October TBRCat - Book Purchased Because of the Visual Appeal of the Cover

___

We’ve all done it, purchased a book simply because the cover jumped out at us in some way. It may have been the overall beauty of the cover or it may have struck you for some other reason – the color, the style or the design. During October our TBR challenge is to read a book that has visual impact. Since beauty (or visual impact) is in the eye of the beholder, it’s going to be interesting to see what book(s) everyone chooses from their TBR.

Please let us know what you are going to be reading and include a picture of the cover if you wish. Don’t forget to list your book on the WIKI

I am planning on reading Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna and The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka

__

You are spot on with The Children's Book! I had borrowed it from the library but just had to own it as the cover is so pretty (oh, and I love A.S. Byatt!)

I think I will decide between:
- Beth / Nora Kay
- The Magician's Lie / Greer Macallister

I'm going to read the first three books in the Griffin and Sabine series by Nick Bantock. The entire books, not just the covers, are works of art.

When I bought Hungry Hill, by Daphne du Maurier, there were multiple copies at the bookshop. I chose mine because it has a guy on the cover who looks like he belongs in a Monty Python animation:

Over the years, I've purchased the Belknap annotated editions of Jane Austen's major novels. They are oversized, with gorgeous covers; these are the ones I haven't read yet:



I'll probably pick one of these.

I'm planning on reading The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg:

>5 Jackie_K: Great idea! I have that series too.

I have completed my read of Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna.

Technically I chose the series based on the covers with Kill City Blues being the latest that I haven't read.

I finished all three of the Griffin and Sabine trilogy: Griffin and Sabine, Sabine's Notebook, and The Golden Mean. They are all works of art, and I now want to read the next books (book 3 ended on just as much of a cliffhanger as the previous two!).

I'm happily reading Over the Plain Houses by Julia Franks, which I purchased last year entirely due to the cover and that it was published by one of my favorite small presses.

I read The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman, which has a pretty cover and qualified for the SeriesCAT since it is the first of the Hope River series. I'm hoping to also read The Plantation Mistress by Catherine Clinton, which has a pretty cover, and I've had for several years, hoping I would read it for its cover for other challenges. However, it is a hardback book, and I'll be going on vacation soon, and want to take only paperbacks on the trip.

I've become a big fan of vintage paperbacks. They're frequently of surprisingly good quality and have fun covers. So for this month I read an Erle Stanley Gardner I mostly picked up for the cover:

>15 NinieB: I read most of those old Perry Masons back in middle school.

I got myself out of a reading slump with The English Wife by Lauren Willig. I didn't necessarily buy it because of the cover but I adore the vibrant orange used.

I read The Blue Faience Hippopotamus which I picked up many years ago and is still a fave kids book. I actually have three blue faience hippos, and saw the original at the British Museum, again many years ago. The cover is beautifully done in soft blues and features Egyptian designs throughout the book.

Still life by Louise Penny

I didn't buy it because of the cover, but it is a lovely one.

I read The Tinkham Brothers' Tide Mill, which I bought because of the cover.
1880s didactic fiction. Touchstone not pulling it up right now.

November thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/312080

Just finished Romanov by Nadine Brandes. I have been waiting for this to be published as I love anything about the Romanovs.

I have completed my read of The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka. This was a debut novel and had some flaws but the descriptions of life in Malaya kept me engaged.

I was drawn to this updated approach to the Cinderella story as soon as I saw it on display at the bookstore. There is a small castle at the top, a woman's profile (red) in the center, an hour glass near the bottom on the right and a shoe in the left bottom. In this version the shoe is not glass but covered in beads.

On my daily visit to my bookmooching site, my eye got caught by an offer of several of the Petit Nicolas series and I realised that these were my favourite cover versions. So I ordered two still missing from my shelves and sat down to re-read the first, Le petit Nicolas. I love Sempé's drawings, so deceptively spare and yet full of detail. And the stories never fail to charm.

