Worldly Words

Today’s cover combines three Lost Library Things themes; the world tour, lingo and author photos.

The dreamy beautiful girl cover is great but the real fun is to be had by reading the blurb.

Wow. What a rush. First we deal with all the “multifarious” forms of that reallyoverused word love, then we whip around the world America to Europe to Africa and then the moods, the emotions, the spectrum of feeling that Henry passes through. Having just recovered from that we then get the cast of extras. This blurb is like a shopping list. And then there is the words, such words as you just don’t hear any that much more, and I don’t just mean gaiety. I resolve to use mercurial sometime this week in conversation.

Then there is the back of the dust jacket. Here we have another great author picture; thoughtful, elegant, chin supported. To have such a gushing compliment from Albert Camus is a surefire winner, but to be credited with creating the Geographical Novel, I don’t know, it does sound like a bit of a back handed compliment to me.

Multiple Locations

I really like this cover. The montage is gripping and dynamic and could explain why my copy looks to be rather well read. The scenes do give the indication that this story contains plenty of sex and violence. The title is a bit pompous though. The action covers numerous geographical locations but the story seems to be centred on Africa so I deem it worthy of being a part of the Book Cover World Tour.

See Sydney

Our book cover world tour comes down under. I have a friend over in Sydney this week so this one goes out to her.

I just love the motley crew that has been assembled here for this cover. We have hippies, folkies, people in togas, a sailor and of course the straight guy in the middle proselytising. Wait a minute; is the straight guy getting blessed or is that woman about to tap her cigarette ash on his head?

The back cover meanwhile has some great lines about King’s Cross as hell.

Wild Times in the West End

Next stop on our book cover world tour is Soho, London, to see the layabouts and their girls.

Look, a giant smoking girl sitting on a building.

And how about the author’s name? Wildeblood; great name for an author for a wild party life book like this. I also admire his photom, with his chin resting on his fist. Reminds me of that scene from Napoleon Dynamite.

Let’s go somewhere warm on our tour

Been feeling the winter cold here in Perth, so for our next stop on the Lost Library Thing Book Cover World Tour let’s go somewhere warm. Why not Berlin in a heatwave?

A common feature of much of my paperback collection is the gushing praise that appears on the front and back covers. This book in particular has got some fantastic quotes. It is not often you read that you will close this book while trembling.

Next Stop On The Lost Library Thing World Tour

Our travels with book covers now brings us to America, and when seeing America, see it with a dog by your side. A romantic image of a man and his dog braving the Wild West is somehow not quite fully realised when it is revealed that the dog in question, Charley, is a poodle. Not exactly rugged. This could explain why this is not one of Steinbeck’s better known books.

See the World with Lost Library Thing

Our book last week was set in Burma; this week we go to Shanghai. You can always count on an exotic beauty to be on the cover of a novel set in a faraway place. As a bonus, the author on the back also counts as an exotic beauty.

 

Increase Your Word Power With Lost Library Thing

Personally I cannot say the title of this book without breaking into song. “They’ve even got a bamboo floor – at the house of bamboo!”

The cover cleverly balances intimacy with the threat of violence, as shown by the guys spreading fire.

And as for increasing your vocabulary, check out the back blurb.

 

Thanaka is a common feature in what was then Burma in the time of this novel, but nowadays is Myanmar. Made from ground bark it is a cosmetic paste applied to the face and arms and is a yellowish-white colour. It smells a bit like sandalwood.

Wow, this sure is an informative blog.