Trashionista

BOOK NEWS & COVERS: Chelsea Handler

How brilliant is this title? Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea.

I didn't read Chelsea Handler's first memoir, My Horizontal Life, but Diane quite liked it and I'll certainly be reading this one for the title alone.

I'm not wild about either of the covers, though.

Related posts: Pun lit? | Baby Proof's three covers

BOOK NEWS & COVERS: Chasing Harry Winston

I still haven't read any Lauren Weisberger books (does that mean I should be chucked out of the chick lit club?), but I like the look of her new book, Chasing Harry Winston.

It's about a trio of best friends in Manhattan who agree to change their lives in the most personal and dramatic way possible -- and within one calendar year.

Read an extract on Amazon US.

And for once I prefer the UK cover (the green shoe). I like the green and the US cover seems a bit much (one ring - fair enough; three rings - ooh, over the top!).

Related posts: Everyone Worth Knowing review | The Devil Wears Prada archives

BOOK COVER: The Bright Side of Disaster

I love the sound of Katherine Center's debut, The Bright Side of Disaster, but I'm more interested in what you think about these covers.

The cover on the left is the UK cover. In the middle, we have the US hardback. And on the right, the US paperback. Carry on over the cut to vote for your favourite.

more at twiigs.com...

BOOK COVER: Melissa Hill

Here's another good example of why photographic covers are better than cartoon covers.

Irish cover on the left. UK cover on the right. Much nicer, no? And, amazingly, the woman's face is showing. Not just her legs or the back of her head. This, people, could be the future! (But I doubt it.)

Related posts: The Last to Know by Melissa Hill review | Never Say Never by Melissa Hill review | My Best Friend's Life cover

BOOK NEWS: The Accidental Wife

I can't keep up with Rowan Coleman's books (I can't keep up with anyone's books!), but I loved her first, Growing Up Twice, so I'll definitely be reading this one ... someday. It sounds good -

Alison James thinks she might be living the wrong life and Catherine Ashley knows she is living the wrong life. She wonders whether Alison stole her life along with her boyfriend all the years ago. Alison is now moving back to the town where she and Catherine both grew up and they’re about to find out just how different both their lives could still be.

- but the cover's disappointingly wishy-washy, don't you think?

Related: Rowan Coleman interview

BOOK COVER: Pack up your troubles

Remember that Sesame Street song - one of these things is not like the others? Well, now it's time to play my game (it's time to play my game). (Of course, if you don't remember the song, you'll just think I've lost my marbles...

I spotted the Marian Keyes covers while Googling around trying to find the US cover for This Charming Man (more about that another day...).

I like both of them and they reminded me of the Allison Winn Scotch cover, which I also loved. And then I saw the paperback cover of The Department of Lost & Found and, while I haven't read the book so I don't know which is more appropriate, I'm not loving it. Looks like a blatant attempt to grab some Jodi Picoult readers to me.

What do you think?

Related posts: The Other Side of the Story review | The Department of Lost & Found review

BOOK Cover: Comfort Food

Kate Jacobs - author of The Friday Night Knitting Club - has a new book coming out in May (June in the UK). Okay, so we already told you this, but the UK book cover has been released and I thought it was worth commenting on.

The US version is arresting, individual, and, dare-I-say-it, literary-looking (if a little dark). Carry on over the cut for the UK version.

Well. Yet another beheaded woman. Are UK publishers so frightened of women that they only dare show bits of them?

And she's carrying a bag. Because women love bags, of course. Sometimes the world makes me sigh very deeply.

Related posts: Rate my book cover | US versus UK covers | Does a book cover matter?

BOOK COVERS: Suzanne Macpherson

When I was looking for Suzanne Macpherson's books yesterday I noticed that a couple of her covers ... look like other people's covers.

First there's Switched, Bothered and Bewildered and Luisa Plaja's fabulous Split by a Kiss...

 

And then there's Jennifer Weiner's Certain Girls UK cover and Macpherson's Risky Business.

Funny, huh?

