Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Covers

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday theme is the bookish resolutions that we hope to keep in 2013. Since I already kinda covered that with my end-of-the-year wrap up, I decided to dig back into the TTT vaults and participate in one that I haven't done yet, so this week for me is My Top Ten Favorite Book Covers

Reader, you know how the book that I'm either currently reading or the book that I have just finished reading will almost always appear on my next TTT list, and Anna Karenina is no exception. I did not read this version of the book, rather, I read the Barnes and Noble one but I love this cover of the book. Purple is my favorite color and it mixes so well with the black and white of the rest of the illustration.  There is something so innocent yet hinting about this cover; I think that this cover could also double for the cover of Lolita.




All of the covers of Sarah Addison Allen's books are breathtaking. Google any of the works by her and you will see what I mean. Every single edition of every single book that she has written has a gorgeous cover that makes you want to read the book. The writing is just as beautiful and magical as all of her covers. This edition of Garden Spells isn't even the best one!

I feel like even if I didn't enjoy the story of Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, I would still consider this book to be one of my all-time favorites just based on the beautiful cover art. The colors are amazing and invoke a since of witchery and earthiness and spells and girl power and even the most minute details like the thorns on the roses are perfect. I also love the font that the title of the book is written in and I think it lends itself to being a part of that overall magical feeling that engulfs the front of this book.

Reader, anytime there is any purple on a cover of a book, I'm sold. As is the case with Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. I saw this book in a Barnes and Nobles when I was in my first year of teaching and I wanted to read it so bad. Ever since then the poor book as been on my TBR list, but I have never bought a copy of it. When I moved to the Charlotte area this past summer I looked at the county's library catalog and they do have two copies, one available at the library just down the road. Seriously, one of these days I am going to read this book with the beautiful cover written from Mina's POV.

Okay, guys, I know that this image is burned into our minds forever now and there is no escaping it and it's not a very well written book, nor is it a masterpiece of American literature, but even if you didn't care for the book itself, you gotta admit that this cover is pretty stunning. What's great about it is the simplicity of two innocent hands offering an apple, the forbidden fruit. This cover has spawned several classics to come out with re-vamped covers that look very similar including the same Twilight Font that we've all come to know and love!

Confession: I have never read Lolita. I'd like to one day. I did once pick up a copy in a bookstore in high school because I did know the gist of the story, I did want to watch the Kubrick version of the movie, and the cover (I got the one with the legs and shoes in black and white) blew me the hell away. Later I saw the mouth cover and was even more floored. I love them both and from what little I do know of the books, the covers are perfect reflections of the story.

Wicked Lovely is another one that I have not read, and I had never even heard of until I was shelving books in the library one afternoon and stumbled upon this beautiful cover. By now, you know what a sucker I am for purple in a cover and this one grabbed me immediatley. I'm not sure if I will ever read the book itself, but I do display this one often and it is circulated a lot and I think it's got a lot to do with that beautiful cover.

                             

       

I love all of these updated covers of classic books. By adding a new, eye-catching cover to a book, I know for a fact that readers are more likely to pick it up than if it has a old, dusty cover. Hopefully by revamping these classic books looks and giving them some new clothes  a whole new generation of reluctant readers will be willing to shut off the screens and open up the books!

I have not read this one either, but I have to admit that as a child I was infatuated with the cover of this book. I wanted to pack my bags and move to wherever this book was set. The mountains, the forest, the rivers and streams, the beauty!

Any Cormac McCarthy book has the most bitchin' cover that I have ever seen. They are all frightening and eerie and you know no good is gonna come of the characters in these books. Whoever he has do his covers for him deserves a raise!

So, Reader, have you already done this TTT? If so, what do you think are some of the best covers out there? Even if you haven't done the TTT yet, what are some of your favorite covers? Which obvious ones did I miss? Which ones should I have left off? Let me know in the comments, and happy reading (and drooling over beautiful covers)!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorites

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

The topic for today is actually books that you are excited for in 2013, but I really don't know a lot of what is set to come out in 2013. I know that the 13th and final Sookie Stackhouse book is coming out. I am way behind on this series, so while I am excited to see how it all ends, I have some serious catching up to do before I get to the 13th. Jodi Picoult has a new book coming out next year called The Storyteller which sounds extremely promising. It's about a teen girl who befriends a beloved-in-the-'hood old man, strikes up a friendship, he asks her to kill him, she refuses, he admits that he was a Nazi SS Guard, her grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. Those are honestly the only two books that I even know will be published next year. I usually am way behind the world on reading because it takes me forever to get to the hot new books and by the time I've gotten to them they are no longer hot or new. Case in-point: I still haven't read The Casual Vacancy.
So, I looked back through the archives at the Broke and the Bookish and decided to compile a list of my favorites. Keep in mind that these are ten of my favorites and not my top ten favorites of forever. I can't narrow my list down to just ten favorite books. I went through my GoodReads "read" page and selected ten that I really enjoyed and would categorize as favorites.

10. Naked by David Sedaris
This one has been on my last three Top Ten Tuesday posts! There is a reason for it- it's just that darn good! Sedaris' writing is clear and relatable, it's wry and disturbing, it's honest and it's valuable. I just love David (not only because he once called me "enchanting", which he did) because he's so damn hilarious. His brand of humor sneaks up on you, takes you by surprise, and leaves you wanting more.

9. The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
I think I added this one having just watched the last movie in the series. These books are no literary masterpieces, true dat, but I enjoyed them and I liked the fact that I was on the Twilight band wagon long before the books became popular. I think what I liked most about the books was Bella's relationship with her father, I loved watching that relationship grow and become real. I wish that it had been explored further in the books- she should have cooked dinner for him in EVERY CHAPTER!

8. The Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling
Because, really, who's NOT going to include this on their list?!



7. Charlotte's Web by EB White
The first book that left me in tears. I love a book that can bring out strong emotions in me. I look at pigs and spiders (and even rats, really) differently now having read White's classic story of friendship and overcoming differences. It's terrific!




6. Out by Natsuo Kirino
See last weeks Top Ten Tuesday for more on why I heart Ms. Kirino's tale of revenge.


5. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This is a well-loved book by many people. I love it because it makes me think of what I believe a great childhood would be like. Whenever I think of childhood, I picture a sleepy, small southern town with misunderstood characters and spry little children running around town innocently in coming to terms with the world around them.




4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
I am an only child and I spent most of my youth yearning for sisters. I never got any real ones, but I had four great ones in this book. I loved getting to glimpse what it was like to have sisters, the good and the bad. Plus, I am so in love with Jo.





3. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
This movie was on CBS the other day and I had it on in the background while I was cleaning the apartment. It made me want to re-read the book (which is very different from the movie). Again, I love the way this book explored sister relationships (there are THREE generations of sisters in this book, all living in the same house!) while using magical metaphors (pun intended), plus I love anything with a witch in it AND the cover of the book is gorgeus.

2. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty McDonald
I loved Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle growing up. It's been decades since I've read any of the books in this series, but I want to read them again. Perhaps Mrs. PW can give me a little insight on how to deal with the rowdy kids I work with every day!

1. Bridge to Terabeithia by Katherine Paterson
This book was a last minute add-on to the list. I didn't intend to add it, but as I was typing up this list I knew I needed this one to be on here. I loved this book when I read it as a child because it was like someone was peering into my life and writing about me and my friends! I lived on the edge of a forest growing up and no doubt my friends and I made a bridge across the little stream that separated my back yard from the woods and we had secret hideouts all in those woods. Like Jess and Leslie my go-to place to escape was my on little Terabithia.