I know the old saying, you cant judge a book by its cover but i do and cant help it!!

Amazon suggests loads of book for me that i wouldnt buy because i would be too embarressed to read them in public. Anyone else have this problem or am i the only book cover snob?? :)

Dont know if this qualifies as a "Snob" but Dan Brown books amaze me, they have made him a fortune beyond compare and they are almost unreadable in terms of english. I managed "Da Vinci" just, tried "Angels" and just could not keep going after two chapters, keep eyeing "Lost Symbols" but with some trepidation.

I love writers of all kinds and take them as I find them usually but Brown is indigestible, and I am sure he really worries about my opinion as he staggers to the bank! lol

Hi I know what you mean J Sutherland,I like to go to the pub drink beer and read, where I used to live in my localit was all trawlermen.who frequented it as I only read heroic fantasy i have become a bit of a celebrity probably oddity but no way could I go in and be spotted reading Harry Potter it would blow my street cred right out of the watermy life would not have been worth living ,so yes I am a book snob!!

I'm the same, I refuse to buy lots of books because of the covers, sounds bad, but i refuse to be seen with a book with a barechested man on the front a la mills and boon! Would be far too embarassed to be seen with them! Also the same with cheesy covers, particularly from america!

I refused to buy the latest Richard Russo recently because the cover made it look like one of those infernal "misery memoirs" we are seemingly swamped with nowadays.

Which makes me a bit of a saddo, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

I know exactly what you mean, S. Young! Some of the US covers are embarrassingly bad, but I admit I will read them at home, saving more 'acceptable' covers for reading in public, i.e. on the tube. It can be irritating though, as some excellent books have such schmaltzy cover art, particularly in the urban fantasy genre. The Elantra series by Michelle Sagara springs to mind as being a great series yet the cover art would suggest they are historical romances. Maybe I should get an e-reader to prevent me from being such a book snob!

The covers make a lot of fantasy books look incredibly juvenile. Plus if I see a book with a third rate picture on the cover, I automatically suspect that the content might be of the same quality. Thankfully, there seems to be a shift towards more abstract 'smart' covers now!

Judging a book by its cover is the only sensible thing to do. You might be wrong once in a while - but you don't have time to read all the books, to find out.
Deep, eh?

I am a major book snob. I go one step further and will pay over the odds for a book with a swanky cover on- I must own about 4 versions of pride and prejudice-yep saddo!!!

I hate bad covers on book-u cant help but judge a book by its cover-if its looks cheaply done u automatcally assume its gonna be a substandard book.

Also hate the way all book covers are the same these days-all the novels featuring abused kids have a kid looking forloin on the front. All chick lit novels seems to have a female shadow with extremely long stilletos on holding a cocktail glass- puts me of buying them cos i know they are trying to suck me in!

When I buy my books on Amazon it is mainly based on reviews and I just order whichever is the cheapest copy regardless of cover. However, if I am in a bookshop, I am more likely to investigate 'good looking' books.

I much prefer more abstract covers to pictures. The characters depicted on the front inevitably look nothing like I envisage them to look and in the case of paintings, more often than not, they are mere caricatures. Often it is not so much the fact that it is a painting but that it is a badly painted painting. Bodies especially are often drawn with no reference at all to the proportion of the human skeleton.

Oh, how I agree with Lushbug and AnnetteF! I much prefer abstract or plain book covers - I love historical romances,especially in the Plaidy,Heyer and Austin moulds, but the covers make them all look like bodicerippers. Science Fiction and Fantasy also mainly have terrible covers that bear no relation to the story inside, apart from the mad Terry Pratchett covers which I love

Yes.
I will often take the sleeve off of a hardback when out in the public eye, most usually the pub, modern Scifi is normally acceptable but too many fantasy are a bit....loud to be taken out in public, rather like my kids :). The fonts used as well tend towards the melodramatic. There are a few exceptions...Stephen Erikson (he who can do no wrong) for example.
Then on the other hand there are some covers that are quite simply works of art. Once again Stephen Erikson (Bloodhouse Gates springs to mind), Covers I would quite happily frame and put on my wall. Any more suggestions, and more importantly where I can get these posters:)

Purely as conjecture, is not reading in public the most offensively polite way of saying to everyone in the vicinity that you are not interested in them or what they are doing. Therefore, why should their opinion of what you are reading matter. And if you want to give that impression, then surely you would pick a cover that is as twee as possible. Just a thought

May I join in with the worship, L.O.Shea? Thank you.

*worships the mighty Stephen Erikson (he who can do no wrong)*

We are, I assume, talking about the recent Bantam books, Gardens of the Moon published Feb 2008 for example (though the earlier ones from 2000 are not that bad either). With the work of art, you probably meant 'Deadhouse Gates', which is also my favourite of them all and would look good on my wall, too. I think I'd find 'Toll the Hounds' on the wall a bit daunting - probably end up with nightmares if I fell asleep looking at that, lol.

- Karen Miller: the spine and the cover of one of her 'Kingmaker, Kingbreaker' two book series is a depiction of a person cut in half and when put side by side with its counterpart of the other book creates a whole person. Very cleverly thought out and executed.
- Eragon: the covers are in a higher league than the writing.
- Like the look of Alison Croggan's 'Pellinor' series.
- The Wheel of Time: Ok, am a fan, but even before I ever read the first one, I liked the covers with the big number on the spine and the simple symbol and writing on black background. Same as fifty men in the same uniform look impressive, so do items if you have lots side by side dressed similarly.

Cover art apart, I love the way a lot of the new paperback covers have a smooth silky/velvety feel to them, often with some of the writing lightly embossed.

@Bookbag - Discword covers are much like the books themselves - in a league of their own.

