To judge a book by the cover

Yes, that's something I often do. Sometimes I'm wrong, sometimes I discover little wordly gems I'd never would have read otherwise. It's at least one way to be a bit adventurous *well* and experience something new and exciting!

The one publishing company I tend to buy most books from, at least the suspense novels, is Minotaur. I've just loved their book-covers from the start (1999) and I've discovered many, for me new, great English suspense writers through Minotaur.

Some books, some writers have been a great disappointment, both language- and storywise. Here are the ones I really don't recommend at all; Eliot Patterson, Louise Anderson, Mark Billingham...

My absolute favorite is Reginald Hill, because of not only good plots but also the written language and the humour with an edge. And pretty close come of course, Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Peter Robinson. And then we have all those in between, some of their books are good, some are not... Like Rennie Airth, Stephen Booth, Jim Kelly, Julia Wallis Martin. And some I have yet to discover, they wait their turn in my bedroom-heap of paperbacks... Something they all have in common though, are their outstandingly good covers!

I shouldn't buy any more books, I ought to be a good little me and read all those I have at home I haven't read yet - but I just had to buy them because the covers called out to me... - but everytime I pass a Pocketshop some invisible force urges me to enter... And who am I to resist? Who knows what goodies I might miss if I look the other way? That's just not an option!

So home with me the other day - I'm amazed how all the things that simply demands to return home with me differ from eachother, I suppose this is one way an active intellect works *best excuse ever* though the only thing I refuse to feel gulity about buying a lot of is literature! Can't have too much of that! A well written book is one of life's true treasures.

- yes home with me the other day came the books as follow;

* A carol for the dead - Patrick Dunne
* Flesh and blood - John Harvey
* Cold granite - Stuart MacBride
* Maise Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear (About a female private detective in London in the 1920ies, 1/3 read and a really good 1/3 it has been! I'm so curious about the TV-series...)
* The Lighthouse - PD James (can't say I've been very a very faithful reader over the years, but I do like her style and choice of words and the plots and of course Adam Dalgliesh - and yes, this new book had a very nice cover...)
* Ensemble, c'est tout/Tillsammans är man mindre ensam (Together one is less alone) - Anna Gavalda (I've never read anything by her before, but I've always found the titles of her books intriguing - finally I went for one)

To pay for things bought are seldom a joy, but paying for books - that's really for a good cause, don't you think? And even to carry the more or less bulky shopping-bag is joyful. To come home and welcome the books to their new living quarters, to caress the covers, to write my name in them, to persuade them to take their turn in the line of books waiting to be read - pure happiness from a cover!