Dirty Liar by Brian James
Hardcover
PaperbackBorders.com:
Benji must escape his home. His mother's boyfriend has crossed the line, and Benji can't deal with it anymore. So he leaves behind everything he knows to go live with his father and stepmother in Portland.
Hardcover all the way. I hate the yellow of the paperback, it dates the book in my opinion and the lightbulb? It's just strange.
Which is your favorite?
Thanks to Sarah for suggesting this Hardcover vs. Paperback!
Which is your favorite?
Thanks to Sarah for suggesting this Hardcover vs. Paperback!
I'm not particularly crazy about either but if I have to choose, I'll go with the hardcover. The paperback is to, as you said, weird.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely the hardcover, although like Book Pixie said, neither is that great. What were they thinking?
ReplyDeleteWow, what a huge difference between the two. I'm not crazy about either one, but if I had to pick, I'd go with the hardback.
ReplyDeleteHardcover
ReplyDeleteHardcover definitely. I don't like the paperback one at all.
ReplyDeleteI kinda like the nitty gritty of the hardcover. but they both are kinda nitty gritty
ReplyDeleteHardcover. Hmmm... I may check this book out
ReplyDeleteI definitely prefer the hardcover!
ReplyDeleteHardcover :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, neither one is very appealing but the lightbulb is freaking me out.
ReplyDeleteHardcover, for sure.
ReplyDeleteHardcover for mee
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the hardcover. It looks like something I'd want to read. He's on the bed and alone, looking like he needs a friend. The paperback, on the other hand, idk... just looks like an overdone, poor-little-put-upon-boy story.
ReplyDeleteI like the hardcover more. It makes me unable to stop thinking about what is going on in the picture and the story of it.
ReplyDeleteTotally with you on the yellow. I'd choose the hardcover.
ReplyDeleteHardcover. The paperback is horrible.
ReplyDeleteWhat's with the bulb :D
ReplyDeleteHardcover ofcourse!
I'm with you on that one too, the hardcover is way better looking! I think you said it well, the paperback one "dates" the book. I'd never pick it up in a bookstore!
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you. Hardcover is much better than the paperback (the yellow and the face of the boy are just off-putting).
ReplyDeleteHardcover hands down...the paperback creeps me out!
ReplyDeleteThough as others have said, neither really draw me and I don't think I'd pick either up in a store.
Hardcover. I don't like yellow.
ReplyDeleteI would like to say for the record, that I had zero input on the paperback cover and absolutely hate it.
ReplyDeleteI love the hardcover photo...it was taken by my wife and that's me in the photo.
Brian James
Brian- Thanks for stopping by! That's you!? That's awesome! You'd think with the cover having the extra meaning from you being on the cover they would have kept it for the paperback!
ReplyDeleteYou would think...
ReplyDeleteBut there are greater forces at work these days when it comes covers, especially on books for teens.
the big booksellers are sort of demanding that all books have the same sort of look regardless of whether it relates to the book. And I guess someone, somewhere actually thought the lightbulb picture was good...god knows why.
I don't get it...what's the lightbulb for? Why doesn't the boy resemble the main character at all?
But please...to everyone, don't hold the cover against it...I know it's hard. I've done the same thing before. I actually wrote a blog about this very thing on tor.com a few weeks ago.
I love hardcover vs. paperback debate. Oddly enough, it tends to be the hardcover that wins in my opinion. The reason being, the paperback is usually geared to a more mass audience, the hc to us book nerds. :)
brian
Brian- You are exactly right, I would agree that the paperback is meant for a mass audience or even sometimes as audience the publisher felt wasn't hit with the hardcover.
ReplyDeleteIt's really disgusting to me how little control authors have over their covers. I'm a graphic designer and have had a chance to work on a few covers, I really have no idea when or if the authors see these covers and if any of the changes we get are from them.
It's like someone else writing your resume. I've seen a lot of authors say oh but I'm not a designer they know what looks best. While yes they might know what looks best but the author knows what actually should be on the cover because they WROTE THE BOOK!! I don't see anything wrong with them working closer together on this. It really makes me sad!
And the whole thing about booksellers having control over what's on a cover because they say "Oh I wouldn't carry this because of blank on the cover". That is just unreal. They have way way to much power!
Thanks again for stopping by!