Judging the Cover: An Ink&Wire Feature

As a library science student, I am very fortunate to have a paid part-time library job at the moment, a reference assistant position at a joint public/community college library in small town North Carolina. One of the things I enjoy the most about the job is the forty-five minutes or so I take every shift to clean up the non-fiction section -- which probably makes me sound terribly dull, now that I see it written down, but hear me out. I walk through the entire section, shelf by shelf, which means I look at hundreds of covers and spines. I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover and all that... but really, you KNOW we all do it. Haven't you ever looked at a book and just thought, "Man, that is a really kick ass cover" or "Who the hell thought up that title"? It's especially difficult not to judge when you're looking at an entire shelf of old white and black books, and that bright pink book with SEX emblazoned on the spine is practically forcing itself on your eyes.

So, I decided to give in. After all, covers and titles are ultimately marketing decisions designed to attract my attention - and while I might feel a little dirty falling prey to good marketing, I'm only human.

Judging the Cover will be a recurring feature on Ink&Wire. I won't say regularly recurring, because the idea of sticking to a regular schedule for anything right now is amusing at best and demoralizing in general, but it's a feature that will pop up from time to time. I'll post covers of books that look interesting or fun; loud covers, ugly covers, well-designed covers, weird titles, clever titles, or books that just intrigue me for some reason. What these covers and titles have to say about our culture and the publishing industry in general should be... fun to consider.

Keep an eye out for Judging the Cover @ Ink&Wire!