Despite my noble research efforts, I've yet to discover the origin of the old adage "don't judge a book by its cover." Through my reading, I've encountered related expressions such as "don't judge a man by his appearance," "don't ever read anything that's 'for dummies'" and "thou shall not shop for books in the magazine aisle of your local supermarket," but I've yet to trace the roots of said cliche.
Through my own anthropological expertise, I have dated the expression to a long, long time ago when all book covers were either red, blue, green or black and simply lettered in gold or black. A distant time before desperate housewives and metaphysical crystals graced our paperbacks and before pretentious titles like "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" rose above a sub-par rendering of a kite floating aimlessly in the wind. Before marketing teams attempted to gain control over virtually every sector of our lives by froced me to click on ads for viagra by tricking me with a photo of Morrissey (yes, I am very much a part of that tortured, "X" generation).
So I guess my point is that while I do not defy the old adage in a figurative sense, I do, quite literally judge books by their covers (including their titles) the majority of the time. I don't buy books with bad fonts. I don't buy books with titles that need to be read twice. When I see certain authors (such as Grisham and those stupid nanny diaries women), I also choose not to go past the cover.
Recently, however, I was faced with a dilemma: somewhat hippy/drippy sounding title and outstanding cover art.*I bought If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things anyway, and it was a beautiful book with a truly original and brilliant narrative structure, and I'm glad I got past my original hesitation and judgment and read the damn thing.
I guess the old adage is true after all, and I am a complete and total snob.
*I know. Authors aren't always afforded the last say on the cover art. But then again, it is determined by marketing/genre: you don't see buxom lady pirates and captains in sweaty embraces on the cover of Murakami novels, do you?
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2 comments:
If I could stop time, I would write more. Good stuff here. I have been wasting time all day looking for sites on cat toys, dune buggy's, and a bunch of other things. authentic gucci handbags will be my next search. Crazy search engines. I look up and there you are. Anyway, thanks for a good read.
I am always in a rush and I don't know why. The last site I was on was about handmade handbags which was okay to read. Your's was better.
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