Madam Millie: Bordellos from Silver City to Ketchikan / Max Evans
3.5 stars

Millie and her sister were orphans in the early 20th century after their parents died within a short time frame. Although, they were in and out of foster homes, they mostly managed to stay together. When Millie’s older sister Florence, got sick, it was suggested she head for someplace dry. They ended up in New Mexico, with Florence in a sanitorium and Millie needed to find a way to make enough money to pay for Florence’s care. It’s how Millie got into prostitution, and not long after, she started buying and running the whorehouses, herself. She married a number of times, but held on to those whorehouses, and added to them.

Millie was feisty, that’s for sure. She was also well-respected. And had a few brushes with the law. I’m not sure she was someone I would like, but it takes all kinds. She has lots of good stories. The book certainly kept my interest. Overall, it was good.

I just finished Save Me the Plums Although I read mostly on my Kindle, the cover of this book is definitely what led me to read it. Clean, yet alluring with its single plum dropped under the whimsical title.



I loved this book! I am not much for food memoirs, as the balance of recipes to prose usually outweighs my interest. Ruth Reichl’s writing is superb and she is a wonderful storyteller. The food was fascinating to read about and her descriptions of the senses around taste were amazing. This is the story of her ten years as Editor-in-Chief at Gourmet magazine. I always enjoy a memoir that gives a peek inside the workings of an industry. This did not disappoint. Even if you are not a foodie, this book is well worth the read.

My selection for this category:



Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard
Johannes Cabal wants to make a deal with the devil. Again. The first time he traded his soul for the secrets of necromancy, but this time he wants his soul back. Satan makes a wager with him that he can't get 100 souls to fatten the ranks within a year's time, and even gives him an evil carnival and hellish minions to help. Johannes races against the clock - and his own skewed-yet-still-existent morals - to fill his quota and win back his soul.
Dark and funny and touching; Howard manages to create a character who raises the dead, betrays his own brother, scorns those less intelligent than himself, and isn't afraid to kill (although he does find it distasteful), and yet still makes him absolutely lovable. You'll be rooting for him while being slightly troubled that you are. Perfection.

I managed two books for this month. I picked up Over the Plain Houses by Julia Franks one evening at my local bookstore when I had some book money left at the end of the month. I had never heard anything about it, but I loved the foxes on the cover and as it was published by a very good small press, Hub City Books, I decided to buy it.

And I'd been eyeing Biloxi by Mary Miller since I first saw the cover in various book preview lists.

Die Gleichung des Lebens caught my eye in the bookstore a few months ago. Mathematician Leonhard Euler is sent to the Oderbruch, a vast region of moors watered by the Oder river, to survey for the project of draining these moors and calculate the costs. The head engineer is found dead and Euler investigates. He is infected with a serious fever, like malaria, and finds out how this sickness is transmitted from mosquitoes to people.
That's the outline of the plot, but there is a lot more going on, and it is often too much. The author tries too hard to draw parallels with our modern ways of destroying habitats, and he cannot make up his mind, whether he wants to write a historical mystery or a pamphlet on man's destructive nature.

Thanks to everyone for participating in October's TBRCat, my attention has certainly been caught by a number of the eye-catching covers.

Yes, covers definitely draw me in! Although I shouldn't always judge!

>31 DeltaQueen50: I have one more to post! I finished last night, but still need to write my review. Will be posted either tonight or tomorrow!

The Magician's Lie / Greer Macallister
4 stars

When famous magician, the Amazing Arden, finishes her show, her husband is found murdered and she runs. A police officer catches up with her and takes her in for questioning. He listens to her life story as she tries to explain and hopes he’ll believe that she didn’t do it. It’s a story of poverty and abuse, and an escape to a life of performance.

The story goes back and forth in time. It’s set between the late 19th century and 1905. I quite enjoyed it, but wasn’t overly crazy about the end. I really liked the setting and the atmosphere of the story. I also love the cover. There was an interview with the author at the end of my copy; I had been wondering as I read, and it was confirmed, that Arden’s magician mentor in the story was a real woman. There really weren’t many women illusionists at the time (nor are there now, I don’t think). One of the events near the end of the story (a fire at a theatre in Chicago) also really happened.

>34 LibraryCin: Oooh this has been on my TBR. I was going to read it for G this month, but didn't get to it. Thanks for the review.

>35 beebeereads: I hope you enjoy it! Some of the other reviewers didn't seem to enjoy it as much, though.

>34 LibraryCin: I really like that cover!