Saturday, February 11, 2006

More on covers

This seemed appropriate given that we were discussing covers just a couple of posts back. It's the Korean version of Craving Beauty. Hmm, I don't quite see what the picture has to do with the whole desert/bayou aspect of the story but I still think it's rather pretty. Opinions?

I once had a conversation with some editors about why they use different covers for different countries, and it was quite enlightening. For example, if you scan down this page, you can see the Japanese cover for Awaken to Pleasure on the sidebar. It's quite different from the original and is, incidentally, the original cover for Juliet Burns' High Stakes Passion. Apparently, the reason for the cover switch was because the North American cover was too openly sensual and readers would feel shy about picking it up in a bookstore. So there you go.

Moving on, given that several review sites are currently holding Book of 2005 polls, I've decided to hold one here, too. What book did you fall absolutely in love with in the last twelve months? Or better yet, what author did you discover and maniacally track down the backlist of? No restrictions as to genre or format so go wild! Personally, I found my way to Harlen Coben's stand-alone thrillers. Very, very dark and yet extremely satisfying in terms of the way he wraps up all the myriad dangling plot threads in a believable way.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

4 comments :

Anonymous said...

That is odd. Pretty, but odd. :)

Anonymous said...

Did you say bayou? Your book is already on top of my TBR pile (sadly neglected of late) but now I'll have to check it out because the author I read for the first time just recently whose backlist I will be glomming was Tami Hoag and the book was Lucky's Lady featuring the most shocking example of unbridled raw masculinity in her Cajun hero Lucky. I will have to immediately read all her other books to see if there are any more at home like him :-) The absolutely best book I have read in ages was Brick Lane by Monica Ali. A friend gave it to me and it looked rather dull, so I decided to read it with my book group to make me finish it. Well... it was so good that I couldn't force myself to read it fast and ended up having to finish it after our monthly meeting. Not a romance or even close, but well worth a read.

Jen (do two posts give me twice the chance to win your new book???? Just kidding :-)

Nalini Singh said...

Yes, Marc's a bayou boy. :) I think I read Lucky's Lady ages ago and from what I recall, it was good. I actually have Brick Lane sitting at home (given to me by a friend, too) but like you I thought it looked rather dull so I haven't picked it up. But now that you've given it such a glowing recommendation, I'm going to have to try it.

(p.s. We could have quite a post-a-thon if I made chances to win equal to posts! But alas, no, I'm being boring and just entering each name once.)

Kendra - I have another Korean translation and the cover is pretty much the same. Different snapshot, different color but the setup is identical. Maybe that's how they make these books stand out over there?

Nalini Singh said...

Hmmm, wonder if they reuse the floral pics???