July 30th, 2010 / 9:30 pm
Web Hype

So tired of fucking birds on book covers

95 Comments

  1. Jon "Strange" Norrell-Clarke
  2. Jon "Strange" Norrell-Clarke
  3. Jon "Strange" Norrell-Clarke
  4. Jon "Strange" Norrell-Clarke
  5. joseph

      Mark Baumer’s been on this for awhile now.

  6. joseph

      Mark Baumer’s been on this for awhile now.

  7. mimi

      you fit right in

  8. mimi

      you fit right in

  9. marshall
  10. marshall
  11. ce.

      This is like your last post.
      Only different.

  12. ce.

      This is like your last post.
      Only different.

  13. Tim Ramick

      Jimmy—I now have some sort of distressing image of you rather wearily fucking assorted birds on assorted book covers.

  14. Tim Ramick

      Jimmy—I now have some sort of distressing image of you rather wearily fucking assorted birds on assorted book covers.

  15. al bundy

      sick of birds and sick of SHOES on covers… every other fucking cover is a pair of shoes, usually shown in a pair or worn from the ankles down. this kind of laziness irks the life-long bookseller…

  16. al bundy

      sick of birds and sick of SHOES on covers… every other fucking cover is a pair of shoes, usually shown in a pair or worn from the ankles down. this kind of laziness irks the life-long bookseller…

  17. mimi

      Don’t their little claws slide around a lot on the glossy ones?

  18. mimi

      Don’t their little claws slide around a lot on the glossy ones?

  19. Pontius J. LaBar

      Bird with a white box over its eyes in a shoe on a book cover for the win.

  20. Pontius J. LaBar

      Bird with a white box over its eyes in a shoe on a book cover for the win.

  21. Jon "Strange" Norrell-Clarke
  22. Jon "Strange" Norrell-Clarke
  23. joseph

      Mark Baumer’s been on this for awhile now.

  24. mimi

      you fit right in

  25. Guest
  26. ce.

      This is like your last post.
      Only different.

  27. adam j maynard

      I like birds

  28. adam j maynard

      I like birds

  29. Tim Ramick

      Jimmy—I now have some sort of distressing image of you rather wearily fucking assorted birds on assorted book covers.

  30. al bundy

      sick of birds and sick of SHOES on covers… every other fucking cover is a pair of shoes, usually shown in a pair or worn from the ankles down. this kind of laziness irks the life-long bookseller…

  31. mimi

      Don’t their little claws slide around a lot on the glossy ones?

  32. Pontius J. LaBar

      Bird with a white box over its eyes in a shoe on a book cover for the win.

  33. chris r

      i always liked that wind up bird chronicle cover though…

      maybe i just liked the story… meh

  34. chris r

      i always liked that wind up bird chronicle cover though…

      maybe i just liked the story… meh

  35. Justin RM

      When we get jet-packs the first thing I’m doing is projectile-shitting on a bird’s face. The bird will probably sound like George Costanza and say, “WE HAD A DEAL!”

  36. Justin RM

      When we get jet-packs the first thing I’m doing is projectile-shitting on a bird’s face. The bird will probably sound like George Costanza and say, “WE HAD A DEAL!”

  37. Janey Smith

      Birdie numb numb. Tweet, tweet.

  38. Janey Smith

      Birdie numb numb. Tweet, tweet.

  39. adam j maynard

      I like birds

  40. chris r

      i always liked that wind up bird chronicle cover though…

      maybe i just liked the story… meh

  41. Justin RM

      When we get jet-packs the first thing I’m doing is projectile-shitting on a bird’s face. The bird will probably sound like George Costanza and say, “WE HAD A DEAL!”

  42. Janey Smith

      Birdie numb numb. Tweet, tweet.

  43. Nick Antosca

      I dunno. There are a lot of books that exist. You could do the same thing with horses, dogs, cars, houses, roads, fields, trees…

  44. Nick Antosca

      I dunno. There are a lot of books that exist. You could do the same thing with horses, dogs, cars, houses, roads, fields, trees…

  45. King Kong Bundy

      So tired of those same birds shitting on my bookmarks.

  46. King Kong Bundy

      So tired of those same birds shitting on my bookmarks.

  47. Jimmy Chen

      i see your statistical spin, though i think birds are more symbolically manipulative than trees or roads, which are so cliche they’re not even really seen. as for horses and dogs, in my search, i found dramatically way more birds.

  48. Jimmy Chen

      i see your statistical spin, though i think birds are more symbolically manipulative than trees or roads, which are so cliche they’re not even really seen. as for horses and dogs, in my search, i found dramatically way more birds.

