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Published November 4, 2018

Book Covers of Note November 2018

This is my last monthly round-up for 2018. Next month I’ll post my round-up for the year. I have to confess that I have not given the blog 100% of my attention of late, so if you think that there are covers I might’ve overlooked this year please feel to send them my way for consideration. 


Bitwise: A Life in Code by David Auerbach; design by Tyler Comrie (Pantheon / August 2018)


The Book of Beautiful Questions by Warren Berger; design by Tree Abraham (Bloomsbury / October 2018)


‘Broadsword Calling Danny Boy’ by Geoff Dyer; design Jim Stoddart (Penguin / October 2018)

The blackletter is similar, I believe, to the type used for the movie title / credits, and the chevrons are a nice reference to a design that appears in the movie. The Guardian reviewed the book last month if you are curious. (And someone in the UK needs to buy it for me as a Christmas present!)


The Deserters by Pamela Mulloy; design by David Drummond (Véhicule Press / September 2018)


Evening in Paradise by Lucia Berlin; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / November 2018)

Na Kim designed the cover for Welcome Home by Lucia Berlin, also released this month, too:

Welcome Home by Lucia Berlin; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / November 2018)

The cover of the UK edition of Evening in Paradise was designed by Justine Anweiler I believe. Justine designed the wonderful cover for hardback of A Manual For Cleaning Women:


Feminasty by Erin Gibson; design by Anne Twomey; photograph by Ricky Middlesworth (Grand Central / September 2018)

Usually I’m a bit reluctant to post the covers of celebrity books, but this is pretty great.

Celebrity book covers are often look beautiful — the recent memoirs by Sally Fields and Michelle Obama come to mind — but often that’s because of a glamourous photograph. The designer’s job is just to get out of the way. That makes sense from a marketing point of view, it’s just not terribly interesting from a design perspective. This feels like it has a bit more to it somehow. Or maybe it’s just more fun…

That all said, I have started to see this kind of swashy retro type pop-up more frequently of late. A couple of recent examples that come to mind are the covers of All the Beautiful Girls by Elizabeth J. Church, designed by Anna Morrison (Fourth Estate), and The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash designed by Allison Saltzman (Ecco):

All the Beautiful Girls by Elizabeth J. Church, designed by Anna Morrison (Fourth Estate / March 2018)

I was also reminded of Kelly Winton‘s covers designs for the reissues of Black Swans and Sex and Rage by Eve Babitz from Counterpoint.

I would guess the fonts are Bodoni or variants thereof, but no doubt someone with a better eye for type will be able to tell us for sure.

UPDATE: Anna Morrison tells me the font she used for All the Beautiful Girls is Cabernet, which just goes to show what I know. According to the ever-useful Fonts in Use, Cabernet is “an uncredited revival of Benguiat Caslon, a 1970s Photo-Lettering typeface by Ed Benguiat.” I’m pretty sure Benguiat Caslon was used for the iconic Philip Roth covers in the 1970s so I probably should’ve recognized it…


The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem; design Allison Saltzman; photograph Kate Bellm (Ecco Press / November 2018)


Heavy by Kiese Laymon; design by Na Kim (Scribner / October 2018)


Hippie by Paulo Coelho; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / September 2018)

Is this the year of the orange cover…?


The Hole by José Revueltas; design by John Gall (New Directions / November 2018)

John Gall has a new book collecting 10 years of his collages out this month too.

You can read my 2011(!) Q & A with John about his collages here.  


Homeland by Walter Kempowski; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / November 2018)

Dan also designed the cover for All for Nothing by Walter Kempowski a couple of years ago:

Homeland by Walter Kempowski; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / November 2018)


I Do Not Trust You by Laura J.Burns & Melinda Metz; design by Olga Grlic (St. Martin’s Press / September 2018)

I had it in my mind that snaky red covers with big white type were very “in” for thrillers right now, but the only other example I could think of was the US cover for Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall designed by Alex Merto, which is really not that similar…

Perhaps I am imagining it.


