Blackboard Jungle

Me Talk Pretty One Day - Michael Ian Kaye & Melissa Hayden
Abstinence Teacher - Steve Snyder

Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys have been cranking out some amazing modernist CD packages for as long as they've been around. Here are some relatively new ones I haven't seen.

Check out their website for more visual stimulation AND lots and lots of free PSB music:

http://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

From Darren Haggar

Found these lovelies on Darren Haggar's revamped website, under "Points of Reference".

http://www.dhaggar.com/

Keith Hayes - Christine Falls

I have to say, this green is kinda hot. Oh I get it! It takes place in Ireland:

Quirke, an alcoholic, angry and acerbic coroner, drags himself into solving the mystery of Christine Falls's death in childbirth and the disappearance of her newborn. The novel is set in 1950s Dublin and Boston. Sounds happy!

Vintage Mystery Covers

Thanks, Cat! From Boing Boing, check out this Flickr site for some eye-popping vintage mystery and children's book covers:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/07/vintage-paperback-co.html

Shepard Fairey Wants You To Do The Right Thing

So do we! Work it tomorrow at your local polling place (that means you, Tal).

Peter Mendelsund

I know this has been out for a while, but it's still one of my favorite jackets of all time. Check out Peter Mendelsund's site for more amazing design.

Grand Central Improv

Check this out to see what happened at Grand Central yesterday--amazing. This is the same group responsible for the amazing Union Square window choreography called Look Up More. Check out their site: http://www.improveverywhere.com/

John Gall's Remainder

The cover of this book made me pick it up. The back cover made me read it. Although many sections are so creepy they feel like scratching your nails on a blackboard, the book is original, thought provoking, and totally weird. A man who is hit by a falling object before the book starts is awarded $8.3 million by the company responsible for his mysterious accident. Having spent seven months in the hospital, first in a coma and then in physical therapy having to re-learn how to move, the man is joyless and missing many of his memories. Upon seeing a crack in a friend's bathroom wall, the man remembers an identical crack in an apartment he may have once lived in, and slowly reconstructs this missing memory starting from the crack. Ultimately, he buys a building and hires an army of "actors" and crew to endlessly re-enact his memories of living in this lost place. And that's just the beginning.

Sharon Jones Covers

Hot

The Host

I don't care! This is a great photo. Don't even tell me we've all seen this type of thing before. Wait, who am I talking to? Must be the voices in my cat's heads.

This upcoming novel is by the author of the Eclipse books, a popular YA series about vampires and romance. This novel for adults is sci-fi! Its about how in the future, an alien species invades our bodies and takes over our minds. One woman is resisting her host, and thinking about the man she loves, who is hiding out somewhere. The host falls in love with the man as well, making this the first love triangle story involving only two bodies! Far out, sister!

Upcoming Books, Part II

Coming in February from Houghton Mifflin, this is a novel based on the real-life character Frantz Fanon (1925–1961), a psychiatrist and revolutionary who wrote The Wretched of the Earth, an influential anti-colonialism work.

Herb Thornby - A Person of Interest

The book is about an Asian-American university math professor who's behavior leads the FBI to label him a "Person of Interest", a suspected unabomber-like terrorist.

Purdy

In Memoriam

Stolen from H&FJ

Thanks, Jennifer.

Repro Lab of the Day

I don't know much about history, but there's something East-Germany circa 1960 about Murray Hill. Across from a towering soviet-style apartment building, I found this little gem.

Drown Your Sorrows

Logo Wars

In my humble assessment, the logo to the novel Lipstick Jungle was far superior to the TV show logo. Also, the pimped-out Sex and the City movie logo chews them all up. I'm not sure about Carrie's white shadow, though.

Dover Book of the Week

Dong chickie dong chicki dong chicki ding dong!

Chip Kidd Sings and more!

Thanks to Unbeige.

Sharp Teeth

This looks like a McSweeney's book but it's Harpers - the cover is printed on the cloth hardcover and there is no jacket. And get this: the teeth are printed in foil!!

"An ancient race of lycanthropes has survived to the present day, and its numbers are growing as the initiated convince L.A.'s down and out to join their pack. Paying no heed to moons, full or otherwise, they change from human to canine at will—and they're bent on domination at any cost."

Keenan - Bang Crunch

There's a little kitty on the bottom right. Who's a little baby girl??? Who is???!!!!

Eva Brandstotter - The Leopard

I love the book cover top. It's letterpressed! I thought it would be interesting to show the equally well designed cover to the Criterion Collection DVD of the Visconti movie. The movie is incidentally long and puzzling, but it stars Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, and Claudia Cardinale, all in dub mode. The story is basically about an aristocratic Italian family in the last days of the Italian aristocracy, as it falls away under the wheels of democracy. Or socialism. Or something.

Tom Cruise vs Hillary Clinton

Tal, check this out in relation to your earlier Tom Cruise post...

Taxidermy Week Extended Due to Popular Demand

Cheater!

Evan Gaffney is 007

Evan says:
"That's the gimmick of the whole novel - parts are actually crossed out! What will they think of next?"

Another cover that needs to be touched. The classified document bars are matte and the photo is glossy, so you get a really fun run for your finga'z. Plust that hidden A Novel is awesome. And I have to say, it's nice to see Eurostyle peeking out of the sea of Sackers Gothics. Evan always pops in fonts that no one else is using at the moment. The Eurostyle here reminds me of those 70s spy movies. And my dad's old briefcase. It was hard plastic. And it had a nice G on it, for Goretsky.

Aw Yeah....

Kreeepy Teeth!!!!

From BN:

Tom Cruise has enjoyed superstar status for over two decades, but it's his life off the screen that has received attention of late. Questions about Cruise's Scientology beliefs, his recent marriage to Katie Holmes, the couch-jumping stint on Oprah, his denunciation of Brooke Shields, and the persistent rumors about his sexuality have made the public realize just how much was unknown about the icon. Here, with never-before-seen photos and fresh revelations, is a riveting, sometimes shocking portrait of the real person behind the persona.