I love cover art, and am always fascinated when cover artists discuss the process of jacketing a book (for example, this piece on Dear Mrs Bird). Inspired by Rachel’s post along the same lines, here are some of my favourite book covers from the past couple of years. (I’m going to restrict myself to UK editions, even though I tend to prefer US covers.)
I love seeing how books are remarketed when they move from hardback to paperback, and here are some examples that didn’t have bad hardback jackets but have beautiful paperback covers [hardbacks on left, paperbacks on right]:
I love the bright colours of the paperback edition of Aminatta Forna’s Happiness, and the photo of the fox; the whole feel of the cover is much edgier than the hardback version, which is pretty but a bit abstract for this London-set slice of social realism.
The hardback cover of Sarah Moss’s Ghost Wall was pretty good, but the paperback cover is just perfect for this Northumbrian-set chiller, evoking the ‘light nights’ of northern summers and the isolation of the central character. I want to buy it all over again.
I really liked the pattern of leaves on the hardback of Samantha Harvey’s The Western Wind, but the woodcut image on the paperback is stunning, and fits this medieval mystery so well.
Of course, sometimes it goes the other way:
The paperback cover of Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage is clever and bright, but is definitely aimed more at a women’s fiction market; the hardback cover is just gorgeous, and I like the more subtle symbolism of the tree and the font that looks hand-sewn, referencing Celestial’s doll-making business.
I frequently like covers much more than the books they contain. Here are some examples:
(I still can’t get over how beautiful the cover of The Lido is when the book was so awful…)
However, some books get the amazing covers they deserve:
Does anybody violently disagree with my taste in covers? (I know I always Have Opinions when I read these kind of posts…)
Laura Tisdall 
I LOVE posts like this and I really like your taste! I definitely agree with you on the first two hardback to paperback covers. For The Western Wind I’m kind of torn – I love the image, but the way it’s framed by the white makes it look like a proof to me? The UK cover of Asymmetry is one of my favorites ever – I am a sucker for black and white covers and I love the way the yellow pops.
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I know what you mean but I quite like that look on proofs – I guess because woodcuts often have those kind of borders, it adds to the style of it? I love both the colours of Asymmetry and the meta-ness of the crease in the cover.
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Oh interesting – there’s something distinctly unpolished to me about the white borders, and I’m sure it’s *because* I associate them with proofs; it’s hard for me to remove that association and evaluate the aesthetic. But this has reminded me for the billionth time that I really need to read The Western Wind, so there’s that.
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It’s brilliant! It takes time and effort but it so deserves it.
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Love this. I agree with most of your choices. Love the Natasha Pulley covers in particular, and I agree about the fox. Across the void is on my read soon shelf, I’m hoping it’ll entertain even if it ain’t great literature.
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I thought Across The Void would be a fun, trashy read, but I found it truly awful 😦
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Oh well – a cash in on the Martian market with a film in mind, I’m guessing…
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Probably!
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