BOOK COVER: Fearless Fourteen

While I may be moderately excited at the prospect of a new Stephanie Plum adventure (tempered by the hope that it is a return to form after the only-okay Lean Mean Thirteen), I am distinctly underwhelmed by this cover.

I sincerely hope this is a placeholder cover, not the one that will actually go to print and be released this summer. If not, I hope Janet Evanovich's publisher didn't pay very much for it...

Related posts: Did Janet Evanovich invent chick lit? | Perfectly Plum

BOOK NEWS: Nice to Come Home To

A Trashionista reader emailed to recommend Rebecca Flowers' book (thanks, Paulette!) and, as I saw the cover, I literally went, "Ohhhhhhhhh." Isn't it gorgeous?

The plot seems a bit convoluted to summarise here - so read it on Amazon - but it's basically an updated Sense & Sensibility. But I did want to mention one of the Amazon reviews:

"The story encompasses more than girl-stuff.  It's life-stuff."

Um. Am I wrong to be offended by this?

I get what the reviewer is *trying* to say - not just dresses and shoes, I suppose - but what I hear is "girl-stuff isn't important - this book is so good, even men (who are clearly more discerning) would like it too!"

Related posts: Beginner's Greek | Friday Flick - Sense and Sensibility | Cents & Sensibilities by Maggie Alderson

BOOK NEWS: I Was Told There'd Be Cake

This debut collection of snarky essays by Sloane Crosley sounds very funny indeed. Titled I Was Told There'd Be Cake,  the essays have headers like The Pony Problem and Bring-Your-Machete-To-Work Day.

Crosley has been compared to David Sedaris, recommended by Meg Cabot and the cover is great. It was published at the beginning of the month and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

Related posts: Non fiction archives

BOOK REVIEW: No Good Girls by Jean Marie Pierson

I requested this book after seeing the fabby book trailer and I must say, I wasn't disappointed.

It is, however, a classic case of the wrong cover being slapped on a book. It's garish, uses cartoon - a pet hate of mine - and simply doesn't match the content. No Good Girls is about a group of female best friends in New York and it is funnier, snarkier and quirkier than the cover suggests...

Geri O'Brien works for a publishing house while collecting rejections for her screenplay. She hangs out with her best friends, Maria, Emmy and Sally and they collectively wonder when they will get their New York Minute.

Maria is a cop looking for action but stuck on the quiet day-shift, Emmy is nursing an unrequited crush and Sally wants a promotion and a man.

While the plot has plenty of action, thrills and slapstick humour, the real strength of this book is Geri's voice. I just loved it. She is an individual, funny heroine with an imaginary friend called J.T. and something of a death wish.

The supporting characters - like J.T. and Geri's car enthusiast dad - were great, too.

Chock-full of brilliant one-liners, film references, and fantastic dialogue, Jean Marie Pierson has won my heart. Hurry up and write another book, please!

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try: Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane

Rate My Book Cover

You know we're obsessed with book covers, right? Well, we're not alone... Galleycat is calling for a Go Fug Yourself for book covers (well, Trashi is getting close!) and Greenleaf Book Group has launched a website called Rate My Book Cover.

Small presses and self-publishers can submit their cover art for rating before they go to print. The site aims to improve book packaging quality, and declares: "Your Mom won't tell, but we will!"

Related posts: Does a book cover matter? | US versus UK covers

BOOK NEWS: Not Another Bad Date

Yes, I know we told you that Rachel Gibson's next book was called 100 Bad Dates, but it seems to have had a title change since then... Out in May (US) and June (UK), it has been stuck with an unimaginative cover; yet another bottom-half-only female. Yuk.

The premise reminds me (a little bit) of Daisy's Back In Town. Listen: If only Adele could find a guy that made her heart flutter like her first love, Zach, the college quarterback who swept her off her feet senior year... before dumping her to marry someone else.