The Library Book by Susan Orlean; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Simon & Schuster / October 2018)


Notes from the Fog by Ben Marcus; design by Jamie Keenan (Granta / September 2018)

The US cover, which I featured in a previous post, was designed by Peter Mendelsund:

Notes from the Fog by Ben Marcus; design by Jamie Keenan (Granta / September 2018)
Notes from the Fog by Ben Marcus; design Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / August 2018)


Odessa Stories by Isaac Babel; design by Anna Morrison (Puhskin Press / November 2018)


Portraits Without Frames by Lev Ozerov; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / November 2018)


The Son of Black Thursday by Alejandro Jodorowsky; design by Richard Ljoenes (Restless Books / November 2018)

Richard also designed the cover of Jodorowsky’s previous novel Where the Bird Sings Best:

And take a moment to check out Richard’s online portfolio, which is new I believe.


Wasteland by W. Scott Poole; design by Jaya Miceli (Counterpoint / November 2018)


The Winters by Lisa Gabriele; design by Nayon Cho (Viking / October 2018)

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Published October 24, 2018

Cross It Out

I’ve been thinking about covers that feature one form of redacted text or another for a while, but this post has been sitting in my drafts folder gestating for far too long so I’m publishing now, as-is, because otherwise it is unlikely to ever see the light of day! 

The covers of Censoring an Iranian Love Story, designed by Peter Mendelsund, and Nineteen Eighty-Four, designed by David Pearson, are classics of the genre:

Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour; design Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / May 2009)
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell; design by David Pearson (Penguin / January 2013)

I thought that this kind of bar redaction (is there a technical term for it?) might be a relatively new — post-The 9-11 Commission Report — phenomena, but (friend of the blog) Richard Weston, AKA Acejet170, recently posted this 1974 Penguin cover for Academic Freedom by Anthony Arblaster, designed by Omnific, on Instagram:

In a lovely design touch, the redacted words appear on the back cover:

Related to bar redaction is the strike-through. One of my favourite examples is Barnbrook‘s cover design for How to Run a Government by Michael Barber, published by Allen Lane. 

How to Run a Government by Michael Barber; design by Barnbrook (Allen Lane / March 2015)

I’ve been seeing the straight strike-through used a lot recently. It does a neat job of doing two things at once. It allows you to not say something, while also emphasizing that you are pointedly not saying it.   

That Perfectly Useless Concentration by Alan Shapiro; design by Isaac Tobin
Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappe; design Isaac Tobin

I’ve seen it mostly used for nonfiction (as above), but Janet Hansen recently used the strike for the cover of Amitava Kumar’s novel Immigrant, Montana: 

Immigrant, Montana by Amitava Kumar; design Janet Hansen (Knopf / July 2018)

Black text on a white background with a red strike-through is its own sub-genre:

The Courage of Hopelessness by Slavoj Zizek; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / May 2017)
Now You See It by Michael Bierut; design by

In fact, using red — be it more artistic blocks, strikeouts or scribbles — is a popular way to highlight what is being crossed out:

Trust Me, PR is Dead by Robert Phillips; design by Jamie Keenan (Unbound / June 2015)
Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball; design by Peter Mendelsund (Pantheon / 2014)
A Book of Untruths by Miranda Doyle; design by Donna Payne (Faber & Faber / June 2017)

And generally the hand-drawn strike-through or scribble seems to be the most popular way to cross something out … 

Hope A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander; design by John Gall (Riverhead Books / January 2012)
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton; design Helen Crawford White (Fig Tree / March 2018)
Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering; design Donna Cheng (Simon & Schuster / July 2018)
All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu; design by Isabel Urbina Peña (Knopf / March 2014)
The Only Story by Julian Barnes; design by Suzanne Dean (Jonathan Cape / February 2018)
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)

If you have (constructive) thoughts on the matter, and/or other examples, please leave them in the comments. 

The Last Word by Hanif Kureishi; design by Jaya Miceli (Scribner / March 2015)
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Published July 19, 2018

Book Covers of Note, July 2018

Here are my book cover selections for July… 


Brooklyn Mom & Pop by Herb Lester Associates; design Amy Hood (Herb Lester Associates / July 2018)

Another very nice looking guide from the folks at Herb Lester. The question is, where are the guides to Canadian cities? 


Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin; design by Kelly Blair (Knopf / June 2018)


Charlotte Walsh Likes To Win by Jo Piazza; design by Zak Tebbal (Simon & Schuster / July 2018)  

In other news, hand-lettered covers aren’t going anywhere (and apparently underlining is a “thing”)…


Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata; design by Luke Bird (Portobello Books / July 2018)


Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce; design by Kimberly Glyder (Scribner /. July 2018)

The cover of the UK edition, published earlier this year by Picador, was designed by Katie Tooke. You can read about the design process for the UK cover here.

Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce; design by Kimberly Glyder (Scribner / July 2018)


Florida by Lauren Groff; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / June 2018)

The cover of Groff’s 2015 novel Fates and Furies (also published by Riverhead) was designed by Rodrigo Corral and Adalis Martinez:

Florida by Lauren Groff; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / June 2018)
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff; design by Rodrigo Corral and Adalis Martinez (Riverhead / September 2015 )


The Girl You Thought I Was by Rebecca Phillips; design Michelle Taormina and Alison Klapthor; Photograph by Marta Bevaqua (Harpercollins / July 2018)

Besides using a beautiful photograph, I get the sense this cover is very much on trend, and not just for YA — I’ve seen the cover of a thriller coming out this fall that also uses a close-cropped image of a woman’s face, a similar sans-serif type, and a warm sepia colour palette. 


Good Trouble by Joseph O’Neill; design by Janet Hansen (Pantheon / June 2018)


Gorse No.10 edited by Christodoulos Makris; design by Niall McCormack (July 2018)

All of Niall’s covers for Gorse are great. No.9 was featured in my November 2017 post:

Also, yellow-orange covers are clearly “in” right now…

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata; design by Luke Bird (Portobello Books / July 2018)
Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce; design by Kimberly Glyder (Scribner / July 2018)
Good Trouble by Joseph O’Neill; design by Janet Hansen (Pantheon / June 2018)


A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings by Helen Jukes; design Helen Crawford-White (Scribner / July 2018)


In the Distance by Hernan Diaz; design by Luke Bird (Daunt Books / June 2018)

One for the sideways covers list (I have kind of stop collecting these, but there are more here).

The cover of the US edition of In the Distance, published by Coffee House Press, features artwork by Jason Fulford.


I Will Be Complete by Glen David Gold; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / June 2018)


The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon; design Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / July 2018)


Smile by Roddy Doyle; design and lettering by Nick Misani (Viking / October 2017)

OK, so I am very late to this one. I saw it last year and didn’t know who the designer was — I only found out this week when art director Jason Ramirez revealed that it was one of the TDC Communication Design Competition winners this year!


Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor by Dave Haslam; design Bekki Guyatt (Constable / May 2018)


Sweet Thames by Matthew Kneale; design by Alice Marwick (Atlantic Books / July 2018)


There There by Tommy Orange; design by Suzanne Dean; art by Bryn Perrott (Harvill Secker / July 2018)

The cover of the US edition, published by Knopf, is another Tyler Comrie design: 

There There by Tommy Orange; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / June 2018)
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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 Largess of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson; design by Suzanne Dean (Jonathan Cape / February 2018)


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 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:

Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / August 2017)
A Selfie As Big As the Ritz by Lara Williams; design by Janet Hansen; art by Nathan Manire (Flat Iron Books / October 2017)


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

Also designed by Elena Giavaldi:

White Fur by Jardine Libarie; design by Elena Giavaldi (Hogarth / May 2017)
The Leavers by Lisa Ko; design by Elena Giavaldi (Algonquin / May 2017)


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 Blot by Jonathan Lethem; design by Gray318 (Jonathan Cape / February 2017)
The Beast by Alexander Starritt; design by Gray318 (Head of Zeus / September 2017)
Sympathy by Olivia Sudjic; design by Gray318 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / April 2017)


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

Also designed by Peter Mendelsund:

A Life of Adventure and Delight by Akhil Sharma; design Peter Mendelsund (W.W. Norton / July 2017)
Civil Wars by David Armitage; design by Peter Mendelsund (Yale University Press / February 2017)
White Tears by Hari Kunzru; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / March 2017)


