Milan Bozic: Day In Day Out

There's a wonderful texture to the paper this is printed on (click to enlarge). It is the story of a young Balkan man traveling through "the newly multicultural Europe...and an exploration of a deeply disturbed individual." Interestingly, "...the book's take on being gay doesn't have much in common with U.S. norms or conflicts."

John Gall: God Lives in St. Petersburg

The clouds at the top section are illustrated. This is a collection of six stories about Americans running into trouble in central Asia, "emotionally and literally stranded in alien circumstances they struggle to comprehend". I love the colors here as they play against the black and white photo - and the many typefaces (I count at least four) all work together beautifully.

The Band

Ummm..how seriously cool are these CD covers?

Kelly Blair, Jane Austen, and Charled Dickens

Two beautiful designs from Kelly Blair. The first is "Two Histories of England", the second "Jane Austen: The Complete Novels". I love the illicit romance behind the wallpaper. Check out her revamped website: http://www.kellyblair.com

A Flock of Penguins

Gorgeous upcoming books from Penguin and its imprints.

The Terror

Just finished this MAMMOTH book, designed by Mario J. Pulice. I never thought I could get through 760 pages of a historical novel about the lost Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage in 1845. But I did. It helped there was a monster on the ice killing off the sailors. The book was fantastic, but I'm still marinating on it. The CD cover shows exactly what the ice surrounding the ship looked like.

Found these other equally lovely graphics - one for the CD by The Islands, and the last, a poster for The Decemberists designed by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes. He loves ships. Check out his unbelievable website: http://www.thesmallstakes.com

Grand Archives - CD Cover

Infected!!!!!

Run for your lives!!!!!!!

"Across America a mysterious disease is turning ordinary people into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, themselves, and even their own families." Now, "The fate of the human race may well depend on the bloody war [an ex-football star] must wage with his own body, because the parasites want something from him, something that goes beyond mere murder. "

Alison Forner: The Ghost Soldiers

This was obviously a ton of fun to do, and it looks awesome. Maybe it's the fact that many of the poems deal with the enigma of the current war that explains the fighting men, the soldier, the guns, and the postage-stamp feel of the dotted lines. I love following the birds from the bottom as they turn into micro-organisms and then fly off the top again.

From Ecco: "...[Tate's] seemingly simple and macabre stories are layered with broad and trenchant meaning. His characters are often lost or confused, his settings bizarre, his scenarios brilliantly surreal. Opaque, inscrutable people float through a dreamlike world where nothing is as it seems. "

Special Orders

The tiny type says "poems". Click to enlarge.

This is Knopf book - I'm still not sure of the designer. Anyone know?

I like the fact that this is a cardboard box, but the designer has done something unconventional with it. The box isn't open or cut in the usual way, which makes it enigmatic.

Stock Photo of the Day

Thanks istock! Photo by Morkeman.

More Vintage Classics

More intriguing covers from the UK Vintage Classics series.

Suspension

Absolutely Fabulous! Not sure who the designer is...is it Robin Bilardello? Milan Bozic? Greg Kulick?

Glamazon says:
For years it's been Andy Green's job to stump students nationwide by coming up with the wrong answers for their multiple-choice tests. Recently, however, his own life has become overwhelmed by wrong choices. When a love affair is mysteriously ended by a Post-it note and followed up by a random street assault, Andy locks himself in his Hell's Kitchen apartment. In solitude, he thinks, he might be able to get a grip on his life. But when he is forced to reemerge six months after the attacks of September 11, the city awaiting him is more bewildering than ever and all the people in his world seem to be part of a vast conspiracy.

Equal parts noir, French farce, and homage to New York, Suspension is a surprisingly heartfelt novel about learning to live in a world where nearly everything is decided behind our backs.

Greatest Book Ever

Men in Top Hats

Which is your favorite?

Evan Gaffney: The Swarm!!!

This is a massive, 900-page sci-fi/horror epic that was an international bestseller starting in Germany. Evan, who often works on sophisticated literary books, has no qualms switching gears here to get the job done. Whereas this cover looks right at home in its genre, it kicks it up a notch and gives us more than would otherwise be sufficient and boring. The title, by the way, was made using magnetic filings, but the crazy Photoshopping is all "a gaussian blur" says Evan.

Couldn't Resist

Ministry of Special Cases: Paperback Alert!!

The paperback is here, folks! Even though I like it, I can't believe it's for the same book. I guess its because there's an element of seriousness and sadness about the hardcover, whereas the paperback initially looks like an intelligent comedy. I haven't read the book, though. Have any of you? I have to say, I love the multilayer action going on in the paperback. I almost feel like I'm looking at a magic-eye image when I read the title.

Barbara de Wilde and Abby Weintraub: Pocket Poets 1

OMG, how awesome is this???!!!!! Not only are the photos phantastic, but they're also quite graphic considering the lovers look almost identical. Each book in the series, and there are maybe 30 or more, sports amazing cover imagery, and complementary back cover images that kick it up a notch. The spines are also a treat.

Chin-Yee Lai: Safekeeping

Clever....vedy vedy clever indeed.

Stock Photo of the Day

Who could resist little Kokomo Junior and his pack of oversized novelty cards? Thank you, Getty.

Stock Photo of the Day

This one is for Miss Jennifer Fiore. Thanks, SuperStock!

Archie Ferguson: Plague of Doves

I love the combination of images here. Plus, I think this does a great job of featuring big type without ruining the design. Beautiful!

Mary Schuck: The Bell Jar

I absolutely love this cover. I have a thing for geometrical shapes paired with photos, the way Paul Rand, Saul Bass and the other designers of that time did things. Since this book takes place in the 50s, this design convention is perfect, and the broken collection of shapes and colors may also signify the author/protagonist's deteriorating sanity. And.....it's letterpressed!

Helen Mirra: Cloud, the, 3

I saw this book late at night in the window of Books 192, a Chelsea bookstore near the galleries. After some hunting around, I uncovered the title and author. Helen Mirra is an artist who works in a variety of media, including the writing of books in the form of indexes - this one "tracks words and ideas through John Dewey's Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920)." I don't know what that means, but I had some fun finding the title in that aesthetically pleasing jumble of letters.

Rodrigo Corral: Man Walks Into A Room

This is the story of a man who loses all his memory beyond the age of 12. Much of the novel takes place in the desert, where the man participates in a research experiment where other people's memories are grafted to his. I think the blank slate of lost memory fits nicely with this spare treatment. This is Nicole Krauss's first novel. She is the author of The History of Love.

Old School and School's Out

It's girls vs. boys. There's a nice similarity in the classic containment devices for both titles, while the girls punk it out and the boys keep it serious.

Old School is about a New England prep school in the 60s, where the boys compete in a writing competitions to grant them an audience with the great writers of the day.

School's Out is a retelling of Lord of the Flies where the island is actually the classroom of a middle school. After a teacher commits suicide, the substitute teacher slowly comes to realize his class is a creepy gang that all the other teachers are terrified of.

Unknown: The Society of Others

I really dig the juxtaposition of type, and that funky torn geometric containment unit for the author's name. This is an existential novel by the screenwriter of Gladiator (!) about an English teenager who ends up in a totalitarian country with a small band of revolutionary poets.