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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

My Favorite Book Covers of 2009

In no particular order, here are my favorite book covers of 2009. (And here are the 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005 lists.) Titles are linked to the original post, if one exists, and there's a poll.

A big thank you to The Book Table, RiverRun Bookstore, and WORD for their lists.

And thank you, readers, for a great '09.

The Great Perhaps, design by Jamie Keenan:


The Double Life is Twice as Good, design by Rex Bonomelli:


Cheers! A History of Beer in Canada, design by David Gee:


Tiepolo Pink, design by Peter Mendelsund:


The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime, illustration by Jaya Miceli:


Perforated Heart, design by Jason Heuer (some great photos here):


The Book of Dead Philosophers, design by John Gall:


Experimental Geography, design by Kelly Blair:


Valkyrie, design by Jason Booher (better image here):


K Blows Top, design by Pete Garceau:


Nineteen-Eighty Four, UK edition, design by Gray318 (full wrap, etc. here):


Impossible Motherhood, design by Carin Goldberg:


How to Be Inappropriate, design by Alvaro Villanueva:


Columbine, design by Henry Sene Yee:


Chronic City, UK edition, design by Miriam Rosenbloom:



24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cheers! A History of Beer in Canada hurts my head. lol Love the colors on The Great Perhaps, too. Gotta admit, though, I think a lot of those are fairly ugly.

One of my favorites from 2009 is this:

http://www.shocktotem.com/images/issue_01.jpg

Wish I could get a print of that one.

Mike

Steve Jensen said...

...or perhaps this one - Bull Running For Girls by Allyson Bird. Design: Vincent Chong:

http://angryrobotbooks.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/bull-running-for-girls-cover.jpg

L.L. Barkat said...

the 3-D-ness of the philosophers one is cool

Anonymous said...

Mike,
If you like that cover(shocktotem) you need to check out Dave McKean:
http://www.mckean-art.co.uk/
Enjoy,
jp

dvestv said...

Nice boxing cover. But I think the best boxers are Pacquiao and Mayweather. ;-)

Get Info Here said...

aw! you make me laugh. LOL. Nice book covers. I really appreciated all. Can't vote.

Philouseb said...

Merci pour les liens.

KN said...

just can't vote.
just can't!
most of my favs in this entry!

PrivateLibrary said...

Why no FINE PRESS books...?

Larry
http://www.privatelibrary.typepad.com

Dave Cullen said...

Thanks for including Columbine.

Normally I'd say I'm honored, but in this case, it was my book, but I had nothing to do with the cover (other than gush and happily approve it).

Thanks so much to Henry Yee for doing such a great job. I feel like I won the design lottery.

And thanks for doing this post.

Anonymous said...

I had to vote for _The Great Perhaps_ simply because of the pigeon on the cover!

Anonymous said...

These covers were just awesome....you know half of the credit should go to these designers who attract people to atleast have a look at the book...reviews and content inside the book comes later if author is not so known....i just loved these designs...i myself feel attracted to the book with a good illustration while browsing at online bookstores like A1Books.co.in or even at physical stores :) :) :)

best wishes & Happy New Year!!!

Shorty said...

It's interesting to see how spread out the votes are. I'm glad, because I'd hate to think of the design community as being monolithic in its taste.
Happy New Year, BDR! Long may you post!

dves said...

I chose boxing cover.. But is that twins in the picture?

Andrew Kopietz said...

I like the subtle use of color on Valkyrie. It's sort of one of those covers that you just kind of step back from and let the photo do all the talking.

Web Design Kent said...

1984 for me, great book and a wonderfully envisaged cover... great post!

den parser said...

Hi.. I voted "How to be Inappropriate". Nice cover, attracts readers to grab it.

Andy said...

Excellent post, some great covers in there. Covers are influential and when well designed can add to the story.

Susan Neuhaus said...

I loved the "Cheers" cover, but most want to read "Columbine."

Excellent cover design wouldn't make me buy a book about a subject I'm not interested in (beer). But the well-designed Columbine cover makes me think this book has more to say about this topic.

Thank you! What a wonderful collection.

clipping path said...

Beautiful and creative book covers. Looks very nice. Thanks for sharing this great compilation....

Duncan Long said...

Yes, thanks for sharing a very interesting collection of book covers.

--Duncan Long
=====================
Freelance book cover illustrator for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, and other presses. See my cover illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html

bookpublishers said...

I love the Valkyrie artwork, very classy. Thanks for sharing,
Edmond,
Editor, .

Megan said...

In Tiepolo Pink, did you know that only in the last chapter is Tiepolo addressed as the master of staged fictions?

book designer said...

These are fantastic! "How to Be Inappropriate" made me laugh out loud! (oops! how *inappropriate* at the office! haha) ... Thanks for sharing :D