Why Can't I Be The Judge?

I know they tell us not to judge a book by its cover, but I can't help it.

A few weeks ago, while I was at Walmart, I picked up copies of the first two books in James Patterson's Maximum Ride series. The first is called The Angel Experiment, and the second is School's Out--Forever. I'd read them in freshman year -- which feels like forever ago even though it wasn't -- but never had a chance to finish the series. I was going to get the third and fourth installments in the series -- Saving The World and Other Extreme Sports and The Final Warning -- but Walmart didn't have them. I figured, what the hell, I'll get it another time.

So today, when I made a pit stop at Books A Million (I would live there if at all possible -- how much rent do you think they'd charge?), I headed straight to Teen Fiction and the little display of Patterson novels. And, while looking at the various editions of STWAOE and TFW, I realized just how important a cover can be.

There were so many different choices, far beyond the standard 'hardcover or paperback?' Some copies had one picture on the front, others had another, and still more had another. Some had pictures that wrapped around the spine while others went for the crisp colored background and text. Some were a shimmery holographic paper, others were just a glossy sheen. And then there were different fonts and the list just went on and on.

The Virgo in me wanted to get copies that matched the ones I'd already purchased from Walmart -- paperback, shimmery, wrap-around pictures, nice clean font. Took me about fifteen minutes, but I found them. They look quite lovely on my bookshelf.

Packaging, as much as I hate to say it, is clearly a big deal. The cover has to be visually interesting in order for someone to pick it up with no other information, right? That's how I ended up with a lot of books -- Darkest Powers, Frostbite, Bag of Bones. Something about the cover, and the title too, has to say something to whoever's walking through the aisles at the book store: Pick me!

Here's a quick recap of some of my favorite covers:

I would've never picked this up if that red pendant hadn't caught my eye.

Such a simple concept, it stood out from the mass of flashy books.

I can hear the growling now.

So what about you? Any book ever caught your eye simply by the cover? Has any book ever had a great cover, and then totally failed as you started to read it? What are you favorite books, and did those covers do them justice? You know where to leave 'em. ;)