December TIOLI: book covers we dislike

This is a thread for readers in the December TIOLI challenge to post the covers of books they are reading for Challenge 9: read a book with a cover you dislike.

This challenge was inspired by the fact that this is the book I have just finished reading: it was a 5-star read, but I was initially quite reluctant to pick it up because I find the cover very creepy.



So post your disliked covers here!

Both my planned reads for this challenge are books which I received through a subscription from the Ninja Book Club - I have had a lot of really good books through this subscription (including The Gallows Pole), so I'm looking forward to reading them, but I would never have picked up either of these in a shop:




(This one doesn't look so bad in the picture, but it's very meh. At least I don't actively dislike it, which I do the first one!)

>1 wandering_star: I had that book out from the library a few months ago, couldn't find time to read it so glad to hear it was a 5 star read. The cover is really weird.

Except for the fact this has been chosen as the 1,001 Group Read for December, I can't imagine that I ever would have picked it up. This cover is grotesque!

>4 DeltaQueen50: Haha! Someone donated that book to my Little Free Library. I would never have even thought of reading it! Why would someone ruin a good book with bad cover art?!

>4 DeltaQueen50: This is what I had to put up with when I read the book.

>6 avatiakh: Gruesome! I am starting to get worried about reading this book!

>7 DeltaQueen50: I think it's worth reading, one that you appreciate a lot once it's over with. That cover is a detail from The Blue Doll by Alton Pickens (MoMA NY). Don't read the introduction by Randal Jarrell (in the Penguin Modern Classics edition) as it is full of spoilers - advice I was given.

Gosh. This was my cover and I thought it was bad! I guess I lucked out.

 

Some of these covers are pretty hideous! LOL!!

I was so sad about finishing the Preacher series that I had to get another comics series/graphic novel in my reading right away! The book is starting off great...but look at its cover! :D

>12 SqueakyChu: It's a good book, though! By coincidence I recently listened to this podcast, which talks about the impact Watchmen had on the genre - it's an interesting listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06dtdvq

>13 wandering_star: Thanks! I'll listen to the podcast after I finish this book. I know I'm going to like it. I just had to be in the right frame of mind to try it. I think I caught it at just the right time, too!

>12 SqueakyChu: Horrible cover, but what a great book this was! Never judge a book by its cover, I guess. :D

two more I plan to read:
 

It's not so much this specific cover as what it represents: at some point Agatha Christie's publishers realised her books were going to sell regardless, and stopped bothering with cover art, sending them out in plain or vaguely patterned dust-jackets that had nothing to do with the books themselves, but which I'm sure saved the company a lot of money...

This is so horrible I tried to hide it behind a spoiler tag, but it turns out that you can't do that for images.

Sorry - not sure why it's coming out sideways, I have tried to fix it but can't work out how (it's the right orientation until I upload it). Anyway it's slightly less disturbing if you can't see it properly!

>20 wandering_star: It is really bad! I don't like mine, but they are not nearly as dreadful as yours. Mine are just bad "clip art" covers.

Ride the River by Louis L'Amour



(A sixteen-year-old looking like she's twelve on the cover, both with strange expressions.)

I'm sharing a read with >4 DeltaQueen50:. My cover is not so much disliked as extraordinarily dull...

One more:

Get ready to vote, everyone!

Please note that the picture in message #1 is disqualified because that book was read in November.

Here's how the voting will work:
Everyone will vote for up to three books via private messaging me (keep it private!). Voting will begin after midnight 12/31/18. It will continue through midnight 1/4/19. The reader of the winning book will receive a VERY SMALL prize (just for fun)!

If you have not yet posted your entry to this challenge, do so at once!

I dislike this one because it makes me uncomfortable to look at the picture. There is something skull-like about the second shadowy head.

For the covers that don't show at the moment (up the thread) you can edit your msg and change "http" into "https" in the link to your image, then it will show again.

My hated book cover is positively benign in this company.

>28 quondame: :)

We have a WINNER! The book cover we most dislike is the one on Walking Dead from message #20.

Update: This book was disqualified as it was not COMPLETED.

The runner-up was disqualified as well due to the book not being COMPLETED. Let's try for second runner-up. I'll check it out and get back to you.

TWO Prize winners!

Picture is in message #4
Juf is gek - Dolf Verroen - FAMeulstee - COMPLETED

Picture in message #10.
The Man Who Loved Children - Christina Stead - DeltaQueen50 - COMPLETED

Both of you please private message me your mailing address to receive a very small prize.