Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is: Cover Theme Freebie

So I figure I am going to see a lot of really fun and pretty covers today. Which is why I’m not going to do that. I am going to show you some covers that might make you cringe and/or laugh. Because the only thing we love more than pretty covers is ugly covers, amirite? Great. Let’s do this. OH and at the end? Vote on the most cringe-worthy, yes?

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

We’ll start with this because, well, this is what gave me the idea to do this post!

L-R: Arabic, Russian, Italian, Swedish

In the Arabic version, it seems like Katniss is headed to “The Club”. Which frankly, I don’t remember happening. The Russian version is trying for quasi-smutty romance novel, it seems? The Italian version is probably most applicable to the story, but those eyes will give me nightmares for days. And the Swedish cover designers apparently misread the book and think Katniss is already dead, so… that’s a problem.

Which of these is most unfortunate?

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City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

L-R: Czech, US, Slovak, Polish

I legit have no idea what is happening with this Czech cover. Did that dude just kill a spider? I am so confused. And The US one is so. ugly. It has always been one of my least favorites. Because where is his head? Again, no idea here, Slovak cover gods. Clary looks like a robot in mom jeans, but why? And the little Sim version of Jace is creeping me out in the Polish cover.

Which of these is most unfortunate?

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Delirium by Lauren Oliver

L-R: Bulgarian, French, Georgian, and Indonesian

Okay, Bulgarian friends, I don’t know what you think this book is about but… this looks a little dark. And French folks, again, this isn’t a murder mystery. She legit looks like she is either about to be stabbed, or do some stabbing. As for the Georgian cover… it looks like the poster for a really shitty Lifetime movie from 1991. Sorry. And I actually LIKE the Indonesian one! Except… this looks like it might be a nice alternate cover for like, a nice sci-fi book? Not at all Delirium.

Which of these is most unfortunate?

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The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

L-R: Swedish, Kurdish, Italian, Hebrew

The Swedish one might be cool if it wasn’t about kids legit dying of cancer. The Kurdish one is no joke going to give me nightmares until the end of days. What is even happening?! Make it stop. The Italian… why do we need a Hazel Grace boob shot? Just… why? Again, kids dying. of. cancer. And the reason I don’t like the Hebrew one is because it looks like human hair, which disturbs me on many, many levels.

Which of these is most unfortunate?

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Cinder by Marissa Meyer

L-R: Swedish, Serbian, Russian, German

You really need to get close up in the Swedish one to understand the creeps this cover gives me. The Serbian one isn’t the worst ever I guess but… it looks like a 70’s sitcom ad or something. The Russian one… well frankly I don’t know why Cinder should look like a pinup girl? And the German one is just an out and out snoozefest.

https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1431686614l/24104539.jpg

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Unwind by Neal Shusterman

(Granted, these were bound to get creepy….)

L-R: French, Catalan, Norwegian

Frankly, the French cover just bores me, and the colors and fonts are ugly. I don’t even understand the Catalan one. And while in theory the Norwegian one is cute… it isn’t cute when it’s kids’ organs.

Which of these is most unfortunate?

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A few that were loners, but needed to be seen:

The covers are linked, since I couldn’t link the title! 

L-R: The Knife of Never Letting Go Portuguese; The Raven Boys French; Under the Never Sky UK; Paper Towns Polish

The TKoNLG cover looks like it is some kind of middle school anti-bully advertisement? And I see no ravens and no boys in The Raven Boys cover. At all. Is that really supposed to be BLUE too? This edition of UTNS is most unfortunate because no one would pick this up thinking “young adult dystopian” but rather “Hey guys, Fabio’s back!”. And this edition of Paper Towns looks like the actual grim reaper is chasing Margo which… is not the story in this book? Though Rashika said she liked it so who knows?

Which of these is most unfortunate?

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So, now it is time: Which is THE most unfortunate cover here, in your opinion? Let me know!! 

Posted May 2, 2017 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Top Ten Tuesday , , , / 44 Comments

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44 responses to “Unfortunate Covers of Your Favorite Books

  1. The City of Bones covers bother me the most. I really can’t stand the bad 3D art on covers. *cringe*
    It looks like someone took a screenshot of their Sims game and printed it out.

  2. “the only thing we love more than pretty covers is ugly covers, amirite?” You ARE right lol. Ok, that Kurdish Fault in Our Stars cover looks like a little kid who’s not artistic tried to draw some art, Picasso style. And is the guy, like, floating above her? I just… who decided to make that a cover??? I wouldn’t even put that on my fridge, not even if it were my own kid’s artwork lol. I like that one Delirium cover though and the Catalan Unwind cover, but I haven’t read either book so I have no idea if they actually portray the books correctly.

  3. Okay the Italian Hunger Games looks like a frickin zombie novel? But I like it in that creeptastic way! And yeah the Arabic version- WTF? The Czech version of City of Bones is hideous. And yeah I’ve never much liked the US version either, same reason. I don’t know what the Slovak cover is doing… I kinda like the Indonesian Delirium but it looks like movie poster? The Fault in our Stars- those are ALL bad. But yeah hair? Creepy.

    The Norwegian Unwind… I did not realize those were organs, didn’t look that close initially. Yeah that gets my vote! Okay the worst of the worst- I say goes to the Czech City of Bones or that Hebrew TFioS. Both are awful. I kinda like the Catalan Unwind though??

