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Tag: book covers of note

Published March 16, 2018

Book Covers of Note March 2018

Lots to see this month, including several YA covers (which I know will please some regular readers), some ‘big’ literary fiction, and a couple of confrontational nonfiction covers to round it out. Enjoy!    


Aetherial Worlds by Tatyana Tolstaya; design by Stephanie Ross (Knopf / March 2018)


Beneath the Water by Sarah Painter; design by Emma Rogers (Lake Union / February 2018)

Although it pains me a little to say it, I think Amazon’s ‘book club’ imprint Lake Union are doing an impressive job commissioning appealing covers for their intended market. I would be interested to hear about the process from designers who’ve worked with them.   


The Birth of the RAF 1918 by Richard Overy; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / March 2018)

The type on this cover is ace. 


The Bleeds by Dimitri Nasrallah; design by David Drummond (Esplanade Books / February 2018) 


Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi; design Richard Deas (Henry Holt / March 2018)


Don’t Call Me Princess by Peggy Orenstein; design Robin Bilardello (Harper / February 2018)


Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi; design by Lizzy Bromley; illustration gg (Simon & Schuster / March 2018)


The End of American World Order by Amitav Acharya; design by David A. Gee (Polity / March 2018)

I feel like there are a lot of stars and stripes covers kicking around right now, but I like the ‘collapsing Venetian blind’ thing going on here.   


A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena; design by Elizabeth H. Clark (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / March 2018)


Graffiti Palace by A.G. Lombardo; design Rodrigo Corral Studio (FSG x MCD / March 2018)

Gun Love by Jennifer Clement; design by Michael Morris (Hogarth / March 2018)

I like this cover very much–especially the type. The illustration and colour combination remind me of Matt Dorfman’s 2011 cover for The Pyschopath Test by Jon Ronson (Riverhead):


The Gunners by Rebecca Kauffman; design by Nicole Caputo (Counterpoint / March 2018)

I read The Gunners earlier this year and it’s very good. Recommended if you enjoyed The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.  


The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin; design Yeti Lambregts (Tinder / March 2018)

It’s interesting to see the UK publisher go in such a different direction from the US cover (designed and illustrated by Sandra Chiu) which, as I noted back in January, seems very on trend internationally to me.


In Every Moment We Are Still Alive by Tom Malmquist; design Marina Drukman (Melville House / January 2018)


In Full Flight by John Heminway; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / February 2018)


The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman; design by Jaya Miceli (Viking / March 2018)

I felt like this cover might be a little too much when I first saw it online, but I bet it will look absolutely stunning in print and piled up on tables.    


I Wrote This Book Because I Love You by Tim Kreider; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / March 2018)

For reference, I have a pinboard of contemporary covers that make use of Lydian, the typeface used here. It was designed for American Type Founders by Warren Chappell in 1938, and it’s very distinctive (those ‘R’s!), so it’s interesting to me that it suddenly has this kind of cult popularity.   


The Largess of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson; design by Suzanne Dean (Jonathan Cape / February 2018)

The pencil shavings are delightful of course, but I did immediately think of Peter Mendelsund‘s covers for Leaving the Sea (2014) and The Flame Alphabet (2012) by Ben Marcus.  


The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; illustration by Gabriel Moreno (Harper Teen / March 2018)

You can read about the design process for the Poet X cover on the Epic Reads blog.


Police: A Field Guide by David Correia and Tyler Wall; design by Matt Avery; illustration by Lauren Nassef (Verso / March 2018)

Can anyone tell me if there is a term for this kind of semi dust jacket? It seems like more than just a belly band. 

The upside-down ‘POLICE’ shield is an interesting decision. It gives the illustration a kind of authenticity (I assume it is based on an actual example), but it also subtly implies something about the contents of the book (as does the not so subtle decision to show a police officer in riot gear rather than more approachable attire!).      


The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst; design by Jenny Carrow (Knopf / March 2018)


Standpoints by Svend Brinkmann; design by David A. Gee (Polity / March 2018)

This is a bit like one Canadian designer called David doing an impression of the ‘other’ Canadian designer called David. Both of them are very idea-driven, and sometimes they do seem to think very alike! I believe they both worked in advertising before turning their attention to design. 


The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews; design by Steve Panton; illustration by Lizzy Stewart (Serpent’s Tail / February 2018)

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Published February 16, 2018

Book Covers of Note February 2018

I had such good intentions to post more often this year. Ah well… Here are this month’s cover selections at least…


An American Marriage by Tayari Jones; design by Jaya Miceli (Algonquin Books / February 2018)


Building and Dwelling by Richard Sennett; design by Tom Etherington (Allen Lane / February 2018)


Eat the Apple by Matt Young; design by Edel Rodriguez (Bloomsbury USA / February 2018)


Feel Free by Zadie Smith; design by Gray318 (Hamish Hamilton / February 2018)


Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi; design by James Paul Jones (Oneworld / February 2018)

The cover of the US edition, published by Penguin last month, was designed by Jason Ramirez: 


The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert; design by Jim Tierney (Flatiron / January 2018)


The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara; design by Sara Wood (Ecco / February 2018)

Sara wrote a great piece about designing this cover for Literary Hub. 


