FIVE (ugly covers) on Friday

Here’s the scoop! Yes book folk, I am officially superficial! If a book has an ugly cover I refuse to buy a physical copy of it until the publisher gives it a better cover, or never if they never see the error of their ways.

I will still happily read an e-book, but I do not welcome ugly books onto my shelves…

So, here’s five book covers that are so unappealing I would not buy them… Some I have read, and a couple were still on my Goodreads TBR.

1. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (Mackenzi Lee)

I really enjoyed this book, but have you seen the cover? Whoever thought it would be a good idea to give it such a badly designed ugly cover? Give it a makeover and I may actually buy a copy, but as long as it has this cover, I will give it a pass.

 

2. The Rufus Spy (Alys Clare)

God, this cover is uninteresting. I understand that it is set in a certain landscape, but this cover does absolutely nothing for me and it does not compell me to buy the book. The story I actually liked.

3. Humble by Nature (Kate Humble)

I understand that you put a picture of the author on a autobiography, but this cover looks like it as been put together by a six-year-old. It’s atrocious! Not Kate, I have nothing against Kate, but the cover is awful. The book was a great fun though!

4. Daughter of the Burning City (Amanda Foody)

I have not read this book, so I can’t say anything about the contents, but that cover is already putting me off, The city at the bottom looks pretty enough, but that font just assaults my eyes. The imagery is not bad and if they had just readjusted the cover to be a bit more balanced, it may have actually worked.

5. The Black Prism (Brent Weeks)

Although I am sure I will read this book at some point in the future, the cover makes me not want to read it. It’s just so blegh! Fantasy covers can definitely be pretty iffy with cloaked figures galore and swords and stuff and this one is a pretty mediocre example. It really does inspire me at all. There is nothing about this cover that makes me want to pick it up. But… I have heard plenty of people talk about it and it sounds like it would be right up my street, so if the e-book is on cheap some time, I will happily buy it, but no pysical copy with this cover will enter my house (unless I find it for 50p in a charity shop, because that’s cheaper than a 99p e-book!).

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I would love to see some of your ugly/uninspiring covers.

I am planning to do another Five on Friday next week, with beautiful covers on average/bad books.

 

 

 

Top 5 Tuesday: Covers – The Blue Edition

OK, so it is really the blue, green and purple edition, but it was too hard, so I have decided to go all blue!

Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Shanah over at Bionic Book Worm 🙂

So, I actually have a shelf with blue and green books on it (I don’t have any purple ones), so that made it easy!

Of the books I chose I have only read two, but I want to get to the other ones soon (I always say that….).

1. How To Stop Time (Matt Haig) – I love the design of this cover with the hourglass. Definitely a book I would like to read this year.

2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (J K Rowling) – This is the Ravenclaw edition. I was actually sorted into Gryffindor myself, but I just loved the colour of this one.

3. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender (Leslye Walton) – This one was a cover buy. It’s so pretty! Hope the book is as beautiful as the cover.

4. Tim Book Two: Vinyl Adventures from Istanbul to San Francisco (Tim Burgess) – I have read this one last year, just before I started my blog. It’s a geeky book about searching for vinyl records by the frontman of UK band The Charlatans. Well, I am a sucker for a vinyl record, and this book was a lot of fun! One of my favourite covers too. Plus my edition is signed! ♥

5. Written in the Stars (Ali Harris) – Not read this one yet. The premise sounds interesting though… It’s about what-if and we all wonder what-if every now and then, don’t we? Don’t we? I really like the cover two. Simple, but pretty.

 

Top 5 Tuesdays: Books I loved that others didn’t…

Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Shanah over at Bionic Book Worm.

The other way around would be FAR easier! There is lots of books other people like that I don’t… But books I love that other people did not… I really have to think long and hard about that…

ABOUT FIVE HOURS LATER…

1. The Eye of the World (Robert Jordan)

This is the first book in Jordan’s The Wheel of Time Series, which consists of 14 (!!) books. Of course this books introduces us to the main characters and there are lots of complaints about it being slow paced. The first time I read it though, I was hooked! Although I can see its flaws now, I still love it. I am re-reading the series at the moment and am in the middle of book 5.

