Bookish:

It's no secret that I totally judge books by their covers. So of course when I saw these beautifully-designed covers for Less Than Zero, and Imperial Bedrooms, all I could think was, who is this Bret Easton Ellis guy? I have to get my hands on his books!

KIDDING.

Of course I know Bret Easton Ellis. But now I can't wait to reread Less Than Zero, American Psycho, and start reading the recently released Imperial Bedrooms. Iconic book designer Chip Kidd did these great covers to celebrate Less Than Zero's 25th anniversary.



Also of note: newly designed set of covers for Don DeLillo's books, by the super awesome Noma Bar. Love, love, love Noma Bar's simplistic, negative-space approach to everything he does, so it was no surprise that he had designed this:



You can check out the complete set of both author's books here at Creative Review.

So, if you're in my book club, and it's my turn to choose the book... don't be surprised if it's one of these classics.

More books!

I swear, you guys, this is not becoming a literary site. However, in doing a little purse research (coincidentally, my friend Becky prompted said purse research, and she is a ferocious reader), I came across this:



Kate Spade is all literary clutch crazy, with new bags depicting awesomely-designed covers of Great Expectations, The Great Gatsby, and the Importance of Being Earnest.

Adorable? Yes, please.

Also, in case you're interested, Becky also let me know that the entire Penguin Hardcover Classics line of books is available at their site. Read on!

More books by their cover judgement

After the post about book covers last week, it was almost perfect timing when I stumbled upon this brilliant roundup of seven (just seven??!) of Chip Kidd's favorite book covers.



While I don't necessarily agree with all of his choices (Twilight? Really?) I definitely see the reason behind each pick (Twilight. Really).

For an added treat, check out Chip's blog post on the story behind having his Newsweek cover pulled out from under him.

Oh, and by the way, the Little Bee cover--in case you were wondering--was designed by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich. His other book covers are pretty amazing as well--however his site takes a great amount of patience to navigate.

Why yes, I do judge books by their covers

So today my little corner of the Twittersphere has been going crazy with links to Seth's Blog: The Purpose of a Book Cover:

Tactically, the cover sells the back cover, the back cover sells the flap and by then you've sold the book. If those steps end up selling a book that the purchaser doesn't like, game over. So you have to be consistent all the way through and end up creating a conversation after the purchase. Books are better at creating conversations than most products (when was the last time you talked about a pool cue), but there's lots of opportunity here, no matter what you make.

The whole post really resonated with me, because just last night I was at my book club, and it was my turn to choose books for our next meeting. One of the books I had brought with me I picked solely for the beautiful cover. Of course, when I was at Borders picking it out, I did flip it over to the back flap (more great design--hello? I was so not putting this book down at this point), and then I read the inside flap, which completely intrigued me. The book? Little Bee, by Chris Cleave.



How could you just walk by this book? The elegant script, the spot varnish, and the great type--that's what grabbed me WAY before I knew what this book was about. And yes, I know I'm a designer--that stuff should grab me--but for anyone, I think it's a hard book not to notice.

When I presented it to my club, I told them point blank that it was a book chosen for the design. Of course, once I read the inside flap to them (I didn't even start on the back cover design, I think I was boring them to tears with my font talk), there was no question on what we were going to read next. I think it will, but I'm anxious to see if the plot holds up to the spectacular cover design.