  49. mickey hess
  50. mickey hess
  51. Nick Antosca

      I dunno. There are a lot of books that exist. You could do the same thing with horses, dogs, cars, houses, roads, fields, trees…

  52. King Kong Bundy

      So tired of those same birds shitting on my bookmarks.

  53. Jimmy Chen

      i see your statistical spin, though i think birds are more symbolically manipulative than trees or roads, which are so cliche they’re not even really seen. as for horses and dogs, in my search, i found dramatically way more birds.

  54. mickey hess
  55. d patch
  56. d patch
  57. keedee

      clowngirl is technically a toy on a saturated field of color cover, not a bird on a cover

  58. keedee

      clowngirl is technically a toy on a saturated field of color cover, not a bird on a cover

  59. d patch
  60. keedee

      clowngirl is technically a toy on a saturated field of color cover, not a bird on a cover

  61. Jack Pendarvis

      me too

  62. Jack Pendarvis

      me too

  63. Jack Pendarvis

      me too

  64. Pemulis

      Nah, not laziness, exactly; more of a money-saving measure. Dan Chaon’s book designer, for example, was limited to photos in the public domain. For some reason, these include a lot of shoe pics, which is why you’ve been seeing them so often.

      That’s how Chaon explained it anyways, when he visited my school.

  65. Pemulis

      Nah, not laziness, exactly; more of a money-saving measure. Dan Chaon’s book designer, for example, was limited to photos in the public domain. For some reason, these include a lot of shoe pics, which is why you’ve been seeing them so often.

      That’s how Chaon explained it anyways, when he visited my school.

  66. Pemulis

      Also: holy shit! Jack Pendarvis!

  67. Pemulis

      Also: holy shit! Jack Pendarvis!

  68. Pemulis

      Nah, not laziness, exactly; more of a money-saving measure. Dan Chaon’s book designer, for example, was limited to photos in the public domain. For some reason, these include a lot of shoe pics, which is why you’ve been seeing them so often.

      That’s how Chaon explained it anyways, when he visited my school.

  69. Pemulis

      Also: holy shit! Jack Pendarvis!

  70. Christian

      Was that DFW book left off this list on purpose or not on purpose?

  71. Christian

      Was that DFW book left off this list on purpose or not on purpose?

  72. Ryan Call

      the one with the lobster on it?

  73. Ryan Call

      the one with the lobster on it?

  74. Kevin

      and to be fair, it does have bird in the title. unlike most of these.

  75. Kevin

      and to be fair, it does have bird in the title. unlike most of these.

  76. Christian

      Was that DFW book left off this list on purpose or not on purpose?

  77. Jimmy Chen

      i think you’re referring to penquin’s ‘broom of the system,’ which was left out because it was not on the design website from which i culled all the images in this post, and thus, not in my mind

  78. Jimmy Chen

      i think you’re referring to penquin’s ‘broom of the system,’ which was left out because it was not on the design website from which i culled all the images in this post, and thus, not in my mind

  79. Ryan Call

      the one with the lobster on it?

  80. Kevin

      and to be fair, it does have bird in the title. unlike most of these.

  81. Jimmy Chen

      i think you’re referring to penquin’s ‘broom of the system,’ which was left out because it was not on the design website from which i culled all the images in this post, and thus, not in my mind

  82. Susan
  83. Susan
  84. Susan
  85. The Second Pass

      […] Chen at HTML Giant has been tracking trends in the book cover industry: covers with birds on them; covers that hide people behind white boxes; and meta-covers that feature books and pages. . . . […]

  86. Ava

      They forgot Birds of America I love that book. And the title. And everything about it. There’s a bird in every story.

  87. Ava

      They forgot Birds of America I love that book. And the title. And everything about it. There’s a bird in every story.

  88. Ava

      They forgot Birds of America I love that book. And the title. And everything about it. There’s a bird in every story.

  89. Lit ephemera roundup. « We Who Are About To Die

      […] Jimmy Chen of HTML Giant is so tired of fucking birds on book covers. […]

  90. brutal hangover

      the new franzen has a big-ass bird on it

  91. brutal hangover

      the new franzen has a big-ass bird on it

  92. brutal hangover

      the new franzen has a big-ass bird on it

  93. Elena

      Someone linked to this on Twitter. Don’t know why I clicked it, given my morbid fear of birds.

      Gonna have to drink SO much rum tonight to block out the nightmares.

  94. Elena

      Someone linked to this on Twitter. Don’t know why I clicked it, given my morbid fear of birds.

      Gonna have to drink SO much rum tonight to block out the nightmares.

  95. Elena

      Someone linked to this on Twitter. Don’t know why I clicked it, given my morbid fear of birds.

      Gonna have to drink SO much rum tonight to block out the nightmares.