  4. I actually love the Swedish cover of Cinder! It’s a little strange but oddly beautiful in that way. 😀 As for the others, what were they thinking?! Some of these are so tacky!

  5. *cringes* Russian’s Hunger Games cover look like a cheap alternate for Notebook movie poster. That’s like the worst I’ve seen on the list… until I see the Swedish cover of Cinder. Yep, I understand why it creep you out???

  6. Haha, OMG this post was both amazing and kind of creepy at the same time 🙂 But you’re right, you gotta love the bad covers too! I especially love/hate pretty much all of the Hunger Games covers. Like, what were they even thinking?

  7. Sam

    I am always amazed by the things you find. These are most unfortunate. I was really surprised by the UK cover for Under the Never Sky, because I normally like UK covers better than US covers. Not sure what the MOST unfortunate cover up there is; they are all sort of a little hideous, but the City of Bones covers keep rubbing me the wrong way. From the oddly depicted Clary to the anime looking Jace. >:|
    Sam @ WLABB

  8. I had the same exact thought about the Italian Hunger Games cover, Greg. It is a terribly misleading representation of what that book is actually about, and for that reason I think it’s the worst of the worst.

    Here is my TTT.

  9. Oh this was such an amazing post!! There are some seriously screwed covers for these books. The Swedish Cinder is all sorts of creepy and The Delirium covers all make no sense – shitty lifetime movie for sure on that one. Great take on the topic!!

  10. I loved this post! Nothing like laughing at some terrible covers! ? But, really, what happened with some of these foreign editions??? I never look into them too often, so it’s so interesting to see how different they are from the U.S. covers! I’ve always thought the U.K. and Australia covers look pretty nice most of the time, but some of these countries need to get better cover designers. ?

  11. Such a fun spin on this week’s topic, Shannon! I like that Italian version of The Hunger Games, it’s definitely eye-catching, and I even quite like the Swedish cover of TFiOS – it’s an attention-grabber if nothing else! Some of these are just awful, though, and the German cover of Cinder really is dull…

  12. This was such a great way to address the prompt! So many terrible covers. Sometimes I am not sure that cover designers read the book they are designing a cover for!

  13. This is the most fun I’ve had all day! So many bad covers! The City Bones covers are so awful. I always hated the US one. The TFioS covers are just…whoa. Bad…so so bad!! Love this post, Shannon! You always make me laugh.

  14. I was under the impression that the Cinder cover with the doll was an Art Student’s project. But I could be wrong. When I did a google image search, that’s what it told me, but it was a long time ago. I never knew it was real. Most of these covers are so unfortunate that the only cool one was the trippy Delirium one, and that one had NOTHING to represent the book. I still don’t understand why they must change the covers…??‍♀️

  15. I think they are all unfortunate, but fortunately I don’t actually have to read any of them with those covers, so I guess people have different sensibility in other countries?

  16. The Knife of Never Letting Go is really bothering me, because why would anyone ever pick that up? And I LOVE that book, so I find that upsetting.

    This was a BLAST. Thanks for putting it all together for us!

  17. Those covers for The Fault in Our Stars were by far the creepiest and most out of place. They had nothing to do with the reality of the story. I mean, how can you glamorize kids dying?!

    I didn’t like the one for The Raven Boys either. That girl is very much not Blue.

  18. Hahaha wow, these covers are veeeeery unfortunate, and I feel a bit ashamed because French covers seem to be some of the most cringe worthy here – ashamed of my publishers at times ahah. The French Delirium one defiitely looks like a murder mystery, it’s just SO weird and unfit for the book.
    Lovely post!! 🙂

  19. Oh, no, those are really unfortunate covers. All of them, but especially the John Green ones. Once you said the cover looks like human hair, I can only see HUMAN HAIR. Also: Clary in mom jeans made me smile.
    Love your take on the topic. Very Shannon-y. I am a fan. *Hugs you*

  20. hahah I like how some of the polls we all voted for basically the same one xD Designers should use polls like this to find out what bookworms like because we clearly all have similar tastes lol. This was funny.

  21. I love when you do this because your alternate descriptions of the covers are just so to the point. 😀 😀 I had some controversial opinions in the polls, it seems (also I like the City of Bones US cover, and I kinda appreciate that you can’t see the face, because then you can imagine the face yourself). I like the creepy Italian cover for THG, but the German Cinder cover makes me want to deny my nationality.

  22. Oh man, some of those were really bad. Even the US ones 🙂 Thank goodness for ebooks!
    Some of my favorite books have awful awful covers so I guess I shouldn’t care about covers…but I do…I cant hep it. I like pretty things!

  23. Oh my goodness. This post. Strangely gives me life while making me cringe! This must have taken some time and effort to put together. I have to say that I do like the Indonesian cover for Delirium actually. But the CINDER ONES! NOOO! That just… doesn’t stand for the Lunar Chronicles AT ALL. And some of the TFiOS ones? I was just like — what???

  24. I actually like the Hebrew Fault in Our Stars- it looks like a play on Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and that makes me think the cover designer is being slyly clever. But mostly, this post makes me realize how privileged we are to live in a country where book cover designs are first rate, not hack job. Ugh.

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