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#1 |
Wizard
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Books you love that others hate (or: A defence of covers with half naked men)
Several of the posts in Books only lying poseurs could claim to like make me itch to defend my favourites. That would be off-topic for that thread, so I'm making a new one.
To prevent the need for a new thread for books you hate that others love that others hate ![]() |
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#2 | |||||
Wizard
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The presence of a half naked man on the cover tells us that at least one of the protagonists is a man, but says nothing at all about the quality of the book, and very little about the content. Dismissing a huge number books as awful based on the cover is prejudiced. It would be just a silly to dismiss all books with spaceships on the cover, or all books with guns on the cover. Note: I see a big difference between saying "I don't like this (sub)genre" and "This (sub)genre is awful". For instance, I don't like books with graphical violence, but I wouldn't describe all such books as awful, just not for me. Some recommendations of books with half naked men on the cover: Rose Lerner: Listen to the Moon I like historical novels about other parts of society than those at the top. The story of how Sukey and John learn to work together and respect each other is well written, with interesting character development. Quote:
Courtney Milan: Hold Me I like mistaken identities stories, which this is, kind of. Well written characters, not a lot of external drama, but character growth which is believable and engaging. And a transgenic shark as a memorable side character ![]() Quote:
Silas Mason is one of my favourite characters ever, across all books I've read. And Charles uses the historical setting well, with the Peterloo Massacre and the crackdown on civil liberties in England looming over the love story. Quote:
Last edited by hildea; 02-12-2022 at 05:13 AM. |
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#3 |
Readaholic
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Authors usually have very little input on the covers. At least the ones that are not self-published. I do admit to being irritated with covers that have nothing to do with the story. The artist should have to read the book and draw the cover accordingly.
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#4 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Silly? Perhaps. But the visual is a way to quickly cull the herd so I can get to the kind of book I like. |
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#5 | |
o saeclum infacetum
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And in regard to KJ Charles, I’ve mentioned more than once how much I enjoyed her take on The Prisoner of Zenda and that I read it on your recommendation. But the cover you’ve posted here is so at odds with the setting of the book that I can’t help inferring only a tangential relationship to the facts of the Peterloo massacre. Again, a calculated appeal to KJ Charles fans/fans of M/M romance and not particularly to fans of accurate historical novels. You agree that the cover’s terrible; you’re willing to suspend judgment but as with Catlady, I’m not. Next! |
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#6 |
Gentleman and scholar
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Though I haven't read one of those books, I defend anyone's right to read books with half naked men on the cover.
Though it's not my cup of tea, I have been tempted. I have seriously considered reading Misery's Return. ![]() |
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#7 |
Grand Sorcerer
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I agree with Hildea. Books you don't like? For sure. Awful books? How do you know if you have only seen the cover? I agree with Catlady, too, that covers help in the majority of the books, to identify its genre (if they belog to someone, with everything it implies).
In any case, I'm old enough to feel that the discussion about half naked men in covers is at the same level that "was Heinlein fascist"? ![]() Last edited by Terisa de morgan; 02-13-2022 at 02:06 AM. |
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#8 | |
Addict
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With e-books I don't even pay attention to covers. I hardly ever see them with the way I've got my UI set up. If buying a physical book - it doesn't really matter what the book is about if the fonts, margins, quality of the pages, etc don't suit my taste. I never got around to reading Ulysses due to the atrocious colour of the spine (I bought the book online). |
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#9 |
Resident Curmudgeon
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The way I look at it is there are many books and not so much time. If a book I do not know the author and the cover is one that makes me think it may be something I won't like, I won't try it without a recommendation from someone I can trust enough.
The saying to not judge a book by it's cover is wrong. We do judge by the cover as it's the first thing we see if it's a book by an unknown author. I don't care for steamy romance type books and the covers with half-naked men and maybe holding some woman cries out steamy romance. If that's not the case, then the cover is doing the book a disservice. But I'm not going to take that chance. I'm not going to say that someone is not to read any books that I don't or may not like. You have the right to read what you want. |
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#10 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Regarding the three books hildea mentioned, if I'd seen the titles alone in a list, I would probably click on a link to check them out. The titles Listen to the Moon, Hold Me, and A Seditious Affair might indicate suspense or historical fiction, genres I like. The covers, however, tell me they're a hard no. So I appreciate that I don't have to investigate further!
As far as indicating awfulness, well, the covers indicate awfulness to me. A well-written romance is still a romance, and I simply do not like the romance genre. |
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#11 | |
Gentleman and scholar
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![]() The cover I showed was a 'joke' second cover that came with the initial paperback version of Misery. If you're familiar with what he looks like, the half naked man on the cover is Stephen King (well, the head is). |
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#12 |
Gentleman and scholar
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Not too many half naked men on the covers, but books I love that others hate are movie novelizations. Especially novelizations of low budget horror or sci-fi movies, where the author isn't hampered by cheesy sets, dodgy special effects or subpar acting. Sometimes the book will contain scenes or background details that just couldn't make it to the film for one reason or another.
Alan Dean Foster made a cottage industry of novelizations back in the '70's and '80's. But my favorite is when there's a mediocre movie that has a surprisingly excellent novelization. The Car and a movie with the bad title of The Boogens are both watchable. But their novelizations were well written, suspenseful books. luckily I have a friend that converts novelizations for fun, so my Kobo is well stocked with them. |
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#13 |
Wizard
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Well, sometimes great books just have cheesy covers. Ilona Andrews has the excellent series published by Avon books now, but these covers, this is hideous lol
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T3C2ZMC...ng=UTF8&btkr=1 ![]() |
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#14 | |
Wizard
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#15 |
Running with scissors
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Not a lot of traffic but this forum on reddit has some funny excerpts:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WomenWritingMen/ |
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