Friday, September 19, 2008

David Drummond: Can I Have a Word with You?


This is adorable. The book is about how words come to mean what they mean and how word meanings change over time. So it's great that the very definition for the word "word" is pointed out on the cover. I think it all works very simply and well. Upon further reflection, the wood background recalls a pupil's desk at school.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Carol Devine Carson: The Forever War




Wow. A beautiful cover. I am stunned. So simple and so incredibly well done and conceptual. I wasn't sure what the orange bar was when I saw this, but I liked it because it was a great color combination and a Paul Rand-ish morif. But now I think it's supposed to appear as though the helicopter may be landing on the orange bar and then as your eye moves down and the orange ends, to realize that there is still a lot of free-fall space beneath - that the landing has not really happened, and that you are hanging in the air above the ground in the middle of a free-fall.

The book is a series of vignettes by a noted war correspondent about his last ten years in Iraq and Afghanistan and the people living there. It sounds freaking amazing! Check it:
http://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Dexter-Filkins/dp/0307266397/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221707714&sr=8-1

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Jarrod Taylor: Chicago


Love everything about this one--the colors, typeface, illustrations. All of the elements are perfectly integrated.

From Amazon:
The author of the highly acclaimed The Yacoubian Building returns with a story of love, sex, friendship, hatred, and ambition set in Chicago, with a cast of American and Arab characters achingly human in their desires and needs.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Darren Haggar: Slow Down, Arthur, Stick to Thirty

From the newly revamped website of Darren Haggar: http://www.dhaggar.com/

This one is from 7/2001, and I believe Darren was working in England at the time. Art directed by Julian Humphries. The book is a comedy about nonconformists living in the city of York circa 1980. This would make a kick-ass poster.

Obscene: Movie Poster


This documentary was made in 2007 - not sure if it was ever released. Poster thanks to impawards.com.

From www.eyeforfilm.co.uk:
As founder of Grove Press, Barney Rosset fought for the right to publish "obscene" works, starting with Lady Chatterly's Lover then Henry Miller's Tropic Of Cancer through Burroughs' Naked Lunch and beyond. He published The Evergreen Review, a magazine that was singled out for condemnation by Gerald Ford, and served as distributor for Scandinavian 'art house' film I Am Curious: Yellow.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Alison Forner: Broken


Wonderfully arresting cover with an illustration from a book called "B is for Betsy", a children's book originally published in 1939. Alison cropped the illustration and added the red, which I think plays very nicely with the PS logo on the bottom right. There is something so disturbingly provocative about this little girl's flirty stance and those red slouchy socks.

From Harper Collins:
Inspired by Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird, Clay's brilliantly observed and darkly funny novel follows the sudden unraveling of a sub­urban community after a single act of thoughtless cruelty.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Jason Booher: The Gone-Away World


A post-apocalyptic novel that takes place in the near future, after "Go Away bombs have erased entire sections of reality from the face of the Earth. A nameless soldier and his heroic best friend witness firsthand the unimaginable aftermath outside the Livable Zone, finding that the world has unraveled and is home to an assortment of nightmarish mutations." The storytelling in non-linear and genre-bending, and the author is the son of John le Carré.

The production on this is mind-blowing. All the pink is made of microsuede, and the green is a super-glossy, almost plastic deboss. The spine is made of the green plastic material with the title written out in suede. It's awesome!! I like the way the faded-back title on the cover interacts with the more solid author's name to evoke the idea in the story of something disappearing.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Keenan: Competition

This is kinda perfect. I like that it's also a little goofy. I want the letters to start dancing and then rearange themselves. I wonder how Keenan did it....did he photograph some letterforms, or was it all developed digitally? The book talks about how Game Theory, the science of competition, which was developed by at three mathematicians including the dude from A Beautiful Mind, John Nash, applies to everything.

