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Book Covers of Note, February 2024
Published February 27, 2024

Book Covers of Note, February 2024

Hey. I hope you’re keeping safe and well wherever you are. I’m going to keep this very short as there’s lots going on, but there some great covers, and a couple of tenuous comparisons this month (hey, I can’t help how my brain works!) . Enjoy!

Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2024)

Na Kim also designed the cover of Sheila Heti’s novel Pure Colour.

American Mother by Column McCann with Diane Foley; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / February 2024)

Antiquity by Hanna Johansson; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / February 2024)

This reminded me of Akiko Stehrenberger‘s poster for the movie Funny Games. They don’t really look alike, and the tone is very different, but I think it was the close crop and the hair that brought it to mind.

The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad; design by Robin Bilardello (Harper / February 2024)

Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabel Waidner; design by Kapo Ng (Graywolf / February 2024)

Dirtbag by Amber A’Lee Frost; design by Rob Grom (St. Martin’s Press / December 2023)

This brought to mind Peter Mendelsund’s cover for The Woman Destroyed by Simone Beauvoir, published by Pantheon, which in turn reminded me Gunter Rambow‘s Gitanes, Un Hommage à Max Ponty poster…

Fire So Wild by Sarah Ruiz-Grossman; design by Joanne O’Neill (Harper / Feburary 2024)

The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers by Sarah Tomlinson; design by Dave Litman (Flatiron Books / February 2024)

Love Novel by Ivana Sajko; design by Jason Arias (Biblioasis / February 2024)

The image is taken from the 17th Century painting ‘The Torture of Prometheus’ by Giovacchino Assereto (thanks for letting me know, Jason!). The tight crop (which is great!), reminded me of Peter Hujar’s 1969 photograph ‘Orgasmic Man’, which was used on the cover of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara designed by Cardon Webb a few years ago. Art imitating art, kind of?

Jacket design by Cardon Webb; jacket photograph Orgasmic Man by Peter Hujar 1987

Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra; design by Dave Litman (Pamela Dorman Books / February 2024)

I swear all Dave’s covers come in pairs….

Ours by Phillip B. Williams; design by Lynn Buckley; illustration by Damilola Opedun (Viking / February 2024)

Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright; design by John Gall (New Directions / February 2024)

John also designed the cover of the New Directions edition of Carpentaria by Alexis Wright, also published this month.

Sinking Bell by Bojan Louis; design by Tom Etherington (Cinder House / February 2024)

US edition of Sinking Bell, published by Graywolf in 2022), was designed by Adam Bohannon.

Splinters by Leslie Jamison; design by Gregg Kulick (Little, Brown & Co / February 2024)

The cover of the UK edition of Splinters, published this month by Granta, was designed by Jack Smyth. It’s interesting to see to a torn author photo in both…

Tartarus by Ty Chapman; design by Zoe Norvell (Button Poetry / February 2024)

I am really starting to wonder whether yellow type is a thing. Or am I just noticing it now because I’m looking for it?

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange; design by Linda Huang (Knopf / February 2024)

The cover of the UK edition of Wandering Stars, which is being published by Vintage next month, was designed by Suzanne Dean.

You Glow in the Dark by Liliana Colanzi; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / February 2024)

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Published March 30, 2023

Book Covers of Note, March 2023

I hope you’re keeping safe and well. There’s quite a nice mix of covers this month (I think?). There’s some fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some paperbacks and some hardcovers. Inevitably there are books from the big folks in NYC, but there’s also some indie titles, and a couple of covers from the UK. There is even some Canadian content for those of you who care about that sort of thing.1

Bariloche by Andrés Neuman; design by Alban Fischer (Open Letter / March 2023)

Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett; design by Stephanie Ross (Riverhead / February 2023)

Does this qualify for the ‘well-dressed and distressed’ trend? Or is this more like an ‘everyone is tired’ thing?

The cover of the hardback edition of Checkout 19 published last year was designed by Jaya Miceli with art by Kristine Moran.

Commitment by Mona Simpson; design by Kelly Blair; art by Lee Heinen (Knopf / March 2023)

Crying Wolf by Eden Boudreau; design by Michel Vrana (Book*hug Press / March 2023)

The Flowers of Buffoonery by Osamu Dazai; design by Rodrigo Corral (New Directions / March 2023)

This is the third Rodrigo Corral cover for New Direction’s editions of Dazai. I’m curious — can anyone can tell me the typeface? UPDATE: it’s not a typeface, it’s lettering! Thanks to Erik at New Directions for letting me know (and for sending the final cover)!

