I’ll be honest – I’m a big proponent of reading books by their covers. Of course, I don’t believe that only good books have good covers or anything, because some great books have really bad covers, but book covers are an essential part of a book’s presentation. We know this because so much care and money goes into them. They can either be what makes a book stand out from a crowd of competitors, or what draws a parallel between a book and similar books. Sometimes it’s both.
In other words, the book cover is a key element of book marketing and cannot be emphasized enough. Still, I think we give it the attention it deserves. Several times a year, I see fun roundups looking at the best (or worst, if you like to get fancy) book covers of the year. But book covers don’t exist in a vacuum, and as someone who looks at many different book lists each year, they’re not always what I see when I first hear about a book. What I always see, however, is the title.
In fact, book titles and covers are the common marketing factors for books, but titles alone can also captivate you. That’s what happened to me with all of the books listed below. Whether they grossed me out, inspired me, or made me question, each of the book titles listed below intrigued me and made me want to learn more about the book’s content. And I suspect they’ll have a similar effect on you.
The eyes are the best by Monika Kim
When I first saw this title, before I saw the cover, I thought of Jennifer Lawrence. It grabbed me because I thought, “Surely that’s not…” But yes, it is. Although I was a little in denial at first, when I see the cover, it’s impossible to ignore the meaning of the title. All in all, the title and cover make for a great gross (and sticky?) image. Yuck) combination that is perfect for a horror novel.
We Living, Beloved: Poems by Frederick Joseph
When I read that title, it felt like an aunt or other older person was reaching out to me in reassurance. And given that it’s about showing the beauty of being black, even when you’re struggling with it, I think that’s exactly what it is.
The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson
This one is exciting because I don’t really think of lies as something that has color. Then I read the blurb and see that it’s about a white-looking family in 1955 who move into an all-white neighborhood, and I realize that some lies do have color.
Craft: Stories I wrote for the devil by Ananda Lima
What do you think when you first see this? I was torn between thinking it was literal and thinking it was a metaphor for what might have been a bad time in the author’s life. It turns out literal was the right choice – the first line of the blurb is: “At a Halloween party in 1999, a writer slept with the devil.” Puppies.
Little Red by Akwaeke Emezi
“Little Rot” sounds like something that, in the hands of the right writer (and it’s obviously Emezi), could be a truly gripping exploration of darkness that starts small and spreads.
