Books on the Horizon: Yann Martel Back in April
Random House of Canada has announced the publishing date of April 6 in Canada and to the rest of the world April 13.
I have a lot of reading to do to clear my plate for this next offering by Martel. I first encountered Life of Pi while I was studying French. The semester was halfway done and I took a short break by picking up some books to read as a treat at the end of the semester. I skimmed the first few pages of Life of Pi to see if I would be interested.
I was so intrigued that I had to hide the novel until after the semester was over so I could concentrate on the task at hand. The wait was more than worth it and I consider it one of my favorite reads of the decade.
I must say, however, I am disappointed with the cover art shown above. The artwork is a lovely design and exquisitely balanced and harkens back to the cover on Life of Pi, but I dislike book covers that make a bigger deal of the author and her/his previous books than celebrate the tome at hand. I understand marketing, but I also understand readers: we will judge the book on whatever merits we assign it, whether Martel's name is at the top or bottom or in larger type than the title.
Publishers also know that won't stop me from reading Beatrice and Virgil as soon as I can — and looking for the author at a bookstore near me.
The cover you've posted here is from the US. What do you think of the Canadian cover? ---> http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307398772
ReplyDeleteI loved Life of Pi, too. Looking forward to this.
ReplyDeleteWell, I am about to be contradictory: if I had to choose between the two covers, I'd go with the U.S. edition.
ReplyDeleteI like the Canadian typeface and how it works with the silhouettes on the cover. I like the presentation of the author, the title and the author's previous credit(s).
However, the U.S. cover offers characters in action, which compels me to pick up the book and find out where these two unlikely companions are up to. Where are they? What put them there? Where are they going? If only they found a way to make the title more important than the author....