@M. Joliff - yes and no... I think a book, especially a fantasy book, is a bit like a badge indicating to others that you belong to 'that club' and it can have the exact opposite effect. Total strangers start commenting to you about it. Had a great conversation once with a guy on a train by the end of which he had a list of about half a dozen books to recommend to his fantasy reading girlfriend. And I have to admit, I love jumping on people browsing the fantasy section at Waterstones... have found several good books that way.

AnnetteF- thats my point, the cover weeds out those you have no desire to discourse with, the book reduces the need for discourse.
Reading in public is a very bad habit, that I indulge in as often as possible, though I try and avoid doing so in the presence of my wife.
On the subject of artwork, does anybody know who did the covers for the Elric books by Moorcock.

@M. Jolliff - Everyone has to have some bad habits or else people would not be able to spot the good ones! I guess, reading is mine, full stop *sigh*

No idea about the cover, but maybe you'll find the answer here: http://www.multiverse.org/

Having never been slow in being offensive I normally just tell people that I'm not interested in them :). But as I am ridiculed by my wife and kids on a regular basis for my reading tendencies, especially as your good self they don't appreciate when I whip out a book, ( I once brought 8 books on a weeks holiday - almost caused a divorce) my brief sojourns to the pub for an hour or so of peace and quiet with a book means that I'm very uninterested in talking to Paddy Mac about last weeks 4th division football results or the terrible state of the vegetables in the local supervalu. The pub I go to isn't very exciting. So i pod and book and not having a garish cover keeps the normal people away.
Also I spend a lot of time on planes around the world and some strange looks are given in foreign countries (towards the east) to overly .....expressive covers.
All in the best possible taste though

@ AnnetteF, I honestly think that I'm losing the old marbles faster than thought, the bag is ripped and they are scattered all over the road, mostly to the gutter. OF COURSE IT'S DEADHOUSE GATES!!!!, I am tempted to swear but as this is a family show....
But I agree that many of the other cover art is rather too scary to be put on the wall,
And once again Stephen Erikson is so far ahead of EVERY other author.

And let us be all honest with ourselves. I get the impression that most of the regular posters here are not teenagers ( by a fair margin) and Fantasy is not the most.....appreciated of reading material, which is a reasonable attitude of the ignorant, and we all seem to be pretty fanatical about what we like, so avoiding strange looks at the airport is not too high a price to pay to be superior in every way to the chicklit/Dan Brown aficionados :)). And because we are so confident in ourselves it isn't necessary for others to know this.
I now feel much better about being a nerd.

LOL... great thoughts on fantasy 'nerd-om' there, L.O.Shea. Most people that talk disparagingly about the genre have probably had the misfortune to read one of the books mentioned in the 'simply awful' thread. But we all know that if only they read Stephen Erikson&Co they would know better and join us in an instant.

But speak for yourself (of course more blips like 'Bloodhouse Gates' and we believe you, lol)... me, I have never been a day older than oh, twenty five ;-)

Does the term Book Snob also have a wider definition?.
If one more person raves on about how fabulous Trudi Canavan/David Eddings etc are in these forums I may resort to self mutilation...I mean COME ON!, it isn't awful pap(mostly/barely) but neither is it any good, Get a grip and get some taste!!!!!
I despair.
Another rant over.

I am also a sad bastard, Although I don't wear glasses and can speak in public, I am a nerd. I love reading this stuff, I still roleplay (25 years the same game and character-and he's pretty effing powerful as well, let me tell you!), I like physics and buttons and stuff (although I'm rubbish at computers) and I most assuredly am a SNOB!!!
Hear me Whimper!!!

@L.O.- Ok, I'll do you the favour of not raving about Trudi Canavan. Enjoyable read but not great.

Hope you'll manage to resist self-mutilation because I have to, kind of, disagree about Eddings. You can use the last series he wrote as kindling as far as I am concerned, but the 'Belgariad' is just right for younger readers. And for this not quite so young reader it is an innocent, light, entertaining, fun, happy regular re-read. Lots of other, much better written books in my library that don't get taken down as often. So for me there is definitely something good about it.

Just had a look at the definition for snob (seems you may qualify for no 2 as per your last post) on dictionary.com - Quote:
"1. a person who imitates, cultivates, or slavishly admires social superiors and is condescending or overbearing to others.
2. a person who believes himself or herself an expert or connoisseur in a given field and is condescending toward or disdainful of those who hold other opinions or have different tastes regarding this field."

According to that I am a minor snob. I refuse to like or dislike items because of what others think of it and I am very happy for anyone to have a different opinion to mine though my attempts at sharing my own may sometimes be misconstrued as attempts to convert. After reading an awful lot of books within the fantasy genre I believe myself to have a little more understanding of the scope within than lets say someone that has only read 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Harry Potter' but I am very aware that as with most things in life, one person's treasure is another person's junk and who is to say which is which?

I am a great believer in the freedom and right of choice and as long as we all have both, books we love and books we hate, censorship has not yet won.

Hmmm.... may quailify on 'overbearing' after this little sermon, lol.

Yeah I have that problem too, not really with the cover, but more the title. I've read books like "Warrior Cats" and "Seven for a Secret (Never to be Told)" And have been too embaressed to take them to school. I'm in year 9 and everyone reads books like Alex Rider, Chris Ryan, Code Red or some sort of action book, I only bring books into school if they have decent titles and blurbs.

Something I hate more than the cheesy covers, is the film versions of books. I hate that, its just wrong sticking a picture of some celeb in the front so they can sell more books.

Covers matter less than the genre they represent. I never read fantasy or vampire based stuff. Never interested me, so I ignore them. Trouble is I buy them for others so Amazon thinks I like them and keeps recommending similar. Aaaaaahhhh