The Kings of Big Spring by Bryan Mealer; design by Keith Hayes (Flatiron / February 2018) 


The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / February 2018)


She Regrets Nothing by Andrea Dunlop; design by Rachel Willey (Washington Square Books / February 2018)


Sunburn by Laura Lippman; design by Elsie Lyons (William Morrow / February 2018)

I included the cover of Sunburn and Elsie Lyons’s cover for The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (featured last month) in a recent presentation about the differences between US and UK cover design. UK editions of both books have a much more conventional genre covers. They signal very clearly to readers that they are thrillers.

The US covers on the other hand have a much more literary, sophisticated look. They both have a distinctive, individual appearance (although I suspect we may see covers copying the approach of The Woman in the Window very soon!) that suggest that these are not your average thrillers.

It is not that one approach is necessarily better than the other from a marketing perspective (although I can guess which designers might prefer!), but it is an interesting contrast.


Up Up, Down Down by Cheston Knapp; design Anna Laytham (Scribner / February 2018)


Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki; design by Michael Morris; illustration by Oliver Wilson (Crown / February 2018)

I will admit it was the photo-realistic painting that first drew my eye to this cover, but I also like that the blocky typography echoes the cover of the author’s previous novel California. 

Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki; design by Michael Morris; illustration by Oliver Wilson (Crown / February 2018)

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Published January 16, 2018

Book Covers of Note January 2018

I was sure that 2018 would be different from 2017, and yet here we are… Happy New Year! 


The Age of Caesar by Plutarch; translation by Pamela Mensch; design by Catherine Casalino (W.W. Norton / January 2018)


The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch; design by Rafi Romaya; illustration by Florian Schommer (Canongate / January 2018)


Bloody January by Alan Parks; design by Chris Gale (Canongate / December 2017)

(I’m including this partly because I spend a lot of my professional life trying to explain the difference between the cover needs of Canada/US and the UK. This is a rare genre cover that — it seems to me at least — does a decent job for both sides of the Atlantic) 


Getting Off by Erica Garza; design by Zoe Norvell (Simon & Schuster / January 2018)


The Gist of Reading by Andrew Elfenbein; design by  Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Stanford University Press / January 2018)


Green by Sam Graham-Felsen; design by June Park (Random House / January 2018)


Heart Spring Mountain by Robin MacArthur; design by Sara Wood (Ecco / January 2018)


I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan; design by Rachel Vale (Pan Macmillan / January 2018)


The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin; design and illustration by Sandra Chiu (G.P. Putnam’s Sons / January 2018)

This cover seems rather on trend to me. It is very nicely done all the same. 

(Something about the shape and colour of the leaves on black background also reminds me of the illustrations in Jon Klassen’s picture book This Is Not My Hat). 


The Job of the Wasp by Colin Winnette; design by Michael Salu (Soft Skull Press / January 2018)


The Ministry of Nostalgia by Owen Hatherley; design by Keith Dodds (Verso / January 2017)

OK. So I’m a year late on this cover. But I saw it recently on Twitter. The cover of the hardcover edition of The Ministry of Nostalgia designed by Andy Pressman was included in my January 2016 post and my annual round-up of notable covers that year.   

Interestingly, the new cover for The Ministry of Nostalgia reminds me of Matthew Young‘s refresh of Pelican Books.

Being Ecological by Timothy Morton (Pelican / January 2018) is a recent example: 


The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce; design by Kimberly Glyder (Random House / January 2018)


Neon in Daylight by Hermione Hoby; design by Strick&Williams; photography by Marc Yankus (Catapult / January 2018)


Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke; art and lettering by Colin Mercer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / January 2018)


Peach by Emma Glass; design by David Mann (Bloomsbury / January 2018)

David’s cover was adapted for the US edition by Patti Ratchford:


A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin; design by Dan Mogford (Serpent’s Tail / 2018)


The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn; design by Elsie Lyons (William Morrow / January 2018)

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Published December 20, 2017

Notable YA Covers of 2017

So here it is, Merry Xmas, everybody’s having fun, my YA (and middle-grade) covers round-up for 2017. This is far from my area of expertise (I mostly work on the adult trade side of things), but until someone else steps up to do a annual post on YA covers with design credits and publisher details you’re stuck with me. Sorry.

All the picks are, of course, mine, but thank you to all the designers who have helped me over the year with covers, suggestions, and credits, and special thanks to Erin Fitzsimmons at HarperCollins and Sarah Creech at Simon & Schuster who helped me with this post in particular. Happy holidays! 


Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Katherine Tegen Books / January 2017)


The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; Illustration by Matt Blease (HarperTeen / July 2017)


Autoboyography by Christina Lauren; design Laurent Lint; illustration by Allison Colpoys (Simon & Schuster / September 2017)


Between Two Skies by Joanne O’Sullivan; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / April 2017)


Caraval by Stephanie Garber; design by Erin Fitzsimmons and Ray Shappell (Flatiron / January 2017)


The Circus by Olivia Levez; design by Nathan Burton (Oneworld / May 2017)

Nathan’s cover for The Island by Olivia Levez was on my list of Notable YA Book Covers last year:


Dear Martin by Nic Stone; design Angela Carlino (Crown / October 2017)


Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy; design by Helen Crawford-White; embroidery by Jane Crawford-White (Pushkin Press / July 2017)


Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon; design Alyssa Nassner; illustration Amanda Lanzone (Amulet Books / March 2017)


Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney Stevens; design Heather Daugherty; illustration by Jen Heuer (HarperTeen / August 2017)


The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera; cover art by Dana Svobodova (Simon & Schuster / February 2017)


Everybody Hurts by Joanna Nadin & Anthony McGowan; design by Leo Nickolls (Atom / August 2017)


Good and Gone by Megan Frazer Blakemore; design by Katie Klimowicz illustration Thomas Danthony  (HarperCollins / December 2017)


Goodnight Boy by Nikki Sheehan; design by Edward Bettison (Oneworld / July 2017)


The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; illustration Debra Cartwright (Balzer + Bray / February 2017)


The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; design by Maria Soler (Walker Books / April 2017)


Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; illustration by Monica Ramos (Balzer + Bray / November 2017)


I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez; design by Connie Gabbert (Knopf / October 2017)


Jaya and Rasa by Sonia Patel; illustration by Zeke Peña (Cinco Puntos Press / September 2017)


The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo; design by design Natalie C. Sousa & Ellen Duda (Imprint / September 2017)


Landscape with Invisible Hand by M. T. Anderson; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / September 2017)


Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds; design by Micheal McCartney (Atheneum Books / October 2017)


The Memory Book by Lara Avery; design by Sinem Erkas (Quercus / January 2017)


Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu; design by Elizabeth H. Clark (Roaring Brook Press / September 2017)


Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor, and Loki by Kevin Crossley-Holland; illustrated by Jeffrey Alan Love; artwork by Jeffrey Alan Love (Candlewick / September 2017)

The UK edition has a different, bright yellow, cover by Jeffrey Alan Love:


The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed; design by Alex Robbins (Simon Pulse / October 2017)


Now I Rise by Kiersten White; design Jet Purdie (based on design by Margaret Hope); illustration Alessandro Taini 

The cover is based on Margaret Hope’s design for And I Darken with art by Taini, which was on my list last year: 


One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus; design by Melissa Four (Penguin / June 2017)


Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen; design by Joan Wong (Wendy Lamb Books / February 2017)

 
Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eager; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / October 2017)


Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy; design by Aurora Parlagreco; illustration by Daniel Stolle (Balzer + Bray / May 2017)

The cover of Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy; also designed by Aurora Parlagreco and illustrated by Daniel Stolle was on my 2015 list.


Release by Patrick Ness; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; photograph by Andrew Yuzko (Harper Teen / September 2017)


Release by Patrick Ness; design by Ben Norland; illustration by Levente Szabo (Walker Books / May 2017)


Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman; cover art by Teagan White (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / November 2017)

White’s cover for Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman was on my list in 2015:


A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge; design by Rachel Vale; illustration by Aitch (Macmillan / September 2017)


Solo by Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess; design Micah Kandros (Blink / August 2017)


Spurt by Chris Miles; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins (Simon & Schuster / February 2017)


Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman; design by Sarah Creech (Simon Pulse / September 2017)


10 Things I Can See from Here by Carrie Mac; art by Steven Wilson (Knopf / February 2017)


There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins; design by Lindsey Andrews; artwork by Sean Freeman (Dutton / September 2017)


This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada; design by Regina Flath (Simon Pulse / November 2017)


A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom; design by Maggie Edkins (Poppy Books / February 2017)


Turtles All the Way Down by John Green; design by Rodrigo Corral and Zak Tebbal; lettering by June Park (Dutton / October 2017)


An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard; design by Lizzy Bromley (Saga Press / September 2017)


The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli; design by Sarah Creech; illustration by Chris Bilheimer (Balzer + Bray / April 2017)

The cover for Becky Albertalli’s previous book, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, also illustrated by Chris Bilheimer was on my 2015 list.


Vanilla by Billy Merrell; design by design by Nina Goffi (Scholastic / October 2017)


We Are Okay by Nina Lacour; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Adams Carvalho (Dutton / February 2017)


What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard; design Elizabeth H. Clark (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / June 2017)


When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon; design by Regina Flath (Simon Pulse / May 2017)


Wildman by J.C. Geiger; design by Maria Elias; illustration by Jeff Östberg (Hyperion / June 2017)

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Published December 8, 2017

Notable Book Covers of 2017

Since 2010, I’ve posted an annual survey of the year in book covers. The post has expanded and developed over the past 7 years, but essentially it is a collection of the covers published in the previous 12 months that I found interesting or noteworthy in some way. As with the previous couple of years, the 2017 list is organized by covers (alphabetical by title), and by designer so that I can show a greater variety of work, and no one designer or studio dominates. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported the blog this year, and special thanks to all the designers, art directors, authors, publishers, and fellow design enthusiasts who have helped me with covers and design credits. My sincere apologies to the designers and publishers not on this year’s list and whose covers I have overlooked in the past 12 months. 

