Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week.
This week’s theme is Top Ten Favorite Book Covers of Books I’ve Read. I’m a sucker for an eye-catching cover, so my main challenge this week will be in limiting myself to just ten.
To get the full effect, I’m leaving most of the pictures here BIG size. ‘Cuz they’re just too pretty to shrink.
In no particular order:
1) Soulless by Gail Carriger. Proper Victorian lady, crazy-ass parasol, top hat and goggles. Not to mention the tagline at the bottom: “A Novel of Vampires, Werewolves, and Parasols”. I love the screaming pink title as well. Here’s one cover that is visually appealing and at the same time completely conveys the feel of the book.
2) Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler: Book one in the Jane True series introduces us to a small-town girl whose world is about to get blown open as she discovers her secret heritage — as a half-selkie! I love the punky feel of this adorable cover:
3) Lamb by Christopher Moore: Specifically, this special edition of Lamb, featuring a leatherette cover, gilt-edging on the pages, and a silk bookmark. Quite Biblical, wouldn’t you say? And totally appropriate for Christopher Moore’s one-of-a-kind view of “The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal”. One of my favorite books ever… especially with this cover.
4) The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley: This is the book that — for me — completely defies the “don’t judge a book by its cover” rule. As soon as I saw the cover, I fell in love. Had to have it. The fact that I ended up really enjoying the story (timeslip romance, Scotland, Jacobites, etc) is just a plus. This is just gorgeous:
5) The Silent Land by Graham Joyce. This book is fantastic, and the starkness of the cover, with its eerie landscape and empty chairlift, is a perfect portrayal of the book’s mood and setting. It’s hard to tell from just a picture, but the book jacket is translucent white, with the black areas showing through from the book itself. Amazing.
6) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith: The book that started the classics/monster mash-up craze! I know we’re probably all sick of them by now, but P&P&Z was really an original at the time. I love the cover — you could easily walk right by it in a bookstore, assuming it’s just a portrait of a traditional Regency-era young woman… but then the teeth or throat jump out at you and practically force you to do a double-take. So simple. So clever.
7) The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman: The girl on the cover is just so beautiful, and I love the sepia tones and uncluttered layout. The cover gives the book a classic yet exotic look. Stunning.
8) The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater: I like these books individually, but love them when you put them all side by side. The colors, the changing seasons, the wolves — it all works. Plus, the print inside the books matches the color theme on the jackets, which seemed weird at first, but actually works nicely once you get used to it.
9) The Radleys by Matt Haig: White picket fence… with just a drop or two of blood. Not your average day in the suburbs, that’s for sure.
10) Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll. This is one odd, twisty book, so hard to describe — but I really love the intricacy of the black and white cover, with just a touch of red for added oomph.
Wait, what? I’m up to ten already? How can that be? As I do on so many top 10 lists, I must give a shout-out to my honorable mention books. I love these covers too, not necessarily any less than the ten above — but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere, right?
My honorable mention — but I really, really love them — book covers are:
- Under the Dome by Stephen King
- 11/22/63 by Stephen King
- Sunshine by Robin McKinley
- Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
- Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
- Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham
Someone stop me!
So what made your top 10 list this week? Do tell!
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Bookshelf Fantasies 
That are some serious intriguing covers you have chosen. Love the one for The Radleys
Thanks, Ciska! The Radleys is a terrific book, and I think the cover is rather perfect. 🙂
I love the Maggie Stiefvater books – always good when an author has a theme to their various covers. Although I guess you have to write a few before a theme emerges!
Ha! Yes… I guess it was a planned trilogy all along.I really had to look for the wolf on the 2nd cover especially – at first I thought there wasn’t one. I like how each cover has mostly the same elements, but with a twist. Thanks for stopping by!
The Silent Land is a great cover, though I’ve never heard of the book. Eleanor & Park is also appealing. Here’s my list: http://brev.is/Yd15
The Silent Land is an incredible book, and not just for the cover! I would definitely recommend it. Thanks for stopping by!
That cover of The Silent Land is fantastic! I’m going to have to check it out now 🙂 Great list! Eleanor & Park is a popular cover this week xD
I really love that cover of Sunshine, never seen that version before! Also like The Silent Land, totally adding that to my TBR. I’ve read one other by that author and was pretty impressed. Great picks!
My Top Ten Tuesday
What else have you read by Graham Joyce? I’ve read Some Kind of Fairy Tale (loved it), and have a couple more on my shelf.
Lisa,
Thank you for this post! I had never seen that special edition cover of Lamb… and I went searching for it immediately for my daughter’s birthday! She and I read Lamb aloud together (and laughed and sobbed together), but it was on an e-reader. I know she will love this edition.
What a great mom! That’s a terrific birthday gift.
I love the cover for Tempest Rising. I’ve never heard of this series. I do love the Dovekeeper’s cover, too. Great list! Thanks for stopping by!
-Natalie @Natflix&Books
If you like urban fantasy (with fun, smart, strong female lead characters), definitely give the Jane True books a try!
Fun list! I really like Sisters Red and Souless!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the covers for Eleanor & Park, 11/22/63, The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, and The Silent Land.
The cover of Eleanor & Park is so sweet – I like all of the covers of Rowell’s books. I also agree about Soulless – the picture conveys the Victorian setting and the hot pink adds the fun & quirkiness that the book contains.
Soulless, great addition to the list! Same with The Radleys, I think that’s a different cover than I’ve seen before. I like it better.
Here’s my TTT for the week. Happy reading!
The Radleys cover on my list is the one I borrowed from the library. When I finally came across a cheap used copy to add to my collection, it had a much more cartoon-ish cover. I like the simplicity of this one quite a bit. Thanks for stopping by!
I think it’s weird that there are so many covers for a single book. What a fun job, though, to create them!
This was a hard week to just stop with 10. I kind of cheated a bit there. But I you reminded that I totally forgot about Shiver. I love the covers of those books! Thanks for stopping by!
I remember seeing the The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy before but not picking it up. 😦 But the covers look so pretty! 😀
I am so happy you chose The Winter Sea and Soulless. Love those covers so much! Great choices!
Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by my TTT!
Thanks! I love the latest batch of Susanna Kearsley book covers. They’re all so beautiful and moody — I’d probably buy them just for the covers. (Good thing I enjoy her writing so much!)
I like the cover for the winter sea and dove keepers!