A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

Its's been a long time since I last did an edition of Dreadful Book Covers, but here's a new one for you: the cover of The Priest's Madonna , by Amy Hassinger. The book has gotten good reviews since it was published two years ago, but hasn't sold that well. Maybe because of the cover? The woman looks as though she's possessed! So I guess I revive my old questions: do you think a cover makes or breaks a book? Do you ever purchase a book based solely on its cover? What kinds of covers usually catch your eye, if you're out browsing at a bookstore?

Alright, so I'll be the first person to admit that I don't like book covers with a cartoon-ish design. But even if I did like cartoon/ Manga-ish covers, I still wouldn't be a fan of this one, the cover of Wilson: A Consideration of the Sources. The various parts of this cover aren't coordinated. And who's the creepy little man at the top corner? Both he and the angry-looking wolf are floating in space, literally. It's not funny, it just looks stupid.

Last weekend, I spent a few hours crawling around on the floor of the Strand Bookstore, taking pictures for Dreadful Book Covers (and hiding from Strand employees and other patrons, harder than one might think). In search for more dreadful covers to adorn this blog, I uncovered the book above: Fanny Hill: Or, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure . Originally written by John Cleland in the mid-18th century, Fanny Hill was the ultimate erotic novel and was ultimately banned for its bawdy content. I love (not) how the cover of this recently-published edition has the woman's anatomy clearly outlined. Not to mention, her tongue is sticking out, for some bizarre reason. Sexual desire, maybe? If so, this is a weird way to depict it. Random fun fact: John Cleland has the same birthday as F. Scott Fitzgerald.

On June 24, prolific author Joyce Carol Oates has a new book coming out, and I must say that the cover is dreadful! The title is My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike (dreadful in and of itself), and, as in her 2001 novel Blonde (about the life of Marilyn Monroe), Oates tries to take on a controversial subject: the death of Jon Benet Ramsey (only she gives the character a new name). I’m honestly surprised by this cover—considering some of the great covers Oates’s books have had in the past, I would have expected something better. But Oates’s name is what sells her books. Here, the little boy on the left looks downright creepy, and his back leg is at a weird angle. Plus, the cut-out “inset” doesn’t really work for me. What say you?

I was browsing in my local used bookstore this afternoon when I came across this version of East Lynne , by Ellen Wood , published by Rutgers University Press in 1988. East Lynne was originally published in 1861 and was considered "trash"--albeit popular trash--when it came out. Voila, the trashy cover! (If you can't enlarge the image, at the bottom, the caption is, "Look at me! I am your mother!" and the text in the circle at the top by the title reads, "The Great Emotional Drama").