Okay, so he wasn't perfect. But when Adele heads back to Cedar Creek, Texas, for a family emergency, she discovers that her hometown heartthrob is still as sexy as ever - and now he's single.
It could be the end of Adele's streak. After all, forgiving Zach for breaking her heart years ago and learning to trust him again will take everything she's got, but Adele can handle anything... anything but another bad date.

Related posts: More book cover snap | Are butterflies the new feet?

BOOK COVER (and title!): Joanne Harris

The Lollipop Shoes, Joanne Harris's long-awaited and much-anticipated sequel to the gorgeous Chocolat came out in the UK last year.

It's just been released in the US with a different cover (which is not unusual) and a different title: The Girl With No Shadow.

Since it's Friday, I thought we could have a vote on which we prefer.

more at twiigs.com...

BOOK COVER: Janet Evanovich's romances

I've just read Janet Evanovich's How I Write (review coming ... whenever) and it inspired me to have a google around for her romance novels.

Look at these covers! I know this is fairly typical in the romance genre (certainly in a book series called "Loveswept"), but I just can't get my head around the creator of Stephanie Plum having written books that look like this.

Aren't they fabulous? (Oh and Naughty Neighbour? Genius.)

Related posts: Romance novel cover comedy | Janet Evanovich | Did Janet Evanovich invent chick lit?

BOOK NEWS: No Good Girls by Jean Marie Pierson

No Good Girls is the debut novel of Jean Marie Pierson. It started life as a screenplay (Pierson has a degree in film and video production) and focuses on four best friends in New York.

I'm not in love with the cover, but the book trailer is fantastic. Take a look here, I promise you won't regret it.

Related posts: Book Trailerpark | Book Video Awards 2008

BOOK COVER: Beginner's Greek

This, left, is the US cover of James Collins' debut. And if I'd seen this I certainly wouldn't have picked it up. In fact, I might have specifically avoided it. And it certainly doesn't say chick lit, does it?

I'm not sure what it does say, in fact (flight manual?), but I much prefer the UK cover.

Related posts: Beginner's Greek | US versus UK covers | Petite Anglais covers

BOOK COVER: Thanks for the Memories

I'm not one of the biggest fans of Cecelia Ahern's books - okay, I've only actually been able to finish one of them (PS I Love You) - but I love this cover so much that it could almost convince me to read the book.

We've already told you what this latest book is about, so all that's left to say is that it's out on April the 1st. Although that may be a joke...

Related posts: PS I Love You review | Cecelia Ahern archives

BOOK NEWS: My Best Friend's Life (and Shari Low's column)

No, I'm not on about book covers again. Okay, I'm not *just* on about covers again, but Shari Low's latest is a perfect example of why covers are so important (and why I'm always going on about them!).

On the left we have Shari Low's new book (out now!), My Best Friend's Life. On the right is her last book, The Motherhood Walk of Fame.

Don't you think the new one looks about twenty years more modern? Also, it's cute. (And, yes, a bit of a Dorothy Koomson rip-off, but let's gloss over that.)

Also, you can read Shari's hilarious Daily Record column online.

Related posts: Motherhood Walk of Fame review | Why Not? review

BOOK COVER: Maria Beaumont

This, mes petits choufleurs (sorry, bit giddy this morning), is the same book.

On the left, we have the US cover and title ("37"), on the right, the UK cover and title ("Motherland").

For once, I'm kind of okay with both. I prefer the US, but I don't hate the UK one. And I like them both better than the UK hardback.

What do you think?

Related posts: Maria Beaumont interview | Rubbish Boyfriends

BOOK NEWS: Curse of the Spellmans

Lisa Lutz's debut, The Spellman Files was one of my favourite books of last year and I finished it already anticipating the sequel (and a movie - surely there must be a movie!).

So I actually went "Ooh! Ooh!" out loud when I saw that the sequel - Curse of the Spellmans - is already out.

And then, because I'm me, I got caught up in the different covers. The cover on the left is the US cover. There's no UK cover on Amazon yet. But there is a new UK cover for The Spellman Files and I don't know how I feel about it... which is where you come in!

So on the left we have the US cover. Again, it seems to me that the US cover isn't primarily aimed at women, which is a good thing. I think.

