Cover Judgment

Hello Dewey Readers!

Today I would like to ask you all a very serious question.  Do you judge books by their covers?  

While I was scrolling through the #Bookstagram (follow @fortheloveofdewey !!) I came across a #bookstagrammer who posted a photo of a book, claiming it was the first time she ever read a book because she fell in love with the cover.  This made me pause.  I nearly ALWAYS choose my books by their covers.  I know what you're all thinking.  But Jessica, you're a librarian.  How dare you!  Isn't that book blasphemy!?  It is and it isn't. 

I love my books.  I love lining them up, I love carrying them with me, I love staring at them on my book shelves, and I absolutely adore wandering the aisles of book stores and libraries.  I'm a book addict who can't go on a vacation without visiting all the local libraries.  But I also feel like just as much as I want to love what's inside the pages, I wan't to enjoy looking at, touching, and carrying my books with me.    

Do I always love the books who's covers I'm attracted to?  Not always.  Do I ever regret giving a book a try no way.  If I have a choice between two different editions of the same book, I'll always go for the one who's cover I like better.  Life is too short to not enjoy being with books you love.  But will I read books who's covers I do love based on recommendations and merit?  You bet I will, I just might not go out of my way and choose them on my own.  

So Dewey Readers please tell us, do you judge books by their covers!? 

~Jessica 

Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland - Reshelved Books

One Fish, Two Fish, Blue Fish, Lots of Fish.....

Isn't this cover just awesome!?  I know we've talked about this before, and how you should never ever judge a book by it's cover...but I'm guilty once again.  I had stumbled across this cover while scrolling through our #bookstagram and thought the fish just looked so real. And they do, right?

Anyway, upon doing some detective work to figure out more about this book I read a Goodreads summary that compared Sutherland's Our Chemical Hearts to Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park and John Green's The Fault in Our Stars.  I wasn't a big fan of The Fault in Our Stars but I absolutely devoured Eleanor & Park, so I decided to give this book a chance, checking it out of my local public library.  

This book is just...WOW.  It has elements of tragedy, of grief, and of death as found in The Fault in Our Stars, but it also has an Eleanor and Park love story while giving the reader a glimpse into various family dynamics.  This novel shows the struggle of finding balance with life and grief, as well as with daily responsibilities in conjunction with the larger picture that makes life actually worth living.  This novel tells the story of love, of loss, of heartbreak, and of healing.  It's also told from a male perspective, which makes it a great novel for both boys and girls to read.  I don't want to tell you anything more, I just want you to read it.  

So my dear For the Love of Dewey readers, I give you my rating of 5 out of 5 coffee beans!

Please add this book to your To-Read List!

~Jessica    

Judging Books By Their Covers

    They say you should never judge a book by it's cover, for it is the pages and story inside that grip us, and that the cover is nothing more than a superficial medium holding these pages together.  Unfortunately, I'm guilty where I almost always judge a book by it's cover.  As a reader, blogger, book lover, and librarian, I should be ashamed.  I guess part of me is, but only a small part.  Here's why.  
    I love my books.  I love to be gripped by a story.  I love the art form of language, and how an author arranges letters to form words, and words to create something that is both literary and beautiful.  I love to feel like I'm friends in my head with the characters that I am investing so much time with, but what about when the book is finished?  What about before I even pick the book up?  Basically, I'm drawn to covers that are visually appealing.  I like to line my books up on my bookshelf and lay on the floor to stare at the covers, both after and before I read them.  With Instagram hashtags such as #bookstagram, displaying books with pretty covers has become an art form.  We like these photos because we love books, but we also like these photos because we like to look at the book covers.  The librarian in me likes my book case organized by author and title, but the book blogger in me that loves pretty covers also likes the idea of arranging them by color.  Perhaps this is a ploy by marketers to get us to buy more books or certain types of books.  But for now, I think I'll just spend some time admiring my covers.  

Some covers I love!

~Jessica