A post looking back on the YA covers of 2017 is to follow.    


Adult Fantasy by Briohny Doyle design by Laura Thomas (Scribe / July 2017)


Age of Anger by Pankaj Mishra; design by Matthew Young (Allen Lane / February 2017)


The Age of Perpetual Light by Josh Weil; design by Nick Misani (Grove Press / September 2017)

All We Saw by Anne Michaels; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Jouke Bos (Knopf / October 2017)

Also designed by Janet Hansen:

Always Happy Hour by Mary Miller; design by Elena Giavaldi; art by Lee Price (Liveright / January 2017)

Also designed by Elena Giavaldi:

The Angry Chef by Anthony Warner; design by Steven Leard (Oneworld / June 2017)

Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou; design by Gray318 (Serpent’s Tail / April 2017)

Also designed by Gray318:

The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / August 2017)

Also designed by Peter Mendelsund:

The Cutaway by Christina Kovac; design by Laywan Kwan (Atria / March 2017)

Also designed by Laywan Kwan:

Don’t Save Anything by Jame Salter; design by Zoe Norvell (Counterpoint / November 2017)

England Your England by George Orwell; design by David Pearson (Penguin Modern Classics / March 2017)

Also designed by David Pearson:

English Uprising by Paul Stocker; design by Jamie Keenan (Melville House / September 2017)

Also designed by Jamie Keenan:

The Experiment by Eric Lee; design by David A. Gee (Zed Books / September 2017)

Also designed by David Gee:

The Fall of Lisa Bellow by Susan Perabo; design by Alison Forner (Simon & Schuster / March 2017)

The Futures by Anna Pitoniak; design by Lauren Harms (Lee Boudreaux Books / January 2017)

Also designed by Lauren Harms:

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / April 2017)

Also designed by Luke Bird:

The Good People by Hannah Kent; design by Rachel Vale (Picador / February 2017)

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; art direction by Christopher Moisan; illustration by Patrik Svensson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / April 2017)

This HMH cover was my favourite of the new editions of The Handmaid’s Tales, but Noma Bar’s cover for Vintage UK was also nice.

The Hearts of Men by Nickolas Butler; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / March 2017)

Also designed by Allison Saltzman: 

Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly; design by Alex Merto; photograph by Gregory Reid (W.W. Norton / December 2017)

Also designed by Alex Merto:

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / October 2017)

Also designed by Kimberly Glyder:

Hollow by Owen Egerton; design by Matt Dorfman (Counterpoint / July 2017)

Also designed by Matt Dorfman:

How Will I Know You? by Jessic Treadway; design by Catherine Casalino; illustration by Henrietta Harris (Grand Central Publishing / August 2017)

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell; design by Yeti Lambregts (Tinder Press / August 2017)

Also designed by Yeti Lambregts:

The Idiot by Elif Batuman; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Aino-Maija Metsola (Jonathan Cape / June 2017)

Also designed by Suzanne Dean:

The Idiot by Elif Batuman; design by Oliver Munday (Penguin / March 2017)

Also designed by Oliver Munday:

Insomniac Dreams: Experiments with Time by Vladimir Nabokov compiled and edited by Gennady Barabtarlo; design by Chris Ferrante (Princeton University Press / December 2017)

Also designed by Chris Ferrante:

Jerusalem Ablaze by Orlando Ortega-Medina; design by La Boca (Cloud Lodge Books / January 2017)

Also designed by La Boca: 

Jerzy by Jerome Charyn; design by Alban Fischer (Bellevue Literary Press / March 2017)

Little Deaths by Emma Flint; design by Justine Anweiler (Picador / January 2017)

Also designed by Justine Anweiler:

Lotus by Lijia Zhang; design by Adly Elewa (Henry Holt / January 2017)

Manly Health and Training by Walt Whitman; design by Richard Ljoenes (Regan Arts / February 2017)

Midlife: A Philosophical Guide by Kieran Setiya; design by Amanda Weiss (Princeton University Press / October 2017)

Narcissism for Beginners by Martine McDonagh; design by Tree Abraham (Unbound / March 2017)

Nicotine by Gregor Hens; design by John Gall (Other Press / January 2017)

One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul; design by C.S. Richardson (Doubleday Canada / March 2017)

Scott was also responsible for my favourite of the (many) Ninety Eighty-Four redesigns this season. 