Barbara de Wilde: A Stopover in Venice

A woman who is disillusioned by her marriage escapes from her husband whilst vacationing in Italy. She rescues a dog, faints, and ends up living in a grand palazzo that used to be a convent. There, she discovers mysterious works of art and goes on a quest trying to identify them, all the whilst discovering her independence. Is it just me, or does the juxtaposition of the cropped legs and face make the figure possibly even more erotic than if the painting had been uncropped? And the red lines on the tag are peculiar and rather cool.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Gregg Kulick: The Sacred Book of the Werewolf

A Russian novel (so I'm sure there are allegories aplenty) about a 2,000 year-old werefox who transforms into a beautiful nymphette and falls in love with a werewolf intelligence officer. In many ways this reminds me of the Curious Incident cover, but still, the silhouette is magnificently done - she looks very manga. The book, apparently, is full of sex, hence the dainty, russian-y stars. The back cover text is set in the same two-column grid as the front. AND, the turns - the small slivers that exists between the cover and the inside flaps, are spectrums. Super thin spectrum lines are also on the spine, separating the text.

Jesse Marinoff Reyes: Game Boys


Illustration by eboy. Eboy is a trio of German illustrators who "create re-usable pixel objects and [use] them to build complex and extensible artwork. And [they] make toys." You can find out more about them here. There is a glossy cross-hair bull's-eye over the whole cover that you can only see in person.

The book follows two professional video game teams - team 3D and team CompLexity as they battle each other for supremacy in a sport that is doing its best to become as mainstream as football.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Jean Traina: The Question of Bruno


Saw this at a friend's house this weekend and thought it looked awesome. Reminds me of Paul Rand. A collection of eight short stories by a Bosnian refugee who learned English when he came here in the 90s and swiftly began writing. Maybe the double cropped head refers to the quality of a man being displaced.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Ben Gibson: Shining at the Bottom of the Sea


An anthology of pamphlet-literature-stories written by prominent writers from the imaginary island nation of Sanjania. The author creates an evolving dialect for his stories as they span the 19th and 20th centuries and the island goes from British colonialism to a post-colonial dictatorship. A very tall order for a book cover - but the scroll and background diagrams definitely evoke the 19th century while the font looks modern. Still, without knowing anything about the book, the cover just looks plain awesome.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Evan Gaffney: A Mind of Its Own


A beautiful cover you can proudly show off in the subway, without anybody knowing what you're reading. Just perusing the Amazon description, I feel light years wiser. Did you know that many Greek statues had full-blown erections? And that Roman generals promoted soldiers based on penis length? The book then glides through the dark ages, where the penis was seen as a dark tool of the devil, to the Rennaissance, where it was lifted out of hell by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci. And on to psychoanalysis, with Freud placing the penis in the "fulcrum of society", all the way to feminism, and ending in Viagra. OMG, OMG, You Guys!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The Road: Movie Stills and Poster!!!!






OMFG, Gossip Girl!!!!

Frozen Tracks


A Swedish thriller about a detective hunting down a child-abductor in the "parched prairies of rural Sweden, whose inhabitants are every bit as bleak and desperate as the landscape." I think the cover conveys this and "...days of dwindling daylight" perfectly, cinematically, and the type rox.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Goodloe Byron: Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me

This was a lovely surprise at the bookstore the other day. Totally refreshing in its simplicity and retro aesthetic. I'm not sure I love the author type, but this still gets high marks for sheer fun. As far as my googling goes, the designer, Goodloe Byron, might be a writer, the author of the novels The Abstract and i.

This book takes place in 1972, when the author, a 15 year-old nerd in love with the unattainable Suzy, gets to see a Led Zeppelin concert in Glasgow and learns that "love may break your heart, but Led Zeppelin will never let you down. "

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Barbara de Wilde: Love Today


A collection of 27 short stories about love in the 21st century by a popular German writer. It's nice to see the word "Love" treated in a new iconic way. The "O" that's missing is located on the back cover - and contains all the back cover text. I am reminded of two other type-driven designs:


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Darren Haggar? / Gray318: The Chess Machine



Top is the new paperback, bottom is Gray318's hardcover. I absolutely love the transformation. It reminds me of how movie posters start with what is called a "tease" where they release a poster for the film way in advance, that is generally abstract - like the very first graphic posters for The Spirit. Then as the drop date gets closer, they release "the payoff" which usually has the actors' faces. I think the payoff cover here is lovely - wish I knew who painted it. I'm assuming the paperback is Darren Haggar but I will find out for certain.