The centre cover is the one on the book I read - the UK large format paperback. It doesn't thrill me and it seems like it's perhaps aimed at Janet Evanovich fans.

On the right is the new, small format, UK cover. Clearly aimed at chick lit fans. You may remember that Daphne Unfeasible, Maureen Johnson's agent, said that The Spellman Files "fits no one's idea of chick lit" and, while I disagreed, I'm not sure the cover entirely suits the book. I'm not even sure if I like it. I do like the combination of illustration and photography illustration (squinting at it, I'm not sure that is a photo of a dog!). It may just be the pink (or lilac). It's really not a pastel type of book.

What do you think? 

Megan Crane's new UK covers

Megan Crane's books Frenemies and English as a Second Language have just been released in the UK.

We've already told you what we think of the books (click links above), but what about the covers? I'm undecided. I like the colours and the typeface, but I'm not convinced by the illustrations.

Related: Megan Crane interview

BOOK COVER: Love the One You're With

Emily Giffin's latest, Love the One You're With is out in May in the US and July in the UK.

On the left is the UK cover. It makes me sad (but not as sad as the Baby Proof cover). While the US cover (right) is plain, it's also eye-catching and I think the daisy captures the 'love the one you're with' theme much more subtly than the UK cover does.

Plus have you noticed that more and more the UK covers scream "chick lit" while the US covers just look like, well, fiction? I don't mean that a man would pick up the green cover, but a non chick lit reading woman might. The UK cover? Not a chance.

Related posts: Emily Giffin interview | Something Borrowed review | Something Blue review

BOOK COVER: Jennifer Colt

I'd never heard of Jennifer Colt until recently and I still haven't read any of her books, but I do love the covers. The books above are part of the "McAfee Twins" series, which will apparently appeal to fans of Janet Evanovich. So that's me, then.

I just read that the twins, Kerry and Terry, ride a pink Harley. I like 'em already.

Anyone read any?

Related posts: Janet Evanovich interview | Crime/mystery archives

BOOK NEWS: Fear and Yoga in New Jersey

Okay, I admit I hadn't heard of Debra Galant, but the cover of her new novel really jumped out at me, so I did a little digging... Fear and Yoga in New Jersey is Debra's second novel (the first is called Rattled), and she was a freelance writer before publishing fiction. 

The star of Fear and Yoga is Nina Gelleman-Summer,  a stressed-out yoga teacher, which is something of an oxymoron.

Instead of calmly helping her students relax and connect their mind and bodies, she is worrying about litigious students, a hurricane that is heading for her parents' home, and her husband's job.

To complicate matters, her son Adam is showing a sudden interest in having a Bar Mitzvah, and Nina long ago put her faith into crystals rather than her Jewish heritage.

If that intrigues, you here's a link to the first chapter. Don't say I'm not good to you...

Related posts: Book News archives

BOOK NEWS: Straight Up

I loved Catriona McCloud's debut novel, Growing Up Again, so I can't wait to read her new one, Straight Up.

It's the story of Verity Drummond - "a florist by trade and a fantasist by nature". After her husband leaves her, she deals with the pain by writing Straight Up, a novel in which a man on a mountaineering expedition (bearing a striking resemblance to her former husband) dies all alone in a hole in the ice, starving, wretched and with his broken bones poking through his skin.

But when Verity goes to LA to discuss a film adaptation of Straight Up, she finds that people are under the misapprehension that her book is fact and so to protect her dream, Verity has to make sure no-one finds out the real truth (or, should I say, the "true reality").

While the story sounds good, the cover's disappointing (as was the original cover of Growing Up Again).

BOOK COVER: Change Of Heart

When we interviewed Jodi Picoult, she told us about her latest book (at the time she had just finished writing it). Well, it's called Change Of Heart and is out in the US this month, April in the UK.

I just saw the UK cover and I find it utterly haunting. I love the blue eggs, but the way they are all broken at the child's feet... I'm guessing that's the way it's supposed to make me feel. Good job.

