Of titles and covers
I've recently spent five minuets staring at a carefully selected book pile from my bookshelf. They're all of different genres, length, hardback, paperback, quality, merit etc. A diverse bunch. There is however one thing that tie them all together, they're all impulse purchases, and they were all purchased for the same reason. Amazing title, cover art, or both. Naturally, most of them were a disappointment, as most impulse purchases tend to be, but I'm still quite fascinated by how important titles in particular are to a book.
The most recent buy in this pile is Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I've only managed to stomach 69 pages out of 772 and I quite dislike it to be frank. The writing is so tiny I've actually considered to try and read it with a magnifying glass, the language is stilted and overly formal, the author makes an attempt at long, irellevant and pratchettesque notes and fails miserably. On top of that, the characters have so far been unengaging and the story excruciatingly slow on the pick-up.
Despite all this, the title still thrills me, and I've no idea why. I'm a sucker for names and Jonathan Strange in particular just tickles my fancy. So much that I just picked the book off the shelf without a moment's pause and bought it. I didn't even read the blurb. Other impulse purchases include but are not limited to The Queen's Fool, This is not a book and Let the right one in*. This is not a book and Let the right one in are both actually quite amazing books and I love them dearly, but they are by and large exceptions from the rule.
Titles are to a book what smell is to coffee. Nothing is quite as enticing and fills you with as much anticipation as a book with a good cover and a good title. And of course, nothing is as disappointing as taking a sip and realizing that the taste doesn't match up to the smell. I'm not sure what irks me the most. Bad books with good cover art and/or title, or good books with bad cover art and/or title. In the end, they're fucking important and close to an art of their own, so don't mess it up.
* This particular book has so far not been translated into english, and of course, translating the title steals away all the punch it has in it's original language, but that's a rant for another time.
The most recent buy in this pile is Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I've only managed to stomach 69 pages out of 772 and I quite dislike it to be frank. The writing is so tiny I've actually considered to try and read it with a magnifying glass, the language is stilted and overly formal, the author makes an attempt at long, irellevant and pratchettesque notes and fails miserably. On top of that, the characters have so far been unengaging and the story excruciatingly slow on the pick-up.
Despite all this, the title still thrills me, and I've no idea why. I'm a sucker for names and Jonathan Strange in particular just tickles my fancy. So much that I just picked the book off the shelf without a moment's pause and bought it. I didn't even read the blurb. Other impulse purchases include but are not limited to The Queen's Fool, This is not a book and Let the right one in*. This is not a book and Let the right one in are both actually quite amazing books and I love them dearly, but they are by and large exceptions from the rule.
Titles are to a book what smell is to coffee. Nothing is quite as enticing and fills you with as much anticipation as a book with a good cover and a good title. And of course, nothing is as disappointing as taking a sip and realizing that the taste doesn't match up to the smell. I'm not sure what irks me the most. Bad books with good cover art and/or title, or good books with bad cover art and/or title. In the end, they're fucking important and close to an art of their own, so don't mess it up.
* This particular book has so far not been translated into english, and of course, translating the title steals away all the punch it has in it's original language, but that's a rant for another time.
posted by M | 8:38 pm
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