Oh and if you’re curious about the enduring popularity of Dazai (who died in 1948), Andrew Martin wrote a piece about it for the the New York Times.

Halal Sex by Sheima Benembarek; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Viking Canada / March 2023)

Hospital by Han Song; design by Will Staehle (Amazon Crossing / March 2023)

Island City by Laura Adamczyk; design by Jennifer Heuer (FSG Originals / March 2023)

The Natural Hustle by Eva H.D.; design by Talia Abramson (McClelland & Stewart / March 2023)

Now I Am Here by Childi Ebere; design by Lucy Scholes; illustration by Ben Wiseman; type by Matt Willey (Picador / March 2023)

Poverty by Matthew Desmond; design by Christopher Brand (Crown / March 2023)

Spilt Milk by Amy Beashel; design by Emma Rogers (HarperCollins / March 2023)

To Battersea Park by Philip Hensher; design by Jo Thomson (Fourth Estate / March 2023)

Can this start a dogs on book covers trend?

Trace Evidence by Charif Shanahan; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / March 2023)

If one of the fine folks at Tin House would like to send me a higher quality image, I’ll be glad to add it in! Thanks to the fine folks at Tin House for sending over the cover!

Voyager by Nona Fernández; design by Kapo Ng (Graywolf Press / February 2023)

The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen; design by Vikki Chu (Berkley / February 2023)

Zig-Zag Boy by Tanya Frank; design by Emma Pidsley (William Collins / March 2023)

The cover of the US edition of Zig-Zag Boy, published by W. W. Norton this month, was designed by Alicia Tatone with art by Pedro Covo.

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Published April 28, 2014

Triangles Are My Favourite Shape

Let’s tessellate…

I’ve been thinking a lot about triangle patterns recently (that’s just how my mind works — don’t ask) and collecting together a few book covers (and related matter) that use them in their designs. I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve come across here…

MythOfSis
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus; design by Helen Yentus (Vintage Books 2007) harvard-review-35-full

Harvard Review #35 (Fall 2008), #39 (Fall 2010) and #41 (Winter 2011); design by Alex Camlin

cuttingedges cutting-edges-gestalten

cutting-edges-jelle-martens
Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage edited by Robert Klanten, Hendrik Hellige and J. Gallagher (Gestalten February 2011) — collages by Jelle Martens

traveller-of-the-century
Traveller of the Century by Andrés Neuman; design by Clare Skeats (Pushkin Press, January 2013)

LaBoîteAuxLettresDuCimetière_1000

LaSolutionEsquimauAW

la-troisieme-balle

La Boîte aux lettres du cimetière by Serge Pey (Éditions Zulma February 2014)

Notre quelque part by Nii Ayikwei Parkes (Éditions Zulma February 2014)

Dictionnaire du parfait cynique by Roland Jaccard (Éditions Zulma March 2007)

La Troisième Balle by Leo Parutz (Éditions Zulma October 2014)

Design by David Pearson

(I also rather like the cover for Le Goût âpre des kakis by Zoyâ Pirzâd as well)

sounds good
Sounds Good 101 Poems to be Heard edited by Christopher Reid; design by Eleanor Crow (Faber & Faber, March 2012)

Herbert Scarf’s Contributions to Economics, Game Theory and Operations Research Volumes 1-3 by Edited by Zaifu Yang (Palgrave Macmillan, September 2013)

The Here And Now
The Here and Now by Ann Brashares; design by Natalie Sousa (Delacorte Press, April 2014)

cataract-city
Cataract City by Craig Davidson; design by Kapo Ng (Graywolf, July 2014)


The Last Days by Laurent Seksik; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press, Nov 2013)

 

juxtapoz-psychedelic
Juxtapoz Psychedelic by Hannah Stouffer (Gingko Press February 2014)

( Unfortunately I’m not sure the image quite does justice to this cover…

Update:

A excellent addition to the list from UK designer Stuart Bache:

astonish-me

Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead; design by Stuart Bache (Blue Door May 2014)

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