And, for once I prefer it to the US cover. Carry on over the cut to see if you agree.

Here's the US version. It's certainly in keeping with Picoult's previous covers, but it lacks the atmosphere and impact of the UK one.

Related posts: Book Covers archives

BOOK NEWS: 31 Dream Street

I love Lisa Jewell (her second novel, Thirtynothing, is one of my favourite ever chick lit books) and I loved her latest book, 31 Dream Street, when I read it in hardback.

The paperback is out at the beginning of next month with a lovely new cover. What do you think?

Related posts: Ralph's Party review | Vince and Joy review

BOOK COVER: New Puffin Classics

Puffin Books have redesigned the Puffin Classics collection. Aren't they gorgeous?

But the pretty new covers aren't the only change, each of the twelve titles is introduced by a top author such as Sophie Dahl, Meg Rosoff or Louise Rennison.

Related posts: Louise Rennison | New covers for Virago Classics | Penguin Celebrations' gorgeous covers

Book News: Where Demons Dare

This news is especially for one of our regular reviewers, Angela Richardson: the sixth instalment in Kim Harrison's urban fantasy series about a bounty-hunting witch is due out in April.

Angela chose Rachel Morgan as her favourite heroine, and Where Demons Dare (published as The Outlaw Demon Wails in the US) certainly sounds like an exciting read. The bounty-hunter becomes the hunted, with no less than three hellions on her tail...

I must admit, I haven't read a great deal of supernatural chick lit, but considering how much I adore Buffy perhaps it's time I started...

However, the cover of Where Demons Dare isn't doing much for me. It looks a wee bit scary for my tastes. Stop shouting 'wimp' at the screen; I can't hear you.

Related posts: Supernatural archives

BOOK COVER: Kits off!

Remember how Meg Cabot raved about this cover of Liza Palmer's Seeing Me Naked? Well, might this be why?

The cover of Meg's (fabulous) Size 14 Is Not Fat Either has the same "kit off" theme!

Thanks to reader Lisa for the tip-off :)

Related posts: Seeing Me Naked review | Size 14 Is Not Fat Either review

Classic romance comic-book-covers

Yes, again this would've been better posted on Valentine's Day, but what can you do? Entertainment Weekly has a selection of 25 classic comic-book romance covers for your delight and delectation.

Chosen from the golden age of pulp romance, this retro treat harks back to a simpler time; when the only lipstick was red and lines like 'my scandal-smeared love' were just the beginning...

Related posts: Women in comics | Avril Lavigne Manga

BOOK COVER: If Andy Warhol Had A Girlfriend

While we wait for more news on Alison Pace's fourth book (provisionally titled City Dog, due out September), her publisher has kindly distracted us with a new cover for the reissue of her debut If Andy Warhol Had A Girlfriend.

I think it's brilliant - do you agree? I've put the old cover over the cut if you want to compare them...

Here you go!

Related posts: Book covers archive | Alison Pace's books of the year

BOOK COVER: Lookalikes

We've featured the Petite Anglaise covers before, but yesterday, while I was stalking the aisles of our local Borders, I spotted this new book - Can Any Mother Help Me? by Jenna Bailey. Similar, no?

The book sounds interesting though. It's the true story of a group of women in the 1930s who started a private magazine - "The Cooperative Correspondence Club" - to write about the subjects close to their heart: "the pain and elation of childbirth, the difficulties during wartime, or the struggles and comedies of daily routine".

Related posts: Book cover snap! | More book cover snap!

BOOK NEWS: My Favourite Wife

Love him or loathe him, Tony Parsons is joint-reigning king of Lad Lit (with Nick Hornby). His latest offering, My Favourite Wife, is out in hardback on 18 February.

Apparently, it's a sizzling tale of sex, romance and second-wives, set in Shanghai. I have found Tony Parsons to be quite hit-and-miss, but the fab cover of this one is certainly swaying me...

