First though...R.I.P. Barry Hannah-AIRSHIPS was a phenomenal book.
http://bustedflushpress.blogspot.com/2010/03/covers-for-daniel-woodrell-reprints.html
Does anyone find themselves buying a reprint of a book they already have because they like the cover? Besides George, that is? I am tempted to get these two. The covers are so much better than the ones on my copies. And can you ever have too much Woodrell? I think not.
Nope. Covers mean virtually nothing to me. I may think one is cool and one is ugly, but I have no real interest in them.
ReplyDeleteExcept maybe for Christa Faust's MONEY SHOT. That's a good cover.
Covers do matter to me. They often lead me to read the book. Sometimes I may be disappointed, but I've already bought the book.
ReplyDeleteI can't recall the cover to MONEY SHOT even though I own it so maybe they don't matter.
ReplyDeleteI would like to rip the covers off my favorite and make a collage.
I think I prefer the Woodrell covers on the versions I have, which are not shown on Amazon. Taste is a funny thing. Covers can attract me to a book, but these days its usually reviews by bloggers I've grown to trust and past experience of an author. Difficult to beat the Hard Case crime covers - consistently good across all their titles.
ReplyDeleteTitles and covers can draw me to pick up a book in the store or check it out online, but then there has to be something promising between the covers to prompt me to purchase it. Re your question, Patti, about buying second copies of a book because of a new cover edition - I have indeed done so, numerous times. Both for the cover and for the re-read that the new edition motivates me to undertake. I have three or four editions of many of Ross MacDonald's books, as well as James Cain's. Black Lizard bit me big with their editions several years ago!
ReplyDeletePatti--that's what color photocopiers are for.
ReplyDeleteI tend to buy duplicate copies only for other reasons, unless the edition I had previously had an incredibly bad cover (such as the Jove reprints of THE UNKNOWN and THE UNKNOWN 5).
Nina Simone's biography being covered on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED as I write.
Not that I'm at all immune to good packaging of books. The Dillons alone...they and Jack Gaughan did a lot more to sell Ace Books than any retitligns Don Wollheim made of the novels and collections he edited...
ReplyDeleteGuilty as charged, Patti. I've been known to buy multiple copies of books depending on the covers. I was always a sucker for any Robert McGinnis cover. And, I bought hundreds (maybe thousands) of science fiction and fantasy novels simply because I liked the covers. Of course, most of those books now reside at SUNY at Buffalo.
ReplyDeleteYou have let others profit from your purchases. That's a great thing.
ReplyDeleteColor copies allow me to hang Megan's covers up my stairs. I could never afford to buy the originals.
I love art, I care about the cover on a book, but still, it's just the wrapper for the pages. If I'm nuts about it, I'll try to seek out a high-res image of it and keep that to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI do occasionally see a cover that turns me off to the book, however.
Todd - color photocopiers? How about scanners? Better res, better image output and can be printed at higher DPI. I'll take a digital image any time, thanks.
Yep. And not just the art. If the dimensions of a TPB or the cover paper's coating is nice, I've been known to pick it up and even read it again just to spend time with it.
ReplyDeleteYes, Rick, but if one is going for old-school hands-on collage, and one is actually thinging (shudder) of cutting up old books, first let us assume there are no color copiers in the house...
ReplyDeleteI hardly pay attention to covers other than for an initial, that's cool or not sort of reaction. If there are two different versions of the book for the same price I will pick the one with the best cover. Other than that covers just don't influence me.
ReplyDeleteI should say they don't influence me in a good way. they can influence me negatively. If for example the cover suggested that the book was strictly a romance I might pass it up without taking a look inside.
ReplyDeleteOr we can assume that if there's thinking of cutting up paperbacks, there are no color printers. Typing while asleep is a dangerous thing.
ReplyDeleteI have began to reassemble my library and while I never bought I book I already owned for it's cover I am seeking out the cover version I like for the books I am now rebuying to replace those turned to ash.
ReplyDeleteTravis-You should publish a list of books you had and lost and see if some of us can replace them.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, those covers don't do much for me. Backs of heads. Nope. Not intrigued.
ReplyDeleteCovers do matter though. I will absolutely pick up a book and read about based on a cool cover.
A cover is also a tip off to a cheap book/book publisher. In that case I think you absolutely can judge a book by the cover.
Fair enough, Todd. No color copier here.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the person turning around and you finding out their story. And I also like the idea of putting my own face on her. I don't like it when an author describes a character too thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteI do like the collages of pulp/noir/hard-boiled book covers that I see on some blogs, but a cover rarely has the power to make me want to read (or not want to read) a particular book.
ReplyDeleteI love beautiful covers, but when it comes to buying a book, I´ll pick the cheapest copy - any time! So I spend endless hours on the internet every month, trying to stretch my book budget as much as possible.
ReplyDeletePretty to look at but maybe more important on a wall than a cover sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI bought James Crumley's The Right Madness -- in hard cover! -- just because I loved the cover photo. The book was boring. I read a few chapters and quit. So I kept the cover and donated the book to the library.
ReplyDelete...
My father had more than 50 per cent of the Brett Halliday Michael Shayne paperbacks, which I now have in my collection. Once I completed the run, I've been buying additional copies if they have a different cover often by Robert McGinnis. I'm doing the same with John D. MacDonald paperbacks. On occasion but not often when I owned a PB, I have bought a hardcover because I like the artwork on the DJ.
ReplyDelete