This is one of those books that I bought simply because I loved the cover. The colours, the grungy style of the artwork and those angel wings…it immediately captured my attention.
I read and reviewed this book back in June 2016, and I ended the review with: “As paranormal reads go, this was both entertaining and captivating and I would not hesitate to recommend it to fans of the genre.”
You can read the review in full here.
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland
I love all of Karen Maitland’s stories that I’ve read. She is, I think one of the best historical writers writing today. And, I love the covers of her books as well as the tales inside of them. They always ooze medieval eeriness…
I’m planning on re-reading The Owl Killers and posting a review of it in the not-so-distant future (I hope!). It was this book that first introduced me to Maitland’s wonderful storytelling abilities, but the focus of this post is perhaps the book she is most widely known for…Company of Liars.
The cover art is simply amazing. The colour, size and style of the lettering quickly create a feeling of the historical but it is the wolf’s head with the crosses and skulls and the runes, etc. that truly evoke a medieval atmosphere as well as the fear that naturally accompanied the spread of the plague. This is certainly one of my favourite book covers of all time.
You can read my review of Company of Liars, posted on this site in August 2014, here. Or visit my A-Z Review Index to find links to other Karen Maitland books I’ve reviewed.
Inspired by today’s Google doodle, and with one of my goals for 2020 being to explore more new-to-me poetry and poets, I’m starting a new series on Sammi Loves Books, Quoting the Poetical. Like the “Quoting the Classics” series I posted a few years ago, I aim to share beautiful and inspiring snippets of poetry, but unlike that first series, it won’t be a weekly challenge rather, a series I can add to perhaps once a month or so…
So, for the first post in this new series, here is a beautiful quote from a poem by Else Lasker-Schüler:
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(From An Old Tibetan Rug by Else Lasker-Schüler,
original and translation found via Wikipedia)
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I had a handful of book covers that I thought I might use for this post, but ultimately, it had to be a cover from one of my favourite cosy mystery series, the Myrtle Clover Mysteries by Elizabeth Spann Craig. But which one? Again, a tough decision, because I like them all. The soft, pastel colours immediately give the impression of a cosy mystery and the cover art is always eye-catching.
In the end I had to go with the cover for Death At A Drop-In. Why? Because of the cat. Why else?
My rating for Death At A Drop-In was 4 out 5, and you can read my review of it, posted in November 2017 (note: read and reviewed outside of Indie Only Month), here.
I’ve finally made a breakthrough in understanding my personal psychology when it comes to book-hoarding…Books, to me, are so much more than stories. They are memories, markers of events, reminders of friendships, notable birthdays…and that is why, I can’t get rid of them. Even after I’ve read them and know it is unlikely that I’ll not do so again. Or, that I don’t think it possible that I’ll read them at all.
This thought struck me the other day when I was glancing at my bookshelves. In my head, as I took in the titles and authors, I began thinking over the pertinent information I associated with the books. That one was a present from my Nan and Grandad…I bought that one in that bookshop in Shrewsbury that’s no longer there…I remember picking that one out after a lecture in my first year at university in the Waterstones on campus…I was given that one after my Dad had read it and said he thought I would like it too…I was reading that one when we went on holiday to [insert destination here]…
Now I understand why I have so many books taking up so much space in my small home. And with this dawning of understanding, I have realised that no matter how hard I try to whittle away at their numbers, I will always be fighting an uphill battle, because I’ll not only be rehoming my books, but my memories also.
“Quoting the Classics” was a challenge I set myself in 2015. Each week, for the duration of the year, I was to post a quote from a classic, so that by the end of if, I would have collected together 52 quotes.
It was an interesting exercise, and so I thought, four years on, I would revisit the challenge, and post ten of my favourite quotes from those collected. You can find the first five posted here, Quoting the Classics – Part 1. The second five can be found below…
The Somnambulist by Essie FoxTwo things struck me when I first stumbled across this book in a book shop: the first was the colour and the second the title.
The colour of the cover is striking. The marbled red with the image in white makes the whole cover eye-catching and immediately evokes a feeling of Victorian Gothic.
The title, The Somnambulist, also grabbed my attention. It’s one of those words that I really like the sound of, and one you don’t come across too often. And, I think, it conveys a lot.
My rating on Goodreads was 3 / 5 and you can read my review of The Somnambulist by Essie Fox, posted in April 2014, here.
“Quoting the Classics” was a challenge I set myself in 2015. Each week, for the duration of the year, I was to post a quote from a classic, so that by the end of if, I would have collected together 52 quotes.
It was an interesting exercise, and so I thought, four years on, I would revisit the challenge, and post ten of my favourite quotes from those collected. The first five can be found below. The second five will be posted in the coming weeks…
I love all the book covers (in this particular style) from the Falco series by Lindsey Davis. I could hardly chose between them which one to insert in this post, so in the end I went with my favourite book in the series. The frescoes really ensure the reader is fully grounded in the Roman world as soon as they pick up the books. I think this is really important because sometimes what is on the outside of a book has nothing to do with what is found inside it. That sort of misrepresentation is annoying…
Anyway, I love frescoes. They provide a window into the past, capturing what otherwise must be left to the imagination. And, perhaps most importantly of all, they make the people of the past appear more real when we are separated from them by such a great spanof time.
I’ve yet to get around to re-reading and thus reviewing Last Act in Palmyra, but you can find my review from earlier books in the series by following the links below:
I love all the book covers (in this particular style) from the Earth’s Children series by Jean M. Auel. The colours and fonts are so evocative, but it is the cave-art inspired illustrations that I find really captures the essence of the story, and my imagination.
I was at university when, visiting a book shop in the town, I saw the first four books of the series wonderfully displayed. They immediately caught my attention, and I instantly fell in love with them. I didn’t even bother to read the back of any of the four books or wonder what they were about. I simply picked up a copy of each and went off to pay for them. I just knew I had to have them and that I would love them. And I did!
Have you ever had that response to a book? What was it? After reading it, did you feel your initial thoughts were spot-on or did the amazing cover art lead you astray?
Sammi Loves Books 