Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.
The topic this week is: Book Cover Freebie.
They say you should never judging a book by its cover and they aren’t very important to me when it comes to deciding what to read, but I do have my likes and dislikes. If I know the author or am looking for a specific title I take no notice of the cover.
I like covers that give an indication of what the book is about, and covers with beautiful scenery such as these:
and these:
I also like the covers on the British Library Crime Classics. There are so many to choose from but you can see them on the British Library’s website. A lot of them (all?) are reproductions of 1930s railway posters, which I think are lovely.
The cover of The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull is one of my favourites:
I don’t like those covers where you only see part of the body of, usually a woman, as though she has no head, or feet. And I don’t like covers such as those on modern publications of Jane Austen’s novels or ones with photos from a film or TV adaptation of a book.
I really dislike the cover on my paperback copy of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. If I didn’t know what it was about or hadn’t read any books by Steinbeck I doubt that I’d have wanted to read it based on the cover alone. I can’t even decide what it is – after staring at it for a while I think it’s a fence with some weeds, maybe. I’ve tried to find a copy of the original – on the back cover it states it’s from the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, but does not give the title. I much prefer the 75th Anniversary Edition cover that reproduces the first edition cover of 1939.
BooksPlease 
These all seem very calming. Thanks!
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Covers never make me buy books but I love when a book I want anyway has a great cover. The BL ones are lovely, and I love their vintage sci-fi and horror covers too. Like you, I’m not a fan of the modern Austen covers – they usually make them look like fluffy romances.
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Interesting that you chose to do both covers that you like and you don’t like!
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What an interesting post, Margaret. Like you, I don’t decide whether to read a book based on its cover. But I do like covers that hint at the topic. And I dislike lurid covers; for me, they’re off-putting. You make an interesting point, too, about covers that are ‘photos of an adaptation. Hmm….I can’t say I’m especially fond of them, either. My goodness, for someone who doesn’t choose a book based on the cover, it looks as though I’m particular! 😉
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I really like the cover for A Month in the Country.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
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So pretty. My favorite here is My Beautiful Imperial. I featured my top ten book covers of the decade: https://wordsandpeace.com/2020/01/28/top-ten-book-covers-of-the-decade/
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Yeah, those scenery covers are lovely.
https://www.blogto.com/music/2020/01/song-taking-ttc-subway-toronto/
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Sorry, I meant to share a link to my post instead. I think I need coffee this morning. 😀
My TTT .
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I love that you went scenery with this one. It’s making me think about which books with scenic covers I like. Hmm… The Beach Trees by Karen White is the first to pop in my mind.
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Oh these are all so serene! So pretty.
My Top Ten Tuesday
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While I don’t judge a book by its cover, I do buy books with great covers and especially by authors I have read. For example, I’d have no hesitation in picking up the 75th anniversary edition of the John Steinbeck book.
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