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

Also designed by Laywan Kwan:

Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent; design by Laywan Kwan (Scout Press / August 2017)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid; design by Laywan Kwan (Atria / June 2017)


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:

Politics and the English Language by George Orwell; design by David Pearson (Penguin / March 2017)
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; design David Pearson (Pluto Press / January 2017)
Black Skins, White Masks by Frantz Fanon; design by David Pearson (Pluto Press / May 2017)


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

Also designed by Jamie Keenan:

The Poems of Dylan Thomas; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / November 2017)
Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Mejia; design Jamie Keenan (Atria / October 2017)
The Nothing by Hanif Kureishi; design by Jamie Keenan (Faber & Faber / May 2017)


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

Also designed by David Gee:

Dick Cheney Shot Me in the Face by Timothy O’Leary; design by David A. Gee (Unsolicited Press / February 2017)
Storming Heaven by Steve Wright; design by David A. Gee (Pluto Press / July 2017)
I Am Not A Brain by Markus Gabriel; design by David A. Gee (Polity Press / September 2017)


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:

The Good People by Hannah Kent; design by Lauren Harms (Little, Brown & Co / September 2017)
The Futilitarians by Anne Gisleson; design by Lauren Harms (Little Brown & Co. / August 2017)


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

Also designed by Luke Bird:

he Lucky Ones by Julianne Pachico; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / February 2017)
The Rise The Fall The Rise by Brix Smith Start; design by Luke Bird; photography by Kevin Cummins (Faber & Faber / march 2017)


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: 

Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / October 2017)
Where the Past Begins by Amy Tan; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / October 2017)


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

Also designed by Alex Merto:

The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse by Rich Cohen; design by Alex Merto (FSG / October 2017)
The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott; design by Alex Merto (FSG / September 2017)
Safe by Ryan Gattis; design by Alex Merto (MCD / August 2017)


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

Also designed by Kimberly Glyder:

Amanda Wakes Up by Alisyn Camerota; design by Kimberly Glyder (Viking / July 2017)
Wait Till You See Me Dance by Deb Olin Unferth; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / March 2017)
Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S J Sindu; design by Kimberly Glyder (Soho Press / June 2017)


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

Also designed by Matt Dorfman:

Crossings by Jon Kerstetter; design by Matt Dorfman (Random House / September 2017)
The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore by Jared Yates Sexton; design by Matt Dorfman (Counterpoint / August 2017)
Selection Day by Aravind Adiga; design by Matt Dorfman (Scribner / January 2017)


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:

Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed; design by Yeti Lambregts (Tinder Press / July 2017)
What it Means when a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah; design Yeti Lambregts; illustration: Willian Santiago (Tinder Press / August 2017)


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

Also designed by Suzanne Dean:

Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami; design by Suzanne Dean (Harvill Secker / May 2017)
Once Upon a Time in the East by Xiaolu Guo; design Suzanne Dean; photograph by Robin Friend (Chatto & Windus / January 2017)
A State of Freedom by Neel Mukherjee; design by Suzanne Dean (Chatto & Windus / September 2017)


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

Also designed by Oliver Munday:

I Am the Brother of XX by Fleur Jaeggy; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / July 2017)
To Die in Spring by Ralf Rothmann; design by Oliver Munday (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2017)
Shark Drunk by Morten Strøksnes; design by Oliver Munday (Knopf / June 2017)


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:

The House of Government by Yuri Slezkine; design by Chris Ferrante; illustration by Francesco Bongiorni (Princeton University Press / August 2017)
Decolonization: A Short History by Jan C. Jansen & Jürgen Osterhammel; design by Chris Ferrante (Princeton University Press / February 2017)


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

Also designed by La Boca: 

The Lawn Job by Chuck Caruso; design by La Boca (Cloud Lodge Books / July 2017)
Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez; design La Boca (Granta / April 2017)


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:

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


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:

Things That Helped by Jessica Friedman; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / April 2017)
What a Plant Knows by Daniel Chamovitz; design Allison Colpoys (Scribe / November 2017)
The Quantum Astrologers Handbook by Michael Brooks; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / October 2017)


