I participated in Birthstone Books Covers for the first time in August, and now I’m hooked! Leslie at Books Are the New Black hosts this fun monthly meme — and since I love anything related to spotlighting amazing book covers, I just had to jump in.

The rules are simple:

Mention the creator (Leslie @ Books Are The New Black ) and link back so she can see your post! Pick 5+ book covers that match the current month’s Birthstone.
HAVE FUN!

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November’s birthstones are topaz and citrine. And while they may look very similar, apparently they’re quite different stones!

No, citrine and topaz are not the same; citrine is a variety of quartz, while topaz is a different mineral species. They are often confused because they can have similar yellow and brown colors, but they have different chemical compositions, hardness levels, and crystalline structures. 

And from Bremer Jewelry’s website:

WHAT IS TOPAZ?

Check out the raw topaz above and compare it to the raw citrine at the top of this post. It’s easy to see how these pale yellow stones have been easily confused throughout history! Citrine (quartz family) and topaz are actually unrelated mineral species. Topaz belongs to the silicate mineral family, not quartz. Before these differences were clear, many cultures called citrine (the yellow variety of quartz) by other names like gold topaz, Madeira or Spanish topaz—contributing to the confusion.

The name topaz derives from Topazios, the ancient Greek name for St. John’s Island in the Red Sea. Although the yellow stones famously mined there probably weren’t topaz, it soon became the name for most yellowish stones. Pure topaz is colorless, but it can become tinted by impurities to take on any color of the rainbow. Precious topaz, ranging in color from brownish orange to yellow, is often mistaken for “smoky quartz” or “citrine quartz,” respectively—although quartz and topaz are unrelated minerals!

One of my close childhood friends was a November baby, and I remember us comparing our birthstone rings — my sapphire vs her topaz! (Of course, I insisted mine was better — but her topaz was quite lovely too!)

And now for the books!

Here are the topaz/citrine book covers I’ve found on my shelves:

• Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
• The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison
• Parable of the Sower (graphic novel edition) by Octavia Butler
• Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
• The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley
• Bloodhound (Beka Cooper, #2) by Tamora Pierce

Do you have any favorite topaz/citrine book covers to share?