Related posts: Top 10 Lad Lit | Lad-lit blogs

COVER COMPETITION: Confessions of a Beauty Addict

You know how obsessed I am with book covers? Well, the publishers of Nadine Haobsh's second book (and first novel), Confessions of a Beauty Addict, have asked Trashionista readers to help them choose the cover!

As if that wasn't exciting enough, if you leave a comment explaining your choice (making sure you include your email address so we can get your details if you win), you could win an advance copy of the book (one commenter will be chosen at random).

Read more about the book and cast your vote over the cut.

When Bella Hunter, Beauty Expert and all around magazine editor wunderkind, loses her job for spilling top industry secrets to Page 6 she thinks her life is over. And, to top it all off, she's managed to dye her hair bright orange. At her wits end and desperate not to return home with her tail between her legs, Bella accepts a job a Womanly Wear: a magazine her mom reads. But how can she face her glamorous ex-co-workers now that she works in an office where khaki (not Cavalli) is the way of life?

Bella is out to wage war on the beauty world one bad makeover at a time, armed with only her Marc Jacobs shoes, three meddling best friends, and a flighty supermodel boyfriend. At odds with her stuffy (and undeniably gorgeous) publisher, Bella begins to realize that she may be fighting the wrong battle.

more at twiigs.com...

BOOK COVER: Violet By Design

When I interviewed Melissa Walker I mentioned the beautiful cover of the follow-up to Violet On the Runway, Violet By Design and then I forgot to write about it.

So here it is. Ever since that Elton John video (Sad Songs? Nikita?) back in the eighties, I've been a sucker for a black and white picture with a bit of colour (there's probably a technical term, but I don't know what it is) and this one's a great example. Love the skirt, love the pink, love the background. Can't wait to read it!

Related posts: More book covers

BOOK NEWS: It's A Kind of Magic

Best-selling chick lit queen Carole Matthews has released a new book this month. It sounds like an intriguing break from her usual form as it comes with a sprinkling of magic. I love the wand peeking out of the handbag on the cover.

When Emma's boyfriend Leo lets her down yet again, she wishes someone could just wave a magic wand over him and bring him back refurbished as a proper boyfriend. But when Leo meets Isobel and changes in new and drastic ways, Emma isn't so happy about it. Surely, there must be more to Isobel than meets the eye...

Related posts: Book covers archive

BOOK COVER: Petite Anglaise

Thanks to the success of Catherine Sanderson's blog, Petite Anglais, she signed a six figure, two-book deal and the first of those books is out in March in the UK and in June in the US.

But that's not what I wanted to talk about. Helen sent me links to the UK and US covers. The cover on the right is pretty much my perfect cover. I think it's beautiful. It's the US one, of course.

Carry on over the cut to see the far inferior UK cover.

Boring, wishy-washy, and a bit old hat, don't you think?

Related posts: Petite Anglaise movie news | From blog to book | More book covers

Liza Palmer's original cover

Yesterday Sarah wrote about the US cover of Liza Palmer's Seeing Me Naked.

Liza emailed us to tell us about the book's original cover, which was deemed too rude by US stores. I love it.

What do you think?

Related posts: Conversations With the Fat Girl review | The5Spot

BOOK COVER: Romance v Chick lit

I know that Jennifer Crusie doesn't consider her books chick lit (I've asked why not, but haven't yet received a reply), but I thought her books were the best to use to compare romance covers with chick lit covers.

So on the left we have the original edition of Anyone But You. On the right, the re-released version.

But Jennifer Crusie's not the only author whose books have made the switch from romance to chick lit (without, you know, actually changing at all) - check out a couple of Meg Cabot covers over the cut.

On the left is She Went All the Way from back when Meg was Meggin. On the right is the newer, "Brand Meg", chick litty cover.

Which do you prefer?

Seeing Me Naked cover

Liza Palmer's Seeing Me Naked has just been published in the US and is out on 17 April in the UK.

This is the US cover and I love it (despite having an aversion to the colour yellow). It's strong, distinctive and witty.

Head on over the cut for the UK cover to see the difference.

I mean, it's not terrible, but it's much weaker, isn't it?