The Parcel by Anosh Irani; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / September 2017)

Also designed by Allison Colpoys:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / May 2017)

Also designed by Rachel Willey:

A Separation by Katie Kitamura; design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / February 2017)

Also designed by Jaya Miceli:

Sex & Rage by Eve Babitz; design by Kelly Winton (Counterpoint / July 2017)

Strange Heart Beating by Eli Goldstone; design by Jo Walker (Granta / May 2017)

Also designed by Jo Walker:

Swimmer Among the Stars by Kanishk Tharoor; design by Tyler Comrie (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / March 2017)

Also designed by Tyler Comrie:

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Scribner / March 2017)

Also designed by Lauren Peters-Collaer:

Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka Kurniawan; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / August 2017)

Also designed by Erik Carter:

Virgin and Other Stories by April Ayers Lawson; design by James Paul Jones (Granta / January 2017)

Also designed by James Paul Jones: 


We All Love the Beautiful Girls by Joanne Proulx; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Viking / August 2017)

Also designed by Jennifer Griffiths:

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / June 2017)

Also designed by Greg Heinimann:

Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder; design by Sara Wood (Ecco / August 2017)

Also designed by Sara Wood:

Would Everybody Please Stop? by Jenny Allen; design by Na Kim (Sarah Crichton Books / June 2017)

Also designed by Na Kim:

The World Goes On by László Krasznahorkai; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / November 2017)

The cover of Sahre’s “graphic memoir” Two Dimensional Man is also great. 

Writing Not Writing by Tom Fisher; design by  Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (University of Iowa Press / July 2017)(University of Iowa Press / July 2017)

Also designed by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein:

The Zoo of the New edited by Nick Laird & Don Paterson; design by Richard Green (Particular Books / March 2017)

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Published November 14, 2017

Book Covers of Note, November 2017

It’s my last monthly cover round-up of the year! Watch out for my review of 2017 next month… 


After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry; design by Pete Dyer (Serpents Tail / November 2017)


Basket of Deplorables by Tom Rachman; design by Josh Durham, Design by Committee (Text / September 2017)


Bonfire by Krysten Ritter; design by Will Staehle (Crown Archetype / November 2017)


Don’t Save Anything by Jame Salter; design by Zoe Norvell (Counterpoint / November 2017)


Dunbar by Edward St Aubyn; design by Julia Connolly; illustration Peter Strain (Hogarth / October 2017)


The Giving Light by Gavin Corbett; design by Niall McCormack (Cló Hi Tone / November 2017)

Niall also designs the excellent covers for Gorse journal. The latest issue, Gorse #9, is out this month:


Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck; design by Rodrigo Corral (New Directions / September 2017)


Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / May 2017)

How Will I Know You? by Jessic Treadway; design by Catherine Casalino; illustration by Henrietta Harris (Grand Central Publishing / August 2017)

The cover of How Will I Know You? reminded me of Lynn Buckley’s 2016 cover design for Sex Object by Jessica Valenti…  

And I’m starting to think that faceless women might be a thing… 


Over the Plain Houses by Julia Franks; design Meg Reid; illustration by Jody Edwards (Hub City Press / September 2017)


The Parcel by Anosh Irani; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / September 2017)



The Poems of Dylan Thomas; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / November 2017)


Release by Patrick Ness; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; photograph by Andrew Yuzko (Harper Teen / September 2017)


Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward; design by David Mann (Bloomsbury / November 2017)


They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib; design Two Dollar Radio (Two Dollar Radio / November 2017)


Time of Gratitude by Gennady Aygi; design by Eileen Baumgartner (New Directions / December 2017)


Toi Aussi Mon Fils by Jonathan Pedneault; design by David Drummond (Les Éditions XYZ / November 2017)


The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein; design by W. H. Chong (Text / October 2017)


Ultraluminous by Katherine Faw; design by Rodrigo Corral; lettering June Park (FSG / December 2017)


Where the Past Begins by Amy Tan; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / October 2017)


The World Goes On by László Krasznahorkai; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / November 2017)

Speaking of Paul Sahre, his “graphic memoir” Two Dimensional Man was publishing by Abrams in September:

AND… speaking of László Krasznahorkai (as I know you all were), the cover of the UK edition of The World Goes On was designed by Harry Haysom:

It’s part of a series of abstract covers by Haysom for the Profile Books editions of Krasznahorkai:

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Published October 20, 2017

Book Covers of Note, October 2017

I have steadily fallen further and further behind with my cover posts this year. There is some cracking work in this month’s round-up. But I can’t help feeling that there are some covers missing. Somehow it almost November, and I have run out of time. If I don’t post this now, I will never catch up! 


All We Saw by Anne Michaels; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Jouke Bos (Knopf / October 2017)


Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan; design by Micaela Alcaino (Harpercollins / October 2017)


Crossings by Jon Kerstetter; design by Matt Dorfman (Random House / September 2017)


The Dead Husband Project by Sarah Meehan Sirk; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Anchor Canada / August 2017)


George & Lizzie by Nancy Pearl; design by Gray318 (Simon & Schuster / September 2017)

(Someone on Twitter recently asked about current book cover design trends. If I had to pick one out for 2017, it would be crossed-out words)


He Doesn’t Hurt People Anymore by Dane Swan; design by 13Jupiters (Dumagrad Books / October 2017)


Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / October 2017)


I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez; design by Connie Gabbert (Knopf / October 2017)


Ma’am Darling by Craig Brown; design by Anna Morrison (Fourth Estate / September 2017)


My Ariel by Sina Queyras; design by Ingrid Paulson (Coach House Books / September 2017)


The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne; design by M.S. Corley (Thomas & Mercer / October 2017)


The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed; design by Alex Robbins (Simon Pulse / October 2017)


Russia: A Short History by Abraham Ascher; design by Kishan Rajani (Oneworld / October 2017)


A Selfie As Big As the Ritz by Lara Williams; design by Janet Hansen; art by Nathan Manire (Flat Iron Books / October 2017)

Such great image selection from Janet on both these covers… and I love the restraint of the type. Beautiful stuff. 