2. The Other Boleyn Girl (Philippa Gregory)

I read plenty of reviews going on about its inaccuracy historywise. I don’t care, it’s a very enjoyable book in my opinion! I must have read it about three times over the years.

3. The Sword of Shannara (Terry Brooks)

This was the fantasy book that got me hooked on the genre, but there are so many people complaining out there that it is too clearly inspired by The Lord of the Rings. I see that as a good thing, as it actually made me read Tolkien’s trilogy. The Shannara books still hold a very special place in my heart.

4. Set The Boy Free (Johnny Marr)

Lots of people up in arms about this one because Johnny is ‘too nice’ in it, especially when he touched on his relationship with Morrissey. There will always be people just interested in ‘the dirt’. I just enjoyed this book for what it was, a really simple account of a guitar-obsessed soul, who was rather diplomatic at times. I really liked it.

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I could not think of a fifth one, and four was hard enough, so this will have to do!

*wipes sweat off brow*

Top 5 Tuesday: Bookish Pet Peeves

Thanks you to Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm for hosting this meme! Please, check out her blog if you have not done so already.

I had to think long and hard about this week’s Top 5.

1. Bad covers
I hate buying books with bad covers, so I tend not to. That would be the perfect excuse to buy the Kindle version. For instance, I want to read The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, but I really dislike the cover. I may wait till it’s cheap on Kindle or when the publishing company decides it needs a new cover. Also, movie tie-in covers – blegh!

2. Instalove without a proper explanation
I have fallen for someone at first sight. Heck, I fell for my husband the first time I laid eyes on him, so Instalove exists, but… BUT! When it happens in books, I expect being told what exactly made that WHAM happen! Not just ‘She instantly knew he was the one’. What? Why? How? Tell me more! Authors, if you’re using instalove as a thing, you need to make me believe it! (Too many exclamation marks in that bit?!)

5. Stickers on books
Why do shops stick big (or even small) stickers on books that are a pain in the you-know-what to get off. A tiny price sticker is fine, but I don’t need any other stickers to ruin the look of my book, thank you very much!

4. When the blurp gives too much away. 
Have you ever read the back of a book and though, “Yeah, that sounds good.” Then you decide to buy/read the book and that is pretty much all there is too the story? Yeah, I hate that. Why, publishers? Why!

5. Pale dark-haired love interests, who is of course stupendously good looking.
It gets so boring! I mean, really? Another gorgeous girl with pale skin and dark hair she hides behind? Or another dark haired boy with perfect cheekbones and a widow’s peak (what’s going on with that anyway? Is that really attractive?) ? No, just no! I am so done with that girl… or that guy…

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Now I have finally done mine, I will go and check out other bloggers’ Top 5 Tuesday posts! Have a lovely evening, people xx

WWW Wednesday: 24 January 2018

So, it’s time for WWW Wednesday.  This is a meme hosted by Taking On A World of Words. Join if you can!

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you will read next?

So, here I go!

What am I currently reading?

Reading is quite slow at the moment, but it’s good! I am about 15% into Crusade and Jihad, which is so interesting. I try to take in every sentence so I learn more about a very interesting part of history. Although Goodreads says it’s 576 pages or so, I am pretty sure it is a textbook kind of book with large pages and small letters, because it takes ages to read. Still, I am really glad I have downloaded this book from NetGalley, because it is enriching my idea of the world and is helping me to understand the current tensions.

I am also re-reading The Shadow Rising, which is book 4 in The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan. This is also a chunker, at just over 1000 pages. I am about 200 pages in at the moment. So much is happening! The size of the book is intimidating me though and I feel it is making me read slower and feel more tired. Is that a thing?

What did you recently finish reading?

Happiness by Aminatta Forna, which was my third 6-star book in a row. I’m on a roll! I thought it was such a good book. I loved the fact that the romance in this book centered around two mature people for a change. It is a hard book to explain, but I thought it was so well written. And as a bonus it had foxes in it!  😉

 

What do you think you will read next?

There are a few books I would like to get to soon. I am looking forward reading Flow by Clare Littlemore. It sounds like such a good read! I would also love to get to either Maggie Stiefvater’s All The Crooked Saints or Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

How about you?