CAN you judge a book by its cover?
I certainly DO judge a book by its cover. It is a thousand times more likely that I will pick up a book with a shiny beautiful new cover than one with a dusty colourless cover (and there is plenty of dull brownish/greyish old books in the libraries).
However, the question is CAN we judge a book by its cover. My answer would be most certainly NOT. You can perhaps judge a book by the title or the author (especially if you have read the author before), but not solely on the basis of the cover art. There are plenty wonderful covers around, I’ve picked some and then the content was rotten (I really can’t think of an example right now). On the other hand there are brilliant stories and characters hiding behind plain, boring covers, for example the classics.
I agree, I am attracted to the lovely covers too and they don't always live up to their expectations. Some of the classics books do have dull covers but I think some publishers are changing that. I love the covers done by Vintage Classics.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree! I've been tricked by many a beautiful cover before. Sadly, my eyes just seem to skip over the covers of the "uglier" books, so I've probably missed out on some great reads over the years.
ReplyDeleteOh well. Happy Thursday!
I just love the covers! I cant help it!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lisasworldofbooks.com/2011/04/booking-through-thursday_21.html
I think the answers are intriguing...the consensus seems to be (so far) that covers play a role in our choices. But other factors weigh in, too.
ReplyDeleteHere's MY BTT POST
I agree with you. Sometimes the cover lives up to the book's content, sometimes not.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Covers matter when it comes to choosing between new books. But whether they prove to live up to expectations is a different matter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my BTT post.
Too true about the classic having poor covers but great stories.
ReplyDeleteThey say you can't judge a book by its cover , but maybe you can.
ReplyDeletestop and see mine and my giveaways.
I may be in the minority but I never judge books by their covers.
ReplyDeleteSally.
http://theelifylop.blogspot.com/2011/04/booking-through-thursday-14.html
I'm afraid I'm frequently guilty of judging a book by its cover. Even though I know that's definitely a wrong thing to do. Just can't seem to help myself sometimes!
ReplyDeleteThat's true! No one feels atracted by dust, old, colorless covers!
ReplyDeleteI don't base my choices on the cover, but it's definitely the first thing that catches anyone's eye.
ReplyDelete