Books Under the Blanket (with a flashlight)

Story for the Week

One of the latest trends my daughter has told me about (because she is where I get all my trend information) is kids roasting one other with comments about things that supposedly annoy them but are said in jest. It’s just the way they tease one another, and it would be insulting if they weren’t comfortable in their own skins. Some recent examples she has told me:

• It’s the acne for me.
• It’s the acne scars for me.
• It’s the same hair since preschool for me.
• It’s the eyebrows for me.
• It’s the three different skin tones for me.

And the latest one I got when I asked one of her friends for examples because my daughter was busy and I didn’t want her to know I was doing this: It’s the stealing your daughter’s friends to be your friends for me. (Shout out to MY friend Lanisa for that one. 🤣)

Obviously, most of the comments are about outward appearances, things that everyone can see and potentially judge someone on, and absolutely something that we are always told not to judge. Teenagers (and yes, adults) can’t really help the oily skin that causes acne. My daughter can’t control the fact that she was born with SO…MUCH…HAIR or thick eyebrows or that she tans so easily that a week outside will make her multiple shades of tan (she is part Indian after all). It’s good that she can joke with her friends about it and that she’s confident about herself because it’s not like she can change it.

But it got me thinking about the old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover.” We’re not supposed to, right? The cover of the book doesn’t determine the quality of the story. Nevertheless, unless I already know the author, I DO judge a book by its cover, and then by its title, and then by its cover excerpt. It’s the cover for me.

I don’t go into brick and mortar bookstores much anymore because I’m a Kindle convert, but when I do go into a bookstore (or a library), I am always drawn first to a cover. When I scan my friends’ feeds on Goodreads or look for books on NetGalley, I always look for covers that seem appealing first. Always. If the cover catches my attention, I read the title, and if the title grabs me, I read the excerpt. But I HAVE to like the cover and title to move to a purchase or a request because if I don’t like the cover and title, I never read the excerpt, so I don’t even know if it sounds interesting. Does that make me too judge-y? 🤷‍♀️ Maybe, but I have to be able to filter somehow.

I get a lot of book recommendations from my friends on Goodreads. If you’re reading this and you’re not on Goodreads, you probably should be. There’s a wealth of information, options to enter giveaways, and you can even see how similar your tastes are to your friends. One of my favorite features on Goodreads is the reading challenge you can opt into every year. I haven’t always achieved my goal. Sometimes life happens, but I always put in a goal. (Right now, I’m four ahead of schedule.)

What I REALLY love about the reading challenge is the Year in Review. Call me a book geek (it’s ok, really, I won’t be at all offended). It shows me all kinds of random facts about my reading year in addition to how many books I’ve read: how many pages, longest book, shortest book, most and least popular on Goodreads of the books I’ve read, my average rating, and finally a snapshot of all the book covers—the colorful, intriguing, attractive, amazing book covers.

Authors, take note. Readers are attracted to covers. It’s like a magazine or newspaper headline, like a billboard or a television ad. Something has to grab you. For me, and I bet for a lot of readers, it’s the cover (and then the title and then the cover excerpt).

It IS the cover for me. And with an average rating of 3.4 stars so far this year, I’d say that’s served me pretty well, wouldn’t you? 😎

Feel free to comment below about a great cover that drew you to a book and either succeeded or failed in keeping you in the book. 😉

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