TSS: Direct or Makes you wonder Covers?

In case I haven't mentioned it yet. I bought myself a Kobo Touch. I did all the research and leaned towards the Nook for a while, then the Kindle and finally the Kobo caught me. Either way, this post is not about that exactly. I was browsing the Kobo Facebook  page and I saw a link for Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day. Without reading the title, or even the synopsis, I knew it was related to the 50 shades genre, and boy was I right. However, the cover in the link is not your typical erotica romance novel...or what was typical years ago. The other cover (see here) of the same book fits that typical image I always had and the "new" one I guess is supposed to disguised the true nature of the book, you know, for when you are reading it in public and you feel ashamed of it.

Except...except that nowadays this type of covers are as related to the genre are the ones with the big muscled guy with the damsel in distress!  So is not really meeting its intention, is it? This got me thinking to the only book I've ever read of the genre and how I bought it thinking it was something completely different. The culprit? The cover! I read Bliss River by Thea Devine. When I saw it at the store it was just a green book with water plants; when I read the back cover it was the story of a colony in Africa, the girl who wanted out and a guy who might be her way out...I imagined there were going to end up together, but only until I started reading and blushing profusely in the metro did I realized what this book was! I had a laugh at it, read it out loud with my boyfriend and moved on. But I always felt a bit cheated by the fact that nothing in that book's presentation indicated what I was actually buying.

Excellent marketing? Or just a well planted trap? I don't know, I've been thinking about it yesterday. What do I prefer, a cover and description that tells me "this is what you are getting" minus the spoilers off course, or do I want a "I'm intriguing, you think you might like me but maybe not" kind off presentation?. Off course, you guys are going to tell me that I can always read the reviews...but just as with the movies I try to avoid reviews that are too descriptive, not to ruin the momentum. I listen to a few podcast and when they praise a book I try to find the main idea of what the book is about to decide whether or not is for me.

But then again, if the cover of Bliss River would've been clearly an erotica novel, I would've never picked it up, and hence I would not really know that those books are not for me. Is saying that you do not like eating something but never ever trying it. How would you know?  (the key word here is like, I'm not referring to any conviction, that's none of my business) 

So? What do you guys think?

TSS: Judging a person by the cover of the book they hold.

On Wednesday Book Rioter Rebecca Joines Schinsky sheared with us a short piece entitled: Margaret Atwood Says It’s OK toRead Whatever You Want, and it got me thinking about how many times I feel like I have to defend what I am reading to others.

I'm not clean of fault you see, since I also look at other people's books in the metro or...well, basically everywhere. Just the other day we went to the spa (don't you love spas?) and for the nth time I forgot to bring a book for the relaxation room, but I didn't help to notice another girl reading 50 shades of Grey. I remember thinking that I wouldn't want to be seen reading that book...but that has more to do with the fact that now a days EVERYONE knows what the book is about and I would feel very awkward if anyone would ask me about it...I'm turning red right now, so let's move one.

For a long time I felt defensive when anyone asked me if I read Twilight. -Yes, I would answer, but I was a teenager (read: I didn't know what I was doing), it was a long time ago, blah blah. The thing is, I did know what I was doing, and mind you, it wasn't that long ago. But the look in their faces! I felt the need to say that I was also reading something like Dostoyevsky (which incidentally I have never read) or Dawkins, just in case they where thinking I was a stupid bubblehead.

And then  we have the other case, when I was reading books like 1Q84, The Interrogation or Faust. -Why would you read that? (the appalled face was more common at school than in later years, reading wasn't cool I guess) and apparently saying -Because I felt like it, wasn't good enough because we go back to my sensation of being harshly judged.

Here is the thing. When I was reading 1Q84 I was having a very good time, with all the things happening (good or bad) in the book. I was being fully entertained. And as it so happens, so I was when I was reading Twilight. Granted, the entertainment was different, just as I loved going to The Nutcracker this Christmas and then I watched Family guy and laugh my ass off. They are both relevant for my entertainment, they just fill different moments of my life. 

Just last year I mentioned me liking what people call "light books" (I call them sherbet books thank you very much) as a dirty little secret. But I mentioned it there, I do not feel bad about reading this books. I do not go around proclaiming I do, but I don't do that about any book either. That is call bragging people, and no one likes that. 

Anyway, this post is mostly because reading Rebecca's post made me  think about it more consciously. It made me realize that at some point in my life I manage to stop caring (that much) about  what other thought about my reading list, and I think we should all do the same. I will still mention the good points that a book has, in my opinion, but I don't expect nor hope to change anyone's opinion, just to express my own. And if you feel the same, great! And if you still don't...maybe one day you won't need to defend your book, just say I like it because of this, but if you don't...is ok too.

P.S: I finally made the time to post the reviews for Bossypants and Dead Reckoning if you feel like staying here a bit longer. 

Have a great week