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

Also designed by Rachel Willey:

New People by Danzy Senna; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / August 2017)
X by Chuck Klosterman; design by Rachel Willey (Blue Rider Press / May 2017)
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / March 2017)


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

Also designed by Jaya Miceli:

Next Year for Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson; design by Jaya Miceli; cover art by Jarek Puczel (Scribner / March 2017)
Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta; design by Jaya Miceli (Scribner / August 2017)
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent; design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / August 2017)


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:

Bolshoi Confidential by Simon Morrison; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate / August 2017)
The Ice by Laline Paull; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate / April 2017)
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent; design 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 River at Night by Erica Ferencik; design by Tyler Comrie (Scout Press / January 2017)
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan; design by Tyler Comrie (Scribner / June 2017)


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

Also designed by Lauren Peters-Collaer:

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman; design Lauren Peters-Collaer (Simon & Schuster / October 2017)
Why Time Flies by Alan Burdick; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Simon & Schuster / Janurary 2017)


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

Also designed by Erik Carter:

The Teeth of the Comb & Other Stories by Osama Alomar; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / April 2017)
Locus Solus by Raymond Roussel; design by Erik Carter (New Directions /March 2017)
Is That Kafka? by Reiner Stach; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / February 2017)


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

Also designed by James Paul Jones: 

Democracy and Its Crisis by A.C. Grayling design James Paul Jones (Oneworld / September 2017)
Kompromat by Stanley Johnson; design by James Paul Jones (Oneworld / July 2017)
We Will Not Be Silenced edited by William I. Robinson & Maryam S. Griffin; design by James Paul Jones (Pluto Press / January 2017)


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

Also designed by Jennifer Griffiths:

The Dead Husband Project by Sarah Meehan Sirk; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Anchor Canada / August 2017)
The Change Room by Karen Connelly; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Random House Canada / April 2017)
Lost in September by Kathleen Winter; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Knopf Canada / September 2017)


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:

Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down by Allan Jones; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / August 2017)
Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / May 2017)
Forest Dark by Nicole Krauss; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / August 2017)


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

Also designed by Sara Wood:

Twelve Mile Straight by Eleanor Henderson; design Sara Wood (Ecco / September 2017)
A Wife of Noble Character by Yvonne Georgina Puig; design by Sara Wood (St. Martin’s Griffin / August 2017)
No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Watts; design Sara Wood; embroidery by Stephanie Kelly Clark (Ecco / April 2017)


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

Also designed by Na Kim:

Knots by Gunnhild Øyehaug; design Na Kim (FSG / July 2017)
Isadora by Amelia Gray; design by Na Kim (FSG / May 2017)


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:

Evolving Images edited by Nora Glickman &‎ Ariana Huberman; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (University of Texas Press / December 2017)
Limits of Whiteness by Neda Maghbouleh; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Standford University Press / September 2017)
Humankind by Timothy Morton; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Verso / August 2017)


The Zoo of the New edited by Nick Laird & Don Paterson; design by Richard Green (Particular Books / March 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 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 March 9, 2017

Book Covers of Note March 2017

Holy smokes! There are a lot of good covers this month! Feast your eyes on March’s book covers of note:


Amiable with Big Teeth by Claude McKay; cover art by Sean Qualls (Penguin / March 2017)


The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends & Myths edited and translated by William Hansen; design by Amanda Weiss (Princeton University Press / March 2017)


The Bridge Ladies by Betsy Lerner; design by Justine Anweiler (Pan Macmillan / March 2017)


A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab; design by Will Staehle (Tor Books / February 2017)

This completes a distinctive set of covers for V.E. Schwab’s ‘Shades of Magic’ trilogy by Will Staehle: 

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab; design by Will Staehle (Tor / February 2015)


Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach; design by Jaya Miceli (Random House / February 2017)


Dick Cheney Shot Me in the Face by Timothy O’Leary; design by David A. Gee (Unsolicited Press / February 2017)


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


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


Eyes Wide Open by Isaac Lidsky; design by Zoe Norvell (Tarcher / March 2017)

And now two covers for Exit West by Mohsin Hamid — first the cover for the UK edition designed by Richard Bravery (Hamish Hamilton / March 2017):

And the cover of the US edition designed by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / March 2017):

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / March 2017)


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


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


Little Nothing by Marisa Silver; design by James Paul Jones (Oneworld / March 2017)

Rachel Willey’s cover design for the US edition of Little Nothing published by Blue Rider Press was part of my September 2016 round-up.