Plus, I'm getting a mightily  sick of coy, bland illustrations: how about you?

Related posts: Conversations With The Fat Girl by Liza Palmer | Musical book covers

BOOK COVER: Jill Mansell's Kiss

   

I spotted the cover on the left on book swap site Read It Swap It and, once I'd finished laughing, I decided I had to share it with you all.

It's from 1993, but it looks exceedingly eighties to me. The middle cover, which I have to say is a great improvement, is from 2000 and the third is from 2006. I love the latest one. It's got a whistling robin on it, for heaven's sake!

Jill Mansell's newest book, An Offer You Can't Refuse, is out on the 7th February (and has a lovely cover).

Related posts: Spotlight - Jill Mansell | Solo review

Buy book cover art

Look at that hunk of manhood! He could be yours. Yes, yours!

Artist Max Ginsburg has illustrated countless romance covers and he's set up a website selling limited edition prints of the cover art. [via Romantic Times]

The painting on the left graced the cover of Emma Merritt's Lady of Winter and can be yours for $300 (print on canvas - you can also get an oil painting, but the price for that is "on request", i.e. it's a lot).

Honestly, I could look at those moobs all day...

Related posts: Romance novel cover comedy | Romance archives

BOOK COVER: Agnes & the Hitman

Now you may have already seen this cover, since Jenny Crusie has blogged about it under the heading "My Worst Cover Ever", but seriously, isn't that just a butt-ugly cover?! (It's for the large print edition, not the paperback.)

If it was April, I would have thought it was an April Fool. It doesn't even look like a real cover! It's so bad. And what makes it worse is how beautiful the hardback cover was (and, no, not just cos it looks like me!).

Related posts: Agnes & the Hitman review | Meg Cabot foreign editions

BOOK COVER: The Friday Night Knitting Club

I've featured two of these three The Friday Night Knitting Club covers before, but I spotted the latest - the one with the legs - in a bookshop at the weekend and wondered which you'd like best. Having read the book, I'd go for the first, the hardback cover, but what do you think?

      

Related posts: Secrets & Sweaters by Kate Jacobs | Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs

BOOK NEWS: Names My Sisters Call Me

Megan Crane's Frenemies made it onto Keris's top ten of 2007 so I thought I'd highlight her forthcoming book Names My Sisters Call Me.

It's out in April 2008, and although I don't love the title (for some reason I keep getting it mixed up) or the cover (yawn), I do fancy the blurb... Apparently it's about three sisters, old loves and skeletons in the family cupboard. Good stuff.

Related posts: Book Covers: More snowglobes | Megan Crane interview

BOOK COVER: Jennifer Weiner's Certain Girls

Hands up who's excited to read Jennifer Weiner's new book, Certain Girls? In case you don't know, it's the sequel to her enormously popular debut, Good In Bed, taking place twelve years later.

I love the US cover, left, but I just don't know what's going on with the UK cover on the right ... old-fashioned or what? Plus her previous covers have had a distinctive style and I don't see why a redesign was needed.

Still, I'm looking forward to reading it and it's out in March.

Related posts: US versus UK covers | Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me? cover

BOOK COVER: More snowglobes

I featured the cover of Kate Atkinson's Not the End of the World a couple of weeks ago and said you couldn't go wrong with a snowglobe. Inevitably, I've found a bunch of other covers featuring snowglobes.

Hester Browne's agent alerted us to the lovely US cover of Little Lady, Big Apple. Idly googling Marian Keyes one day (what? I'm not stalking her ... well, not yet, anyway), I discovered this cover of Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married. Finally, I spotted Jay McInerney's Story of My Life (which Diane LOVED).

So what do you think? Which is your favourite?

   

BOOK COVER: Cathy Kelly (and more Kinsella)

So last week I featured the UK cover of Sophie Kinsella's next book and said it looked just like someone else's. You kindly made a bunch of suggestions, all of which were similar, but none of them was the droid I was looking for. (I'm not really a dork, I just love that quote.)