All We Saw by Anne Michaels; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Jouke Bos (Knopf / October 2017)
A Selfie As Big As the Ritz by Lara Williams; design by Janet Hansen; art by Nathan Manire (Flat Iron Books / October 2017)


Spectatorship edited by Roxanne Samer and William Whittington; design by  Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (University of Texas Press / October 2017)


Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash; design by Micaela Alcaino (Borough Press / September 2017)

The cover of the US edition of Stephen Florida, designed by Karl Engebretson with an illustration by George Boorujy, was included in my June round-up.


This Accident of Being Lost by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson; by design Alysia Shewchuk; photograph of ‘Mixed Blessing’ by Rebecca Belmore by Toni Hafkenshied (House of Anansi /  April 2017)


The Whole Beautiful World by Melissa Kuipers; design by Tree Abraham (Brindle & Glass / October 2017)

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Published September 19, 2017

Book Covers of Note, September 2017

Here are September’s cover selections with a few extra covers from earlier in the year, just for good measure…


The Aeneid by Virgil, translated by David Ferry; design by Matt Avery (University of Chicago Press / September 2017)


The Age of Perpetual Light by Josh Weil; design by Nick Misani (Grove Press / September 2017)


And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy by Adrian Shirk; design by Jarrod Taylor (Counterpoint / September 2017)


The Beast by Alexander Starritt; design by Gray318 (Head of Zeus / September 2017)


A Book of Untruths by Miranda Doyle; design by Donna Payne (Faber & Faber / June 2017)

I really must do a post on crossings out on covers….


Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down by Allan Jones; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / August 2017)


The Change Room by Karen Connelly; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Random House Canada / April 2017)


Curry by Naben Ruthnum; illustration by Chloe Cushman; series design Ingrid Paulson (Coach House Books / August 2017)


Dark at the Crossing by Elliot Ackeman; design by Kelly Blair (Knopf / January 2017)


Democracy and Its Crisis by A.C. Grayling design James Paul Jones (Oneworld / September 2017)


Do Not Bring Him Water by Caitlin Scarano; design by Zoe Norvell (Write Bloody / September 2017)


The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson; design by Oliver Munday (Pantheon / May 2017)


English Uprising by Paul Stocker; design by Jamie Keenan (Melville House / September 2017)


Every Third Thought by Robert McCrum; design by Stuart Wilson; illustration Andrew Davidson (Picador / August 2017)


The Experiment by Eric Lee; design by David A. Gee (Zed Books / September 2017)


I Am Not A Brain by Markus Gabriel; design by David A. Gee (Polity Press / September 2017)


The Last London by Iain Sinclair; design by James Paul Jones (Oneworld / September 2017)


Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta; design by Jaya Miceli (Scribner / August 2017)


My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate / August 2017)

The cover of the US edition, published by Riverhead, was designed by Jaya Miceli:

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent; design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / August 2017)
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent; design Jo Walker


New People by Danzy Senna; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / August 2017)


The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore by Jared Yates Sexton; design by Matt Dorfman (Counterpoint / August 2017)


Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher; design by Jack Smyth (Simon & Schuster / September 2017)


Ruth and Martin’s Album Club by Martin Fitzgerald; design by Dan Mogford (Unbound / September 2017)


Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez; design Oliver McPartlin; photograph Matthew Henry (Arsenal Pulp Press / May 2017)


The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard; design Marina Drukman (Melville House / August 2017)


To Die in Spring by Ralf Rothmann; design by Oliver Munday (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2017)


We All Love the Beautiful Girls by Joanne Proulx; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Viking / August 2017)


You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann; design by Peter Mendelsund (Pantheon / June 2017)

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Published August 4, 2017

Book Covers of Note August 2017

Oh hey, August.


Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson; design by Milan Bozic (Amistad / May 2017)

Robin Billardello‘s cover design for the hardcover of Another Brooklyn, released last year, is also great. 


Bolshoi Confidential by Simon Morrison; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate / August 2017)

They’re not really the same, but the cover of Bolshoi Confidential reminded me of La Boca‘s excellent cover design for The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman from a few years ago… 

Bolshoi Confidential by Simon Morrison; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate / August 2017)


The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / August 2017)


Everybody Hurts by Joanna Nadin & Anthony McGowan; design by Leo Nickolls (Atom / August 2017)


The Futilitarians by Anne Gisleson; design by Lauren Harms (Little Brown & Co. / August 2017)


The House of Government by Yuri Slezkine; design by Chris Ferrante; illustration by Francesco Bongiorni (Princeton University Press / August 2017)


Humankind by Timothy Morton; design by  Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Verso / August 2017)


I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell; design by Yeti Lambregts (Tinder Press / August 2017)

This is just the latest in a series of great covers for Maggie O’Farrell’s books designed by Yeti. 