Little Nothing by Marisa Silver; design by Rachel Willey (Blue Rider Press / September 2016)


The Name of the Game is Kidnapping by Keigo Higashino; design by Janet Hansen (Vertical / February 2017)


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


Next Year for Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson; design by Jaya Miceli; cover art by Jarek Puczel (Scribner / March 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)


One of the Boys by Daniel Magariel; design Thomas Colligan (Scribner / March 2017)


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


Our Short History by Lauren Grodstein; design by Olga Grlic (Algonquin / March 2017)


Standard Hollywood Depravity by Adam Christopher; design by Will Staehle (Tor Books / March 2017)


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

I believe the cover of the UK edition, published next month by Pan Macmillan, was designed by Justine Anweiler:


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


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

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Published February 13, 2017

Book Covers of Note February 2017

A little later than usual — between one thing and the apocalypse — but there are some great covers out this month, including at least one contender for cover of the year:


The Bear and the Serpent by Adrian Tschaikovsky; design by Neil Lang (Pan Macmillan / February 2017)

The cover for the previous book in the series, The Tiger and the Wolf, was also designed by Neil: 


Birds Art Life Death by Kyo Maclear; design by Jonny Pelham; illustration by Kyo Maclear (Fourth Estate / February 2017)

The cover of the US edition published by Scribner, which also features illustrations by Kyo Maclear, was designed by Lauren Peters-Collaer:

design by Lauren Peters-Collaer; illustration Kyo Maclear
design by Jonathan Pelham; illustration by Kyo Maclear


The Blot by Jonathan Lethem; design by Gray318 (Jonathan Cape / February 2017)


The Brand New Catastrophe by Mike Scalise; design by Oliver Munday (Sarabande Books / January 2017)


Civil Wars by David Armitage; design by Peter Mendelsund (Yale University Press / February 2017)


Darke by Rick Gekoski; design by Pete Adlington (Canongate Press / February 2017)


Emergency Admissions by Kit Wharton; design by Jonny Pelham (Fourth Estate / February 2017)


Is That Kafka? by Reiner Stach; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / February 2017)

Erik’s design for the hardcover was included in my June post last year:

Is That Kafka? by Reiner Stach; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / February 2017)

 


It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis; design Jim Stoddart (Penguin / January 2017)


The Lucky Ones by Julianne Pachico; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / February 2017)


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

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


Never Enough by Barney Hoskyns; design by Jamie Keenan (Constable / January 2017)


Nicotine by Nell Zink; design by Julian Humphries (Fourth Estate / October 2016)

Had I seen this cover last year when the book was published, it would undoubtedly made my end of the year list.

And on the topic of covers of the year, here’s that early contender for 2017:


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

And from the sublime to the hilarious…


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


A Simple Story by Leila Guerriero; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / February 2017)


This is the Ritual by Rob Doyle; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / January 2017)

Greg’s design for the hardcover of This Is The Ritual, also published by Bloomsbury, was included in my January post last year:


Who Lost Russia by Peter Conradi; design by Mark Ecob (Oneworld / February 2017)

