I must admit, as a long time book lover, I feel it's sort of my duty to give a book a chance, even if the cover art and title are completely and utterly boring or just too bizarre or out-dated. It's my duty to give the book a chance, yes, but do I do it? Nope. I go completely against the old adage and judge a book by it's cover. A well-produced cover means a more interested me. And of course, a title that gets me a'wondering.
Of course, I feel guilty about this. What kind of book lover am I? So shallow, I know! I can't possibly truly enjoy real books if all I do is pass up the ugly brown and orange covered monstrosities entitled, "The Cat" or "Tea Time for Betsy". And yet, I do! I judge a book by it's cover. And for all of you out there who do the same, you don't have to feel guilty anymore (assuming, of course, that you did in the first place). There's an actual website dedicated to just this kind of thing. They find ridiculous cover art and make fun of it. And then you can look at that cover art and make up your own goofy, snarky interpretation, if you aren't fully satisfied by theirs. I giggle, I scratch my head, sometimes there is some actual ::face::palm:: action going on.
One of my favorite posts is done by Rex Parker, a man with an endless supply of old books with weird and strange cover art and even stranger synopses. He gives his favorite points about the front and the back of the book, and even includes a sentence from inside (I think it's from page 123.) I'm always entertained.
Go check it out if you haven't already: Judge a Book By Its Cover.