I Am the Wolf by Mark Lanegan; design by Alex Camlin (Da Capo / August 2017)


A Life of Adventure and Delight by Akhil Sharma; design by Alex Kirby (Faber & Faber / August 2017)

The cover of the US edition designed by Peter Mendelsund was featured in last month’s post. 

A Life of Adventure and Delight by Akhil Sharma; design Peter Mendelsund (W.W. Norton / July 2017)


Lovers & Strangers by Clair Wills; design by Tom Etherington (Allen Lane / August 2017)


A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon; design by Will Staehle (Angry Robot / August 2017)


Often I Am Happy by Jens Christian Grøndahl; design by Justine Anweiler (Picador / August 2017)


Safe by Ryan Gattis; design by Alex Merto (MCD / August 2017)


Sex & Rage by Eve Babitz; design by Kelly Winton (Counterpoint / July 2017)


Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / August 2017)

  
The Story of John Nightly by Tot Taylor; design by Bob & Roberta Smith (Unbound / July 2017)


Such Small Hands by Andres Barba; design by Dan Mogford (Portobello Books / August 2017)


Turf by Elizabeth Crane; design by Kelly Winton (Soft Skull Press / June 2017)


Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka Kurniawan; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / August 2017)

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Published July 18, 2017

Book Covers of Note July 2017

Something… something… vacation… something… jetlag…. something… inbox… something… Oh look! It’s July’s book covers!1


Album for the Young (and Old) by Vera Pavlova; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / April 2017)


Amanda Wakes Up by Alisyn Camerota; design by Kimberly Glyder (Viking / July 2017)


City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson; design by Steven Leard (Oneworld / July 2017)


The Conference of Birds by Attar, translated by Sholeh Wolpé; design by Jaya Miceli (W. W. Norton / April 2017)


Equipment for Living on Poetry and Pop Music by Michael Robbins; design by Thomas Colligan (Simon & Schuster / July 2017)


Flesh and Bone and Water by Luiza Sauma; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Scribner / June 2017)


Fly Me by Daniel Riley; design by Lucy Kim (Little, Brown & Co. / June 2017)


Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed; design by Yeti Lambregts (Tinder Press / July 2017)


Goodnight Boy by Nikki Sheehan; design by Edward Bettison (Oneworld / July 2017)


The Graybar Hotel by Curtis Dawkins; design by Pete Adlington (Canongate / July 2017)

The cover of the US edition, designed by the aforementioned Thomas Colligan for Scribner, is an interesting compare and contrast:


Hello Sunshine by Laura Dave; design by Jennifer Heuer (Simon & Schuster / July 2017)


Hollow by Owen Egerton; design by Matt Dorfman (Counterpoint / July 2017)


I Must Belong Somewhere by Jonathan Dean; design by Dan Mogford (Weidenfeld & Nicolson / May 2017)

(This would be a nice addition to this old list of maps on book covers)


Investigations of a Dog by Franz Kafka, translated by Michael Hofmann; design by John Gall (New Directions / May 2017)


Kompromat by Stanley Johnson; design by James Paul Jones (Oneworld / July 2017)


The Lawn Job by Chuck Caruso; design by La Boca (Cloud Lodge Books / July 2017)


A Life of Adventure and Delight by Akhil Sharma; design Peter Mendelsund (W.W. Norton / July 2017)


The Little Buddhist Monk & The Proof by César Aira; design by Rodrigo Corral; lettering by June Park (New Directions / June 2017)

And as this is two stories in one, you get a fancy back cover too…. 

The covers of the UK editions of César Aira’s books The Little Buddhist Monk, The Proof, and The Seamstress and the Wind, published separately by And Other Stories, were designed by Edward Bettison:


Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz; design by Will Staehle (Harper / June 2017)


Shark Drunk by Morten Strøksnes; design by Oliver Munday (Knopf / June 2017)

(Much as I love Oliver’s cover — particularly his choice of type — it immediately reminded me Tom Lenartowicz’s minimalist Jaws design)


Smoke by Dan Vyleta; design Mark Abrams; illustration by Alejandro García Restrepo (Anchor / June 2017)

Mark Swan‘s design for the UK hardcover, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, was one of my favourite covers of last year (I liked the book a lot too!)… 


Storming Heaven by Steve Wright; design by David A. Gee (Pluto Press / July 2017)


The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman; design Helen Crawford-White (Ebury Press / June 2017)


Things To Do When You’re a Goth in the Country by Chavisa Woods; design by Adam Lewis Greene (Seven Stories Press / May 2017)


Under the Skin by Michel Faber; design by Rafi Romaya; illustration Yehrin Tong (Canongate / July 2017)