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Published November 7, 2016

Book Covers of Note November 2016

I’m not sure anyone is paying too much attention to book design this week, but if you’re looking for a few minutes diversion from the awfulness of almost everything, here’s this month’s selection of quirky, beautiful, and otherwise interesting book covers…

black-water-design-oliver-munday
Black Water by Louise Doughty; design by Oliver Munday (Sarah Crichton Books / September 2016)

briefhistoryofeveryone-design-andy-allen
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived by Adam Rutherford; design by Andy Allen (Orion / September 2016)

britishraildesigned_design-theo-inglis
British Rail Designed 1944-1997 by David Lawrence; design by Theo Inglis (Ian Allan Publishing / November 2016)

clearing-the-air-design-phil-pascuzzo
Clearing the Air by Gregory Wood; design by Phil Pascuzzo (Cornell University Press / November 2016)

cold-skin-design-chris-gale
Cold Skin Albert Sánchez Piñol; design by Christopher Gale (Canongate / October 2016)

dark-flood-design-rafi-romaya-illustration-timorous-beasties
The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble; design Rafi Romaya; cover illustration by Timorous Beasties (Canongate / November 2016)

defender-design-mark-swan
Defender by G X Todd; design by Mark Swan (Headline / December 20161)

do-not-say-we-have-nothing-design-jaya-miceli
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien; design Jaya Miceli (W.W. Norton / October 2016)

dying-design-pete-adlington
Dying by Cory Taylor; design by Pete Adlington (Canongate / November 2016)

faithful-design-zoe-norvell
Faithful by Alice Hoffman; design by Zoe Norvell (Simon & Schuster / November 2016)

Is this a new (old) thing…?

design Zoe Norvell

guy-design-by-michel-vrana-pink
Guy by Jowita Bydlowska; design by Michel Vrana (Wolsak & Wynn / November 2016)

I like that this was a split run of coral and blue:

knives-and-ink
Knives & Ink by Isaac Fitzgerald and Wendy MacNaughton; design Katya Mezhibovskaya; cover art Wendy MacNaughton (Bloomsbury / October 2016)

This is a nice partner to 2014’s Pen & Ink which also featured cover art by MacNaughton:

london_lies_beneath_ad_nico_taylor_illus_joe_mclaren
London Lies Beneath by Stella Duffy; Art direction by Nico Taylor; illustration by Joe McLaren (Little, Brown / October 2016)

midwinter_illus_raquel_leis_allion
Midwinter by Fiona Melrose; Art Direction by Bekki Guyatt; illustration by Raquel Leis Allion (Little, Brown / November 2016)

moonglow-design-adalis-martinez
Moonglow by Michael Chabon; design by Adalis Martinez (Harper / November 2016)

music-for-life-design-by-alex-kirby
Music For Life by Fiona Maddocks; design by Alex Kirby (Faber & Faber / October 2016)

one-with-the-tiger
One with the Tiger by Steven Church; design by Faceout Studio (Soft Skull / November 2016)

pull-me-under-design-rodrigo-corral-illustration-june-park
Pull Me Under by Kelly Luce; design Rodrigo Corral; cover art by June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / November 2016)

revengeofanalog_design-pete-garceau
The Revenge of Analog by David Sax; design Pete Garceau (Public Affairs / November 2016)

sick-bag-song-illus-nick-cave-ad-brian-moore
Sick Bag Song by Nick Cave; illustration by Nick Cave; art direction by Brian Moore (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / November 2016)

start-of-something-collage-by-marion-de-man-design-by-suzanne-dean
The Start of Something by Stuart Dybek; design Suzanne Dean; cover art by Marion de Man (Jonathan Cape / November 2016) 

(You can read more about the process of making this cover at the Creative Review blog)

story-of-reason-in-islam-design-anne-jordan
The Story of Reason in Islam by Sari Nusseibeh; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Stanford University Press / November 2016)

swing-time-design-gray318
Swing Time by Zadie Smith; design by Gray318 (Hamish Hamilton / November 2016)

This goes rather nicely with Gray318’s earlier design for The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith:

Swing Time by Zadie Smith; design by Gray318 (Hamish Hamilton / November 2016)

thus-bad-begins-design-by-peter-mendelsund
Thus Bad Begins by Javier Marías; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / November 2016)

unmistakable-design-catherine-casalino
Unmistakable by Srinivas Rao; design by Catherine Casalino (Portfolio / August 2016)

violence-design-by-scott-levine
Violence as Generative Force by Max Bergholz; design by Scott Levine (Cornell University Press / November 2016)

whateverhappened_highres
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love by Kathleen Collins; design by Allison Saltzman; cover art by Lorna Simpson (Ecco / November 2016)

writing-to-save-a-life-design-eric-white
Writing to Save a Life by John Edgar Wideman; design by Eric White (Scribner / November 2016)

you-will-not-have-my-hate-design-suzanne-dean
You Will Not Have My Hate by Antoine Leiris; design by Suzanne Dean (Harvill Secker / October 2016)

