daydreaming about books
You know what’s even better than a book with a good story? When that book has an awesome cover!
Welcome to this color-coordinated YA book covers! Full of books that came out in 2021 with gorgeous covers! These are the covers that made me stop in my tracks and go “huh, let me stare at this gorgeous piece of work for a while.” These absolutely mesmerized me, and I wonder if they do to you too.
I always keep my music consistent, so 2022 are full of artists and bands (aside from two) that are my absolute favorites. (It goes without saying that, Epik High’s Sleepless In _____ album will always be one that I play even if I don’t post it in my yearly music post.) I seriously have been blessed this year to have a comeback from three of my favorite Korean musicians.
Here are the albums I listened to. (It is in order of when I listened to them, and the links go to Spotify.)
| DBSK 동방신기/TVXQ東方神起 | Mirotic |
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DBSK/TVXQ is a South Korean male pop duo consisting of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin (but they began as a five member boy group with U-Know Yunho, Max Changmin, Hero Jaejoong, Micky Yoochun, and Xiah Junsu). Mirotic is the fourth Korean studio album, and the last Korean album with members Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu.
An oldie, but an ICONIC album.
Damn shame that this was the last album as a five member boy group because this album served up so many hits—ones you can dance and belt to.
My Fave Songs: You’re My Melody, Forgotten Season, Mirotic, Love in the Ice
| EPIK HIGH | Epik High Is Here (Part 2) |
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Epik High (Hangul: 에픽하이) is a South Korean alternative hip hop group from Seoul, composed of Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tukutz. Epik High Is Here (Part 2) is their eleventh full length studio album.
Another year that we’re blessed with an Epik High album.
If you wondered in previous Music to My (Y)ear posts throughout the years, you’ll know I’m a massive fan of Epik High. If they say jump, I’ll fucking jump.
Does Epik High Is Here (Part 2) live up to expectations? Hell yes! They consistently have good raps and fantastic ballads to pair with them.
My Fave Songs: Rain Song (feat. Colde), Gray So Gray (feat. Younha), I Hated Myself (Tablo’s Word), Prequel
New year, new books to read, right?
For those who do not know, Too Much TBR is a way to help me see which books I really need to read and tackle them. Is it effective? Perhaps. It helps a lot seeing a visual of the books on my TBR pile.
Let’s discuss what I read last month, and what I’m reading this month!
During the last week of February 2018, I pondered about what type of post to make for “Books in Hand.” At first, I planned to discuss all the books customers came in asking for or buying, but that’s a bit too much because everybody came in asking for different books, and I didn’t remember all of them. My boss showed me a way to check our store’s best selling books, and I found out what we sold a lot of!
And that’s what this post is—seeing the top selling books of December 2022!
| FICTION |
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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus | Babel by R.F. Kuang | It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover | Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi | It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
You ever want to know what people are buying in bookstores? Well, it so happens that I work at one, and I wanted to write about what books customers have been asking for during the holiday season.
All bookstores are different, so the books customers are asking will be different. This holiday season have exhausted me (to the point that I forgot about my blogoversary, oops). These are just the books the customers at my bookstore asked for during the past week leading up to the Holidays in 2022.
This list isn’t a conclusive list; the books here are the ones that I’ve remembered because I’ve been asked about it a bazillion times or I’ve seen customers holding it.
Babel by R.F. Kuang | Someone Who Will Love You In All Your Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg | Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin* | Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty Read More
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 The Simple Tales for creating the beautiful feature banner you see before you.)
A Certain Hunger is deserving of a gorgeous cover, and the question is—does either the US or UK live up to the great expectation of this book?
The US cover perfectly conveys the vibe of A Certain Hunger—dark, sexy, and unsettling. I love books that uses paintings for their covers, especially for this book because a painting gives off a cultured kind of vibe. This cover is a cropped version of Francesco Bacchiacca’s painting Ghismonda with the Heart of Guiscardo. It features a woman squeezing a heart in her hands, blood dripping down her fingers while she looks over her shoulder. It’s perfect depiction of A Certain Hunger, especially with the cannibal aspect. I love seeing the texture in the cover—scratches, dots, and such; it gives the covers so much depth. I love the typography used for the title and the author, and also that you can see the strokes and lines of each letter.
My only gripe of this cover is that it’s hard to distinguish what the bottom right blob is (if you don’t know that it’s a cropped version of a Bacchiacca painting)—like is it an arm or a shoulder? What is it?
The UK cover is a…disappointment. It goes the simple route—a bright neon green background with a butcher knife in a bloody pineapple (which is most likely human blood splattered on the side of the knife). It does give off the vibe that the book will be satirical—like there’s a tongue-in-cheek kind of joke with the use of the pineapple. From what I’ve read about pineapples, it’s 1. Good for the blood and 2. it contains an enzyme called bromelain that can break down protein, which can make meat more tender when you’re cooking it, so those can be the reasons why the pineapple is used in the cover.
For a book that delves into food culture and sex and cannibalism, the UK cover does not convey it well. It’s unremarkable. A Certain Hunger deserves to be remembered.
Final Verdict: What cover do I like better? Without a doubt, the US cover is top tier. Why would anybody pick anything else?