version! I also love Persephone books- ok, they all look the same but they are so elegant and the endpapers are beautiful.

Yes definitely! I’ve got several books that I probably wouldn’t have bought if I didn’t like the cover so much.

That is a good looking book OP!

Definitely guilty here. I once planned a long, lazy afternoon in the park with the children (prime reading time when they’re busy in the play area) and realised I’d forgotten my book. I did a mad dash into the local Waterstones and grabbed a copy of Idaho by Emily Ruskovich because the cover looked pretty. It was so good it ended being my favourite book of the year, and I still recommend it all the time.

Yes, I bought Richard Feynman's 'The Pleasure of Finding Things Out' for the cover, though the title intrigued me. Didn't really know what it was about but thoroughly enjoyed the essays.

This is the only image I could find quickly and doesn't do it justice, because it's so shiny - www.amazon.co.uk/Pleasure-Finding-Things-out-Richard/dp/0713994371

@Fitterbyfifty those are lovely. Covers do matter because this is my copy of Frenchman’s Creek and I think explains why it sat on my shelf for approximately 10
years before I read it.

On the other side, whilst I bought this because of the writer the entire experience of reading the book was enhanced because it just made me smile every time I picked it up.

I remember buying Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep because I liked the cover. Great book though.

@StColumbofNavron oh dear! That is bad.

I have learnt a valuable lesson though - that we should not judge a book by its cover since it ended up being my first 5 star read in absolutely ages.

Definitely! They can be so appalling!

Not related to the op but had to comment as I'm not sure I ever see other people reading in the park. I love reading there and wonder why there aren't more of us. I am lucky the library is on the way to our local park.

I‘m the same, love gorgeous covers. I noticed there’s a trend for super pretty covers, a la The Miniaturist and have been buying hardbacks of books like that but can I confess, I find them a bit dull when I try to read them?! But still look pretty!

Thank you all for responding and posting these beautiful book covers. I made another cover buy today. A book on the history of British puddings. My terrible photo doesn't do it justice. The cover is textured and has some gorgeous illustrations inside. I couldn't resist and it was only £2.

Hopefully the pic works.

Two of the illustrations inside.

Apologies for all the posts but MN wouldn't let me post them together.

zafferana I just made the mistake of looking further into The Folio Society site and I'm going to regret it. I want all of them. They're so beautiful. It is my birthday this weekend so I may have to treat myself.

Fitterbyfifty I used to have three of those DdM editions. I bought them from The Book People and gave them to a charity shop some years ago and I'm regretting it now. I didn't realise that there were so many others in the range. I knew of her other novels but not that they'd released all of them in those editions. I might have to start collecting them again.

I used to have a friend who did that, when I was in my teens.

She was a very smart, sophisticated girl and would buy paperback science fiction based on the covers. This was ages ago, before internet use was so widespread, so it wasn't as if she was able to look up reviews.

A lot of time and money goes into designing book covers, for a very good reason.