Ever buy a book for its cover, because you thought it was artistic or something?

Question

Do tell us.

Answer 1

Yes I have. And boy was it a stinker. I won't even tell you the title or the author because the book is long out of print and the writer is probably selling seeds by mail. But it seriously stunk up the place and I'm not having anything to do with it.

Answer 2

That's the way my girlfriend gets books. If I buy one with a bad cover, she'll read it and sometimes enjoy it. If a favorite author has a bad cover, she'll read it and usually enjoy it. But the good cover technique works pretty well for her. She is rarely upset with her choices. It does mean she's missing out on others, but she has a very high success rate with her method. Not many are bad.
I bought a book because the cover was hilarious and I wanted to see how terrible the book was. Brian Keene's "The Conqueror Worms" features earthworms emerging from the ground, towering 200 feet into the air and rising above buildings. I wondered how creatures with no backbone could stand up that straight. So I bought the book, thinking it would be so bad it was funny. Instead, it was amazing. The narrator blew me away and I can't get over the fact that he made killer earthworms seem believable (they aren't regular earthworms).
It is true that there are bad books with good covers and good books with bad covers, but judging by the cover clearly works for some people. Yes, the cover-judgers will miss out on good stuff. But even the can't-judge-by-cover group will be unable to read everything good out there, and they'll find bad stuff along the way. Let the cover-judgers have their fun. They aren't hurting anybody.

Answer 3

I read alot of fantasy type books and sometimes I do buy the book because of the artwork on the cover. Most of the time the book is as good as the art once in a while I have had a stinker but still have nice art to look at LOL

Answer 4

Sure. The books by Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan series that were reprinted in the late 1960's and early 1970's had covers that were done by Frank Frazetta and so were the reprinted books by Robert E. Howard and his Conan series. Also, there were book covers done by Michael Whelan for H. Beam Pipers' 'Little Fuzzy' series that were especially good. I really like Michael Whelan's paintings, along with Frazetta, Luis Royo, Darrell Sweet and a few others.

Answer 5

I guess you could say that. The artwork on the cover of "The Waterless Sea" by Kate Constable really caught my eye. But I read the inside front cover and saw that it was a sequel, so I checked the first book out. I read the entire thing in one day, bought the second one, read that, and waited desperately until the third one came out, which I read, causing it to become my new favorite book.

Answer 6

Yes, I always do and usually the books are good (usually of the fantasy genre).

But once, I bought Esperanza Rising by Pam Munez Ryan (or something like that) because I thought it was like about a girl who could fly (like a fantasy book). It sucked!

LOL, when I was in first grade, one of my friends used to literally "judge books by their covers" and if the front didn't look good, he wouldn't read it. I ended up getting a lot of books from him that his mom bought for him that he rejected :-). Mostly some of the Bailey School Kids series, LOL.

Answer 7

Cry to heaven by Anne Rice....Spartacus by Howard Fast(outlawed during the Mccarthy era).....The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, who also wrote the Three Musketeers & The man in the iron mask.....The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough...brilliant book.....The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (An amazing classic) & The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, lastly A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by betty Smith.
There, many classics and page turners for you!!! I have read all of these and in some cases multiple times!!! I really hope that this helps you!!! Spartacus will blow your mind. It had to be released in England as the McCarthy era had Howard fast black balled when it was written.
I hope that you read Cry to heaven by Anne Rice...it is NOT about vampires, but about the Italian Castrati, thus it is truth intermixed with fiction, rather historical fiction....
Happy reading!!!!! I gave y usome of my top faves here!!
Thanks,
Lioncourt

Answer 8

Yes all the time but it seems to work quite well. I never buy a book with a gold typrface and always like the ones with a matt surface to the paper.

Answer 9

Yeah, but alot of times the really good books have SUCK covers.

Answer 10

we say
never judge the book by the cover