Musing Mondays--Judging a Book by Its Cover

Do you feel disappointed when the covers don’t match the story? Have you ever been completely misled by a book cover?



I do very little book browsing anymore, and haven't done for quite some time. I get in enough trouble going into my favorite bookstores with my list; if I browsed as well, I'd be blogging from the Poor Farm... as along as they had Internet access.

In a very real sense, shopping with a list is freeing. I've never been a book cover junkie. One of only two things I've ever used them for is to give me that very first hint as to whether or not I might like the book.

I know there are books I've missed out on while browsing because they didn't have a cover that appealed to my roving eye. An example would be a book with a bodice ripper cover. You know the ones: steroidal hero with half his kilt missing standing out in a howling gale clutching a well-endowed young female who can't see a thing because her hair is whipping back and forth in front of her eyes. You'd think they'd both have enough sense to hie off into yon castle before said vixen gets a very serious chest cold. Anyway, I digress.

Those types of book covers don't do a thing for me. Never have. Therefore if I see one, I'm not going to pick it up, let alone take it home. So if anyone's written a witty whodunit and slapped McRoid and McVixen on it, I'm outta luck.

I honestly don't remember ever buying a book for the cover, then reading the book and being disappointed. I've been in retail too long, and my personal life only reinforces the truism that appearances can be deceiving. Nope. I'm one of these dull souls who only uses the cover to help her spot where she put down her latest read!

If you'd like to see more answers to this week's question, click the Musing Mondays graphic at the top of this post. Rebecca of Just One More Page does a fantastic job in hosting!