The Novel Hermit

daydreaming about books

Archives for October 2014

Holy Mother Cover

HOLY, MOTHER COVER! | Ferris Wheel Theme!

Comments : 5

holymothercover

Inspired by What She Reads, Pure Imagination Blog, and Stacked.

I admit I’m a book cover snob. Who isn’t though?

Book covers are the first thing that attracts readers to a book. A good cover can draw someone is, just as a bad cover can easily draw someone away. It can essentially make or break a book. Holy, Mother Cover! is where I showcase the book covers that stand out (or make me cringe) and discuss cover changes.

(A big special thanks to Georgie at What She Reads for bestowing me this fabulous name and to Charlotte at Gypsy Reviews for creating the beautiful feature banner you see before you.)

I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic about amusement parks. It’s been a while since I’ve been to one (and by a while, I mean a lonnnng time ago). And you know the one thing you can find there? The ferris wheel! Fun fact: I’ve never been on a ferris wheel.

Similar to the maps theme, the good ferris wheel book covers were a bit hard to find. I swear they were hiding from me (except the ones I picked for this post).

THEME: Ferris Wheel!

Ferris Wheel book covers

Ferris Wheel Book Covers

My favorite cover? Out of these five, it’s hard to pick; I like certain aspects of each one.

  • In Four, I love the sparks coming from the ferris wheel.
  • In What I Had Before I Had You, I like that it’s simple and that it’s like any normal day at the boardwalk.
  • In The Wicked Girls, it looks very ominous like bad shit will happen.
  • In The London Eye Mystery, I love the way the ferris wheel is angled, so that it’s as if you’re like the figures in the cover looking straight up at it.
  • In Joyland, I love that it looks very 1950s horror-esque, and I’m a big fan that it was painted.

Best ferris wheel? Hands down, Four. Look at it! I realized that the majority of these covers have ferris wheels that are off in the distance or cut off so you can’t see the entirety of the wheel. Ha.

Which book cover has the best ferris wheel? Can you think of any other books with ferris wheels that you absolutely love?

Letters

SINCERELY, CEE | A letter from yours truly to The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Comments : 2

Dear Nova Ren Suma and The Walls Around Us,

Oh boy, love at first sight! It screams at me to see what’s it about, and well, I want to read it.

[quote cite=”Goodreads” url=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18044277-the-walls-around-us”]“Ori’s dead because of what happened out behind the theater, in the tunnel made out of trees. She’s dead because she got sent to that place upstate, locked up with those monsters. And she got sent there because of me.”

The Walls Around Us is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices—one still living and one long dead. On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement. On the inside, within the walls of a girls’ juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom. Tying these two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries.

We hear Amber’s story and Violet’s, and through them Orianna’s, first from one angle, then from another, until gradually we begin to get the whole picture—which is not necessarily the one that either Amber or Violet wants us to see.

Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and innocence, and what happens when one is mistaken for the other.[/quote]

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Reviews

REVIEW | When Did You See Her Last? (All The Wrong Questions #2) by Lemony Snicket

Comment : 1

Lemony Snicket - When Did You See Her Last All The Wrong Questions Lemony SnicketWhen Did You See Her Last? (All The Wrong Questions #2) by Lemony Snicket
October 15, 2013
Little, Brown and Company
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble |  The Book Depository

I should have asked the question “How could someone who was missing be in two places at once?” Instead, I asked the wrong question—four wrong questions, more or less. This is the account of the second.

In the fading town of Stain’d-by-the-Sea, young apprentice Lemony Snicket has a new case to solve when he and his chaperone are hired to find a missing girl. Is the girl a runaway? Or was she kidnapped? Was she seen last at the grocery store? Or could she have stopped at the diner? Is it really any of your business? These are All The Wrong Questions.

myreviewFirst sentence: “There was a town, and there was a statue, and there was a person who had been kidnapped.”

Previously on All the Wrong Questions series, young Lemony Snicket arrived in the bleak town of Stain’d-by-the-Sea with his apprentice Theodora S. Markson and was tasked to find the Bombinating Beast statue that has gone missing. Along the way, Snicket encountered various suspects and witnesses that helped and misled him on his case, which ultimately led him to realize that there was more than meets the eye and that there was a bigger foe, Hangfire, pulling the strings. Are the questions I brought up in my review of  “Who Can That Be At This Hour?” answered? Who knows unless you read “When Did You See Her Last?” the second book of the All the Wrong Questions. We shall see now.

In “When Did You See Her Last?”, Snicket and the incompetent Theodora S. Markson is called upon to find a missing teenager, Cleo Knight, who may be in the clutches of the suspicious apothecary doctor who takes care of the Knight’s. As Snicket investigates (while Theodora continues to dismiss Snicket’s suspicions), he continues to ponder about his sister and Ellington Feint, and realizes that the case of the missing girl is somehow related to Hangfire. This is the story.

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Typography

YOU’RE JUST MY TYPE | {21}

Comments : 3

yourejustmytypebanner

I love fonts. You can say I’m obsessed with collecting them all. It’s no secret to those who know me. You’re Just My Type is a new feature where I showcase the fonts I absolutely adore and use. And hopefully, you will love the fonts I pick. Add all of them to your font collection! Let it grow!

Strange to be posting this not on a Tuesday, but hey, Thursday is another great day.

Go on, go look at the beautiful fonts!

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 Designed by Jimmy Kalman

Aventura is another perfect font for drop cap. It’s all in caps, and I’m sure you’d have a swell of an adventure playing with it.

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Holy Mother Cover

HOLY, MOTHER COVER! | US vs UK: My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

Comments : 6

holymothercover

Inspired by What She Reads, Pure Imagination Blog, and Stacked.

I admit I’m a book cover snob. Who isn’t though?

Book covers are the first thing that attracts readers to a book. A good cover can draw someone is, just as a bad cover can easily draw someone away. It can essentially make or break a book. Holy, Mother Cover! is where I showcase the book covers that stand out (or make me cringe), and discuss cover changes.

(A big special thanks to Georgie at What She Reads for bestowing me this fabulous name and to Charlotte at Gypsy Reviews for creating the beautiful feature banner you see before you.)

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US vs UK COVER: My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

 

[row][column size=”1/2″]What do I think about the cover design? I am into it.

The marker-esque lettering of the title, the personal handwriting, and the colors used for the heart and blackhole, yes! I actually really like how the heart is an actual heart (instead of just the words), but I know it can be a bit confusing for some people who may not get that the heart is part of the title. I think it’s a bit clever.

I guess my only complaint is that it’s a bit too plain? All that white space…the typography of this cover has to stand out, which it does, but not as strong as it should be.

Would I buy this book based on the cover? Most likely.[/column] [column size=”1/2″]What do I think about the cover design? Ooooh, I like!

I love the various shades of blue that looks like a whirlpool (or y’know, a blackhole) spiraling down. The design of the letters remind me of cutting letters out of construction paper during arts and craft. I like that. In this cover, the “heart” is spelled out. I kind of miss the image, but it’s not necessary here. I love that the cover looks like art I can do. It’s very simple.

The ‘O’ in “Holes” remind me of an egg yolk, which kind of annoys me because it’s quite distracting. Do eggs have something to do with this book?

Would I buy this book based on the cover? Sure.[/column][/row]

Which cover design do you prefer? Would you buy the US or the UK one?