Fortunately, I'd been googling Marian Keyes, saw a pic of her with Cathy Kelly and went "A-ha!" (I needn't have bothered, since not long after Helen Costello left a comment saying it was Cathy Kelly - Thanks, Helen!)

But I said it was a bit old-hat, didn't I? And Cathy Kelly's publishers obviously agree since her covers have been updated. Check them out over the cut. 

On the left is Lessons In Heartbreak due out in January next year. Much more modern cover, I'm sure you'll agree (if a little Adele Parks...).

Oh and Helen also referred to Cathy Kelly's old covers "with the really sad eighties looking woman on the front!" That's one on the right. She's not wrong, is she!

Related: Musical book covers

BOOK COVER: Pastures New

Pastures New is the debut novel of Julia Williams, and it follows Amy Nicolson and her young son as they swap London life for country living.

Now, it could be because I'm getting in the festive mood and the illustration looks very much like a Christmas card, but I rather like this cover.

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BOOK COVER: Remember Me?

I mentioned Sophie Kinsella's new book, Remember Me?, a little while ago and featured the American cover (right).

At the time, the UK cover wasn't on Amazon and now it is. That's it on the left. It's nice enough, but it seems a bit old hat to me. What do you think? (It also really reminds me of someone else's covers, but I can't put my finger on whose. Any ideas?)

Related posts: Chick Lit Heroine Grudge Match: Becky Bloomwood v Stephanie Plum | More Sophie Kinsella film news

BOOK COVER: Snowglobes

Last week, when I was looking at Kate Atkinson's covers, I spotted this one for Not the End of the World. 

Isn't it beautiful? You can't go wrong with a snowglobe, in my opinion.

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Book Cover: This Charming Man

Yippee! I've just seen the cover for the new Marian Keyes - This Charming Man (out in hardback, May 2008).

Look! Purple! Pretty! With a toaster!

I'm off for a little lie down...

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BOOK COVER: Case Histories

I loved Kate Atkinson's novel, Case Histories, but I didn't love the cover (the one on the left). The paperback cover (the brown one) was even worse, but I love the American cover on the right. I also think it's the most atmospheric and captures the plot the best. What do you think? 

      

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BOOK COVER: Elizabeth Scott's covers

I'm still being positive this week (well, I was in New York last weekend, how could I not be positive?) and YA novelist Elizabeth Scott has the nicest covers I've seen for a long time. I haven't even had a book published (yet!), but I have total cover envy.
   

YAY OR NAY WEDNESDAY

I thought I'd go for something a bit simpler this week after last week's (well, week before last's, since I forgot last week) moral and political conundrum (well, you know, sort of).

The movie version of The Jane Austen Book Club is out this very Friday in the UK (it's already been released in the US - anyone seen it?) and the novel has been reissued with a movie tie-in cover. You know how I feel about book covers, so you probably won't be surprised to hear that I'm not a fan of the movie tie-in cover. (I'll give my reasons in the comments.)

But what do you think? Harmless bit of marketing or shameless imagination sappers?

Movie tie-in book covers: Yay or Nay and Why?

[Don't forget it's Yay or Nay day at Hippyshopper, Bridalwave, Dollymix, Corrie Blog, Catwalk Queen, Kiss and Makeup, The Bag Lady, Shoewawa and Shiny Shiny, too!]

Book News: The Virago Book of the Joy of Shopping

The Virago Book of the Joy of Shopping by Jill Foulston sounds rather fun.

It promises a romp through the literary history of shopping, with facts about authors and characters and their attitude to shopping, lists and finding just the right thing.

Better still, with its pretty duck egg blue cover, this hardback is positively covetable.

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BOOK COVER: Snap!

A couple of weeks ago I was sent the book on the left: The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose by Diana Janney (it sounds great and I'll be reading and reviewing it soon).

Yesterday I was in a book shop (okay, WH Smiths) and I thought, "Oh, there's that book!" But it wasn't. It was the book on the right: Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine (which won the Guardian children's fiction prize).

Uncanny, eh?

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