As usual, I'm at loss with the new Broke And The Bookish Top 10 Tuesday I don't know ten mean girls in literature. All I read about usually are assholes trying to bury each other, using various means, from massive drugs intake to automatic weapons. I'm exaggerating, of course. But no top 10 meanies for me this week. Instead, I'll take one more week to catch up to the subjects I have missed. Today will be the very obvious ten favorite novel covers. Click on the photo to enlarge.
1-Joseph Conrad - Heart Of Darkness: This cover reflects how utterly terrifying the novel is. I'm not sure if it's still in circulation though. It might be out of print. High school kids were probably admitted into psychiatric care after reading this, because they thought Kurtz was staring at them in their sleep.
2-Norman Mailer - The Deer Park: The simple, but oh-so-gorgeous cover of The Deer Park was the last blow that convinced me to buy it. It's elegant, graceful and it's what the novel is all about. Existential loneliness and the post-war trauma, on an institutional level.
3-Mystic River by Dennis Lehane: I know they used it for the movie also (I'm not sure which one came first), but without spoiling anything, it explains what the novel is about. Three friends, looking at the shadow that lurks inside their heart. One of those books that altered the course of my life.
4-A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace: Some might feel it's a little unfocused, but I like it a lot. It reflects what goes on inside my brain on a daily basis. I like the vintage fake-wood-unfinished-basement feeling of it.
5-Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Scarlett Letter: I think this one is out of print too. I have a weak spot for this novel and for this cover in particular (despite the red half) because it reflects how Hester feels having to deal with that goddamn letter. It carries the emotions of the novel very well.
6-Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick: I think I own eleven Philip K. Dick novels and this cover is the only bearable one. But I find it very pleasant to look at. I like the shaded emotional face, which probably belongs to Rachael Rosen. I could've done without the sheep, but it's all right I guess.
7-Henry Rollins - Broken Summers: I interpret this cover as the vision of a traveler's blur. It's really poetic in Rollins' angle and yet it has a certain sobriety. I like the typewriter font used for the book's title. It's kind of gritty, isn't it?
8-Ryu Murakami - In The Miso Soup: The evil Murakami has a tradition of colorful covers, but I find only In The Miso Soup translate the violent sadness of his stories in a single image. I prefer his covers to Haruki's. They carry more weight.
7-Henry Rollins - Broken Summers: I interpret this cover as the vision of a traveler's blur. It's really poetic in Rollins' angle and yet it has a certain sobriety. I like the typewriter font used for the book's title. It's kind of gritty, isn't it?
8-Ryu Murakami - In The Miso Soup: The evil Murakami has a tradition of colorful covers, but I find only In The Miso Soup translate the violent sadness of his stories in a single image. I prefer his covers to Haruki's. They carry more weight.
9-Chuck Klosterman - Killing Yourself to Live: 85% Of A True Story: Let's be serious for a moment. This is the next book in my TBR pile and the cover only makes me want to jump over it and read the damn thing in one twelve hours sitting. What's cooler for a dead man than a flying V tombstone? NOTHING. That's what. Klosterman's covers are always nice.
10-White Noise by Don DeLillo: This visual portrait of the Gladney family is as accurate as it gets. A simple American unit who's only wish is to live through the day. Touching drawing for a touching story. Some find it atrocious looking, but I like the corroded feeling it gives.