The book is about a midget who hides inside a machine that plays chess and always wins. It takes place in 1770 Europe. I believe the image is alluding to a masquerade taking place - nobody knows the secret of the machine!!!!!! And it's based on actual events.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Darren Haggar: House of Thieves



A collection of stories set in the author's home, the islands of Hawaii, where the characters "experience together the loneliness of feeling miserable in paradise". Photo by Greg Vaughn.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Evan Gaffney: Treason by the Book

Absolutely beautiful cover, an AIGA 50 books/50 covers winner. The triple typeface combination coupled with the Chinese characters is awesome. Here's the synopsis from PW:
"In 1728, Emperor Yongzheng of China received a message from a distant subordinate advising that treason, in the form of a letter denouncing his regime, was abroad in the land. This new book by Yale scholar Spence (The Death of Woman Wang; The Search for Modern China; etc.) traces the intricate and surprising consequences of that disclosure."

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Debra Morton Hoyt: Porno


The sequel to Trainspotting - this time with the gang trying to direct and produce a local porn flic. Photo by Chris Fraser-Smith.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Megan Wilson: Appointment in Samarra

From the writer of Butterfield 8, comes this classic novel published in 1934. It concerns a circle of wealthy party animals and one man's "rapid descent toward self-destruction". I think the type here is absolutely incredible and harkens back to those glamorous social clubs you see in black and white movies.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Ben Gibson: Mine All Mine

Ben Gibson is a super-talented designer/illustrator. Check out his work here: http://www.ben-gibson.com/
This book sounds like a hoot. A top-notch security guard is flustered after invaluable works of art are stolen by a master thief right under his nose. He sets out to capture the thief. In a funny twist, the security guard is addicted to taking small doses of poison in pill form in order to develop an immunity.

And, incidentally, check out the blurb at the bottom of the cover.....it's by David Benioff!!!!! The hottest author of the year (check out City of Thieves a few posts ago). And guess what?? He just made another public appearance with his wife, actress Amanda Peet, at the LA premiere of Pineapple Express. Don't they look related?

Archie Ferguson: Thrumpton Hall

Ornate wonderland. This is the memoir of a woman who grew up in a fabulously gorgeous house in England, and of her capricious father, who "in his golden years, took to wearing black leather and riding powerful motorbikes around the countryside in the company of a young male friend." From Harper Collins.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Doubt Poster

Surprisingly spare treatment for a teaser poster. I like it, but I'm cocking my eyebrow at the redundant church on top of the cross. Like, maybe putting something that contrasts with the Church would have been more interesting. The little window is cool, though. Still, clean and pretty.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Paul Buckley: The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri

Is this gorgeous or what???? Photo is by Fredrik Broden. This is the story of a man who is looking for his mistress who has disappeared. She's left him 351 books with clues to her whereabouts, but the more he reads, the more it seems he has entered the stories and is living inside the books.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Amy C. King: Come on Shore...

Designer info to come. Though I love the images and desaturated color, the type here is awesome. The font is simple and looks like it belongs on the sign of highway diner far far away. I almost approve of the excessive tracking on the second and third lines - even though it looks a bit messy, it works with the rugged, dirty font and title.

This is a memoir of the author's marriage to a Maori man in New Zealand. It pits their relationship - that of a privileged white woman with a rural native - to the history of the colonists and the Maori.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Fifth Vial


What can I say? I'm a sucker for type which is this married to the image. Possibly something else could have been added....but if I saw this in the store, the simple type through glass effect would have caused my hand to instantly lift up and grab this book. This is a medical thriller about illegal organ trading. Incidentally, it reminds me of Michael Ian Kaye's cover for Scott Heim's In Awe from 1998:

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Brian Barth: Still Waters

Really striking cover, especially in person - the goth foliage illustration is really cool, for one - and it's sliced this way and that on the front and back cover. Also, the triangular slices are sometimes glossy, sometimes matte. The foliage and slices are explained in the plot summary (from Pantheon):

When the badly decayed body of an elderly woman is unearthed, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lapslie and his sergeant, Emma Bradbury, are called in on the case. The body provides only two mysterious clues to the identity of the murderer: someone with a deadly knowledge of household plants used shears to clip the fingertips off the corpse's right hand...