Today’s theme? Skulls.
- Everyone Likes a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can’t Look Away by Eric G. Wilson
- Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa
- The Bug by Ellen Ullman
- Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
- Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross
Today’s theme? Silhouettes.
- The Bradshaw Variations by Rachel Cusk
- The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw
- Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- The Stuff of Life by Marc Schultz
- Castle by J. Robert Lennon
The FSG Cover Color Spectrum:
- Paris, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down by Rosecrans Baldwin
- Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman by Friedrich Christian Delius
- Evolution by Jay Holser, Art by Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon
- Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
- A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
- Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
- Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck by Eric G. WIlson
- The Matchbox That Ate a Forty-Ton Truck by Marcus Chown
- Magnetic North by Sara Wheeler
Laurent Binet’s HHhH, publishing in late April. Which cover do you like best?
(Oh, and I’m excited to report Colum McCann, National Book Award-winning author of Let the Great World Spin, has praised HHhH saying, “A wonderful, ambitious book, and a triumph of translation.”
From the Department of Excellent Book Design:
Brian McGreevy’s Hemlock Grove. It’s not out for another couple months, but you can win an advance copy over at Goodreads…
Lessons in iconic book design: George Salter.
ShortList’s 50 Coolest Books Ever. Get ready to argue…now!
File under “brilliant.” The Book Table by Lisa Finster (via BookRiot)
Lessons in iconic book design: Paul Rand.
Literary Oufits, v. 2: Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
v. 1: Smut by Alan BennettWhat do you mean you haven’t read Skippy Dies yet? And here I am wearing sweaters to honor it.
Lately, I have encountered far too many people who have not read this novel, which, I would happily argue, is the best book published in the last decade—not to mention being beautifully designed by Leanne Shapton.
Do something nice for yourself and read it! Your bookshelves will thank you, too.
* * *
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
Faber & Faber, August 2010
ISBN: 9780865479432. 661 pgs.
This made my day. Week, even.
Lessons in iconic book design: George Salter.
“The form has its obvious limits—and others I’m sure I don’t understand right now—but it’s helped me get closer to things I like to see fiction do and would like to see fiction do more of: delve into the nitty-gritty of how we put thoughts together; square up to the fact that we frequently think multiple, contradictory things at once; capture more of the liveliness and volume of life; build out the expressive potential of form. Plus, I’m obsessed with music, so anything that helps draw music and writing together is something I’m down for.”
-T. M. Wolf on the writing and page layout for his novel Sound
“I hate to think that our industry’s going to end up all online. People still really love books, feeling the paper in their hands. Even if the Kindle were to go full-color, it’s just going to be this image on the screen. It pains me.”
Japanese edition of Denis Johnson’s Tree of Smoke. A pretty literal interpretation, no?
