Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

Book Covers Featuring Cool/Pretty/Unique/etc. Typography (Typography is the art of arranging letters so they look visually appealing and more interesting than, for example, the body text of this blog post you’re reading now.

These are all covers that caught my attention one way or another.Tthey are all books I own some of which I’ve read and some waiting to be read.

The King in the North by Max Adams – I love everything about this cover. I love the combination of the colours and the letters filled with decorative patterns just like an illustrated manuscript – think of the Lindisfarne gospels and the Book of Kells.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton – this cover conveys a sense of speed as Catton’s name looks like it’s running uphill over the top of the line of trees bent in the wind as the little drone approaches. It tells a story before you get to the words within the book.

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel – such a beautiful and colourful image, contrasting the dark and the light reflections.

The Vanishing of Margaret Small by Neil Alexander. This caught my eye because it makes me wonder how and why Margaret Small vanished. I like the background colour, contrasting with the author’s name and the use of the lower case in the title.

Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman – having the title written in a banner in the bird’s mouth amuses me.

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge – another striking cover that immediately made me wonder what the book could be about. I like the tall letters dwarfing the figure of man in between the words, emphasising how tall giraffes are.

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault – a bold title in upper case letters above the image. You just know this is about ancient warfare.

Aphorisms of Yoga by Bhagwan S. Patanjali – plain and simple with the title slanting diagonally upwards in colour against a white background. Sanskrit philosophy.

Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks edited by John Curran – I love the red background against the square black and white photograph and whiteness of the circle emphasising the inclusion of two unpublished Poirot stories and once more the contrasting size and upper and lower case letters in the title.

Sausage Hall by Christina James. What a whimsical title. I thought it sounded a bit gimmicky and it nearly put me off reading it, which would have been a shame – it’s such a good story. The blackness of the cover with its skull and crossbones indicates the darkness of the book. It’s a crime mystery with a sinister undercurrent exploring the murky world of illegal immigrants.