Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday!


Every Tuesday, The Broke and the Bookish host Top Ten Tuesday, wherein every week bloggers list their top ten choices based on a prompt. This week's prompt is:

Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign
In no particular order:

1) Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn












I love Deanna Raybourn. I love her books. I love her blog. I even follow her on Twitter. She is the only mystery novelist that I read and I don't even mind that her books contain a hint of romance because Nicholas Brisbane is such an awesome character that I would be surprised if Lady Julia didn't fall for him.

Silent on the Moor is the third book in the Lady Julia series and it was the first one that I wish I could have bought in a paper bag. I'm not a particularly macho guy but the cover of this book just SCREAMS bodice-ripper romance and that is not at all what the Lady Julia novels are about. The first two books, Silent in the Grave and Silent in the Sanctuary, both had really amazing covers that did not in any way resemble a cheesy romance novel. I just wish the rest of the books had stayed with that theme and not devolved into, well, into that monstrosity above.

2) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling












Okay, so there's a lot more than just the cover that I wish I could change about this book, but that's a whole other story. This cover, to me, is the most boring out of all of the Harry Potter covers. It's also the one that really doesn't say much about the book. By looking at this cover, I would guess that this book is the story of how Harry Potter played Quidditch in the Colosseum. I would not guess that it was actually the longest camping trip in the entire world punctuated by senseless deaths. But...maybe that's just me.


Um...no that's all I've got. Just those two. I tend not to really pay that much attention to covers. Plus, a lot of the books I've read have been reprinted several times so they have a ton of different covers. If it weren't that I really dislike these two covers, I probably wouldn't have participated this week at all. But I had to complain about them so I'm glad that I decided to participate after all.

-Gabe

19 comments:

  1. Thanks for the follow. I agree with you on the new BSC covers. They're...bland, to say the least.

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  2. I agree. I've hated all the Harry Potter covers - until they released the new ones. They're so pretty! http://www.perezfox.com/images/harry_book_sig_series.jpg

    My TTT

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  3. The first one made me chuckle. It does indeed look like a boddice-ripper romance.

    I'm not a huge fan of any of the Harry Potter covers either. The kids ones are a little to cartoony and the adult covers are just boring. The new ones are only marginally better I think.

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  4. Haha, I laughed out loud at the Harry Potter played Quidditch in the Colosseum part and I totally agree! I don't think the UK covers are much better either....

    Here's mine:
    Harry Potter played Quidditch in the Colosseum

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  5. ComaCalm: First of all, thanks for the follow. Secondly, I'm not sure how I feel about those covers. They just don't scream Harry Potter to me. Oh well, at least the books are good.

    Karen: And the thing that really gets to me is that people are going to see that and get completely the wrong idea about the kind of books that Raybourn writes. If the covers of the first two books had been like that, I never would have picked them up and I would have missed out on a really great author.

    Vicky: I usually really like the HP covers but that one just sort of summed up the book for me. There's pretty much nothing on the cover and pretty much nothing happens in between the covers either.

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  6. You have taken interesting covers. I don't like that HP cover either. Some of those do need to be redesigned! Some covers are SO trashy! I have posted about that.

    Here is my Top Ten post!

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  7. Wow, it never occurred to me to want to change HP: Deathly Hollows cover. I was just so glad to finally get my hands on it!

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  8. The Deanna Raybourn books look completely different over here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Moor-MIRA-Deanna-Raybourn/dp/0778303047/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302031684&sr=8-1 - I hate it when you read a series and they cahnge the covers half way though.

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  9. I never made the "Quidditch-in-the-Colosseum" connection with the Deathly Hallows cover before, but now that you mention it, I can really see it! Cool picks.

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  10. wow. ten comments and not one of them from me. :] Way to go Gabe.

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  11. pwb: That is an amazing cover! Or, at least, it's preferable to the one I have. :)

    I agree. I like consistency and I don't understand why they couldn't have kept the covers as tactful and beautiful as they originally were.

    Nonners: Thanks. Imagine how many comments I could have had if I'd had ten books instead of two. :)

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  12. Haha. A lot. Or so we can hope. I love it when I get comments. Which btw, I've noticed your wonderful effort to comment on my blog. Thank you.

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  13. You're very welcome. I'll probably be commenting on people's blogs a lot more once I'm done with school after this semester. For some reason, both of my professors decided that everything was going to be due in April, so I've been so busy that I've really only had time to post on my blog...and even then I've had to stay up way too late sometimes to do it.

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  14. Awe. I'm sorry to hear that. I think you should spend time making a shiny new badge for the frequent commenter award I've received. Can't show it off if I don't have it. :'[

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  15. If I had something like Photoshop I'd be all over making you a real badge. All I have is Paint though and the monthly theme badge that I have on the sidebar should tell you how not skilled I am at even using that program. :)

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  16. lol. Well hurry up. I want that badge. And you have to do something great like the style badge. Tell us something about yourself have pass it to however many people. Stuff like that :]

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  17. And you guys are crazy :] I love the Harry Potter covers. They're awesome.

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  18. Romance covers are so bad. I don't even know if romance writing is good, because I am too embarrassed to read something with a cover like that in public.

    Here is my list: http://hawthornescarlet.blogspot.com/2011/04/top-ten-tuesday-stop-embarassing-me.html

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  19. Nonners: I love the other six covers. It was just that last one that really annoyed me.

    LBC: Agreed. I don't read romance to begin with, but if I did I definitely would not read the ones where the covers feature men who look like Fabio and women who look like Barbie.

    My mom reads Danielle Steel and, regardless of what I think of her novels, the covers are always really classy. I wish that the people who designed romance covers would have a bit more decency and a lot more respect for women. I know plenty of women who would never read a romance novel simply because they'd be embarrassed to carry them around.

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