I'm clearing out books that I requested ages ago and have been on sale for years! I really enjoyed this title.

RATING: 3.5 STARS
2016; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/Vintage
(Review Not on Blog)

This is a very short book of essays, and Lahiri looks how how books are dressed, and what does clothing mean. I enjoyed having a look and hearing Lahiri's thoughts, but I am not sure I would have read this if it wasn't by an author I am trying to like more.

***I received an eARC from NETGALLEY***

Very enjoyable short read about book covers and their effect on reader enjoyment and book sales, as well as the authors feelings about book covers and some of her favorites. It's written in Lahiri's beautiful prose.

The Clothing of Books was so much fun to read. It's a short book, so it goes quickly but offers so many wonderful thoughts on how books are designed. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves books, so you can see some background about what drew you to your books in the first place.

The focus on book covers should have been interesting enough, but it felt like a ramble. I was never sure if this was supposed to be generic or personal. Lahiri manages to include details of herself and her own work and covers, but couch personal narratives in enough vagueness that it still felt generic.

This scarcely counts as a books, it is so incredibly short. An extended lecture transcript, Lahiri is primarily concerned with the impact of a book's jacket on the reader's view of the tone of the book, and how that is often at odds with the author's aim. It's an oddly aggressive approach, and not flattering to the commercial needs of publishers and booksellers. I was expecting an essay on the impact of book jackets from folio editions to mass market paperbacks, the book-as-objects approach to bookselling and perhaps some e-book debate, which would have been far more saleable in my mind.

Very truncated and not sure this works as a sellable title more so a supplement.

One should never judge a book by the cover, but everyone does it - even if they say they don't . This short essay, based on a lecture, may be overlooked by some because of the cover. The topic of a book cover would not generally been seen as a hot topic, but Lahiri provides an interesting insight. I love the comparison of the right book jacket - which will help the sell - to a wonderful coat enveloping the authors words as the books travels around the world.