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Book Covers of Note, March 2026
Published March 25, 2026

Book Covers of Note, March 2026

Hey. It’s almost spring. Hang in there!

I took a long-planned week off in March, so this month’s post was somewhat cobbled together around that trip and somehow we’ve ended up with lots of great covers to show for it! I should take vacation more often! There’s some particularly fun typography, some nice illustration, and some of the usual weirdness. Enjoy!

The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit; design by Gray318 (Granta / March 2026)

Business Men as Lovers by Rosemary Tonks; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / March 2026)

Oliver Munday’s cover for The Bloater by Rosemary Tonks, also published by New Directions, was on my 2022 notable list…

Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky; design by Vivian Lopez Rowe (Ecco / February 2026)

The Fountain by Casey Scieszka; design by Jack Smyth (Harper / March 2026)

Four Night Seas by Niamh Mac Cabe; design by Sarah Schulte (Lilliput Press / March 2026)

Gunk by Saba Sams; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / March 2026)

I feel like shiny 3D type might just be a thing this year.

Hotel Exile by Jane Rogoyska; design by Daniele Roa (Allen Lane / February 2026)

The Hour of the Wolf by Fatima Bhutto; design by Gray318 (Daunt Originals / February 2026)

I had a hell of time trying to remember what this reminded me of, I think it is Jeffery Alan Love‘s illustration for the cover of Wolves by author Simon Ings published by Gollancz way back in 2014.

Coincidentally, the cover of Wolves and other Simon Ings titles from Gollancz were among the ABCD Award winners in 2015, and if you’re interested in reading about this year’s ABCD awards, which took place earlier this month, Vyki Hendy has a write up at SPINE.

I Am Agatha by Nancy Foley; design by Clay Smith (Avid Reader Press / March 2026)

Monster Capital edited by Ra Page & David Sue; design by David Pearson (Comma Press / March 2026)

The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / March 2026)

Nothing Tastes as Good by Luke Dumas; design by Claire Sullivan (Atria / March 2026)

Now I Surrender by Álvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha Wimmer; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / March 2026)

The cover of the UK edition of Now I Surrender published by Harvill Secker features art by Mexican illustrator Rodolfo Baquier. His art also features on the cover of You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue, which was one of my notable covers in 2024.

Pixie by Jill Dawson; design by Carmen R. Balit (Bloomsbury / March 2026)

Recession by Tyler Goodspeed; design by Steve Leard (Basic Books / March 2026)

Steve does love a black, white, and red colour palette for nonfiction!

A Scandal in Konigsberg by Christopher Clark; design by Stephanie Ross (Penguin Press / March 2026)

Seasons of Glass & Iron by Amal El-Mohtar; design by Spencer Fuller / Faceout Studio (Tordotcom Publishing / March 2026)

Sisters in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Laurel Taylor & Hitomi Yoshio; design by Tiana Dunlop; art by Tetsuya Noda (Knopf / March 2026)

The Spoil by Maile Chapman; design by Vivian Lopez Rowe (Graywolf Press / March 2026)

The Truth of Carcosa by Jacob Rollinson; design by Rodrigo Corral Studio (Union Square & Co. / January 2026)

200 Monas by Jan Saenz; design by June Park (Little Brown & Co. / March 2026)

The lips trend has carried over from 2025!

Woman Alive by Susan Ertz; illustration by Tom Gauld (Manderley Press / March 2026)

I should probably do a post of Tom’s cover illustrations for other people’s books at some point. There must be a few now?

Wretch by Eric Larocca; design by Alicia Tatone (Saga Press / March 2026)

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Physics for Cats: Science Cartoons by Tom Gauld
Published October 8, 2025

Physics for Cats: Science Cartoons by Tom Gauld

Tom Gauld has a new collection of his science-based cartoons for the New Scientist, Physics for Cats, out this week.

Tom talked to the New York Times about the previous collection, Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, in 2020.

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Published February 4, 2025

Tom Gauld’s Winter Sun

I love Tom Gauld‘s latest cover for the New Yorker so much. We just had sleet and freezing rain in Toronto so that part is accurate. But it’s not just the weather. Everything feels pretty bleak at the moment and, like many others, I have found myself seeking solace in art too.

(I also have a dog. I should post more dog cartoons)

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Published July 18, 2024

Best Books for Summer by Tom Gauld

Tom Gauld for The Guardian.

This is pretty much me whenever we go on vacation, although I usually bring more anxiety to the mix.

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Published June 7, 2024

Restless Spirit

Tom Gauld for The Guardian.

If I seem to be posting a lot about unread books and to-read piles, it is because I have a lot of unread books and a daunting to-read pile and I feel bad about it.

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Published May 15, 2024

Bluebeard by Tom Gauld

This, but for my personal art and design projects, and my actual proper job.

(Tom Gauld for The Guardian, obviously. Tom is currently selling some original drawings in his shop if you would like to own one of his masterpieces)

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Published November 16, 2023

AI vs Death

Tom Gauld for the New Scientist.

By weird coincidence this tribute to Ingmar Bergman from the 1981 TV special “The Muppets Go to the Movies” with Beaker as Death also popped up in my timeline this week.

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Published August 18, 2023

‘To Be Read’ by Tom Gauld

Tom Gauld for The Guardian.

My ‘to be read’ wall feels particularly bad at the moment. I did, however, read an ARC of She’s a Killer by Kirsten McDougall on vacation, which is fun if you like an unreliable narrator who is not quite a genius, but very possibly a sociopath (and has an imaginary friend).

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Published July 20, 2023

Corrupting Souls

Tom Gauld‘s Midsummer’s Eve cartoon for The Guardian is from last month (obviously!), but I’m borrowing it to make a bit of boring and overdue social media housekeeping more interesting!

While I haven’t yet asked Wizard Toby to deactivate the Casual Optimist account like a some kind of despairing Baphomet, I have pretty much abandoned Twitter. It’s disappointing because I’ve met some great people through the app and it has always been a tremendous resource, but I can’t support it any more.

I’ve always hated Facebook and I haven’t posted to the Casual Optimist page there in at least a couple of years. I did, however, start an Instagram account which I’m trying to update at least once a month if you want to follow along there. I think it’s pretty unlikely that I will do anything with Threads.

I’m not on Bluesky, but I am trying out Mastodon. It promises a lot, I’m just not quite convinced by it yet (and I gather from more prolific posters than me that there is something of a sea lion problem there). I’ll post a link if/when there is a proper Casual Optimist account. In the meantime, you can find me here.

There is an RSS feed that you can subscribe to if you still use a reader (I use the Old Reader FWIW; I’m not sure what the cool kids are using), or you can get it as an email (it’s not perfect but it works).

Updates are also sent automatically to Tumblr if you’re still rattling around that haunted abandoned mansion.

Anyway, sorry for being very online and tedious. I’ll try to post some more interesting stuff soon (if I don’t quietly pack it in completely and put myself out to pasture…)

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Published June 6, 2023

Nighthawks at the Library by Tom Gauld

Tom Gauld for The Guardian.

(Is this a Semisonic joke as well as an Edward Hopper one? Or am I just showing my age?)

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Published January 24, 2023

Black Holes?

Tom Gauld for New Scientist. Feels about right.

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Published November 22, 2022

Søren Kierkegaard, 1843 by Tom Gauld

A very clever bit of cartooning by Mister Tom Gauld for New Scientist.

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