The US cover for You Will Not Have My Hate, designed by Darren Haggar (Penguin Press, October 2016), provides an interesting contrast in styles:

you-will-not-have-my-hate-design-by-darren-haggar

You Will Not Have My Hate by Antoine Leiris; design by Suzanne Dean (Harvill Secker / October 2016)

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Published August 11, 2016

Book Covers of Note August 2016

Back from vacation and back to the grind… August is traditionally a slow month in publishing, but that isn’t to say there aren’t plenty of great covers around at this time of year…

9780544464056_hres
Ashes of Fiery Weather by Kathleen Donohoe; design Brian Moore (HMH / August 2016)

Behold the Dreamers design Jaya Micelij
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue; design by Jaya Miceli (Random House / August 2016)

9781770899421
The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall; design by Alysia Shewchuck (House of Anansi / August 2016)

Book design David High
The Book by Keith Houston; design by David High (W.W. Norton / August 2016)

A Burglars Guide to the City design by Nayon Cho
A Burglar’s Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh; design by Nayon Cho (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / April 2016)

compartmentno6 design Kimberly Glyder
Compartment N0. 6 by Rosa Liksom; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf Press / August 2016)

Comet Seekers design Chloe Giordano
The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick; design by Chloe Giordano (Harvill Secker / August 2016)

Cuckoo design Jack Smyth
Cuckoo by Keren David; design by Jack Smyth (Atom / August 2016)

Enter Title Here design Maria Elias
Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia; design by Maria Elias (Hyperion / August 2016)

Fire This Time design Na Kim
The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward; design by Na Kim (Scribner / August 2016)

THE_HATE_RACE
The Hate Race by Maxime Beneba Clarke; design by Allison Colpoys (Hachette Australia / August 2016)

Inexperience design Alissa Dinallo
Inexperience and Other Stories by Anthony Macris; design by Alissa Dinallo (UWAP / August 2016)

Making Literature Now design Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein
Making Literature Now by Amy Hungerford; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Stanford University Press / August 2016)

Impossible Modernism design Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein
Impossible Modernism by Robert S. Lehman; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Stanford University Press / August 2016)

These two look rather nice side by side…

Making Literature Now by Amy Hungerford; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Stanford University Press / August 2016)
Impossible Modernism by Robert S. Lehman; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Stanford University Press / August 2016)

Marx 2020 design Daniel Gray
Marx 2020 by Ronaldo Munck; design by Daniel Benneworth-Gray (Zed / August 2016)

Nordic Theory design by Milan Bozic
The Nordic Theory of Everything by Anu Partanen; design by Milan Bozic (Harper / June 2016)

playing dead design Alison Forner
Playing Dead by Elizabeth Greenwood; design by Alison Forner (Simon & Schuster / August 2016)

pond design by Alex Merto
Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett; design by Alex Merto (Riverhead / July 2016)

The jacket art for Pond is apparently a detail from ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’ by artist Margriet Smulders.

Radiance design Nathan Burton
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente; design & illustration by Nathan Burton (Corsair / August 2016)

Nathan’s design is a nice compliment to Will Staehle‘s cover for the US edition published by Tor Books last year:

Riverine design Kimberly Glyder
Riverine by Angela Palm; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / August 2016)

c9781925321302
The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / August 2016)

Tadunos Song design Chris Gale
Taduno’s Song by Odafe Atogun; design by Chris Gale (Canongate / August 2016)

Underground Airlines design Oliver Munday
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters; design by Oliver Munday (Mulholland Books / July 2016)

Underground Railroad design Oliver Munday
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead; design by Oliver Munday (Doubleday / August 2016)

YouDontHavetoLiveLikeThis Design by Jarrod Taylor
You Don’t Have to Live Like This by Benjamin Markovits; design by Jarrod Taylor (Harper / July 2016)

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