Why I Love... Judging a Book By Its Cover

Raise your hand if you've ever picked a book up because the cover was pretty. Me! Raise you're hand if you've ever picked a book up because the title made you giggle. Me! Raise you're hand if you've ever noticed a book out of the corner of your eye because the dust jacket was shiny. Me!

I have done all of these things and I regret none of them. I judge books by covers all of the time. It's the cover that often first attracts me to new titles and authors. When I peruse a bookstore, I am more often than not drawn to fun titles and beautiful dust jackets. I love attractive, eyeing-catching design. I'm also a fan of repurposed artwork and maps. And typography. And minimalism. Essentially, if there is a book that is "nice" to look at, I'm likely a fan. It's these style choices that makes book jump out from all the others.

Even when I've picked up a book to laugh at it (coughRideTheFirecough), I always give the blurb a read. (Ride The Fire turned out to be a most excellent romance novel.) It's the cover that draws me in, the blurb that gets me to buy or check-out, and the actual writing to keep me coming back to an author.

Judging a book by its cover is simply the first step in my love affair with a given book.