What It Means When A Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah; design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / April 2017)


Writing Not Writing by Tom Fisher; design by  Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (University of Iowa Press / July 2017)

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Published June 16, 2017

Book Covers of Note June 2017

Hey June, don’t make it bad, take a sad book and make its cover…

The Angry Chef by Anthony Warner; design by Steven Leard (Oneworld / June 2017)

The Answers by Catherine Lacey; design by Gray318 (Granta / June 2017)

Columbia Road by Linda Wilkinson; design by Clare Skeats (September Publishing / June 2017)


The Courage of Hopelessness by Slavoj Zizek; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / May 2017)


Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong; design by Matt Johnson (Scribner UK / June 2017)


The Idiot by Elif Batuman; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Aino-Maija Metsola (Jonathan Cape / June 2017)

The colourful UK cover is an interesting contrast with the cover of the US edition, designed by Oliver Munday for Penguin:

The Illustrious House of Ramires by Eça de Queirós; design by Joan Wong (New Directions  / June 2017)

The Lure of Greatness by Anthony Barnett; design by Mark Ecob (Unbound / June 2017)


Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S J Sindu; design by Kimberly Glyder (Soho Press / June 2017)


Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan; design by Tyler Comrie (Scribner / June 2017)

A welcome addition to the books on book covers genre. 


My Soul Looks Back by Jessica B. Harris; design by Lauren Peters Collaer (Simon & Schuster / June 2017)


The Never King by James Abbott; design by Neil Lang (Tor / May 2017)

Neil’s embossed metallic silver cover for Selfie by Will Storr (Picador / June 2017) is also kind of great (and hilarious), but impossible to show well online:

Pages for Her and Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg; design by Justine Anweiler (Picador / June 2017)


The Song and the Silence by Yvetter Johnson; design by Jonathan Sainsbury (Atria / May 2017)


Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash; design by Karl Engebretson; illustration George Boorujy (Coffee House Press / June 2017)


White Fur by Jardine Libarie; design by Elena Giavaldi (Hogarth / May 2017)


Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / June 2017)


X by Chuck Klosterman; design by Rachel Willey (Blue Rider Press / May 2017)

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Published May 10, 2017

Book Covers of Note May 2017

Everything is awful. Except for book covers…


Black Skins, White Masks by Frantz Fanon; design by David Pearson (Pluto Press / May 2017)


The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes; design by Ami Smithson; illustration Petra Börner (Mantle / May 2017)


The Circus by Olivia Levez; design by Nathan Burton (Oneworld / May 2017)

Nathan’s cover for The Island by Olivia Levez was on my list of Notable YA Book Covers last year:

And also by the talented Mr. Burton…


The Doorposts of Your House and on Your Gate by Jacob Bacharach; design by Nathan Burton (Liveright / April 2017)


Feel Happier in Nine Seconds by Linda Besner; design by Scott Albrecht (Coach House Books / May 2017)


Fen by Daisy Johnson; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / May 2017)

The cover of the UK edition of Fen designed by Suzanne Dean was a book cover of note in June last year: 

Fen by Daisy Johnson; design Suzanne Dean (Vintage / June 2016)


Granta 139: Best of Young American Novelists 3; design by Daniela Silva; neon sign by Steve Earl / Kemp London (Granta / May 2017)


Hadriana In All My Dreams by René Depestre; design by Christian Fuenfhausen (Akashic Books / May 2017)


I’d Die for You and Other Lost Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald; design by Jack Smyth (Scribner UK / April 2017)


Ill Will by Dan Chaon; design by Christopher Lin (Ballantine Books / March 2017)


The Leavers by Lisa Ko; design by Elena Giavaldi (Algonquin / May 2017)


Lobbying for Change by Alberto Alemanno; design by Dan Mogford (Icon / May 2017)

Multi-coloured letters are a thing this month. See below… 


My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci; design by Oliver Munday (Pantheon / April 2017)


The Nothing by Hanif Kureishi; design by Jamie Keenan (Faber & Faber / May 2017)


Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / May 2017)

The cover of the UK edition, designed by Richard Green, takes quite a different direction…

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / May 2017)


Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy; design by Aurora Parlagreco; illustration by Daniel Stolle (Balzer + Bray / May 2017)

The same designer-illustrator team were on my 2015 YA list for their cover for Julie Murphy’s previous book Dumplin’.


Rock n’ Radio by Ian Howarth; design by David Drummond (Vehicule Press / May 2017)

See! Multicoloured lettering is where it is at… 

The Nothing by Hanif Kureishi; design by Jamie Keenan (Faber & Faber / May 2017)


This is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare by Gabourey Sidibe; design by Martha Kennedy; photography by GUZMAN (HMH / May 2017)


Toussaint Louverture by Charles Forsdick & Christian Høgsbjerg; design by Gray318 (Pluto Press / May 2017)


We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / May 2017)


The Violence of Austerity edited by David Whyte and Vickie Cooper; design by James Paul Jones (Pluto Press / May 2017)


When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon; design by Regina Flath (Simon Pulse / May 2017)

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