Today is the birthday of one of the world’s best-loved writers, Haruki Murakami, whose most recent novel, 1Q84, has just been released in English to much acclaim (in case you, um, haven’t heard). The cover art gracing American editions of his books is some of the most colorful and iconic in contemporary book-cover design, and it’s no wonder — they’re (at least for all relatively recent editions) designed by two of our all-time favorites: the hardcovers by Chip Kidd, the complementary paperbacks by John Gall. And true to form, 1Q84 has gotten quite a lot of attention for its amazing design as well. But since our experience with Murakami is so connected with the visual experience of his novels and collections (there’s a certain scene we flash on every time we see that Chip Kidd bird eye, without fail), we wondered how the rest of the world might see him, so we’ve put together this collection of wonderful Murakami book covers from other parts of the world — some beautiful, some strange, some inexpressible. Click through to check them out, all arranged by book for comparative viewing, and let us know your favorites in the comments.
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Since the world is going to end this year and everything, it’s never been a better time to follow the advice of P.J. O’Rourke, who recommends that you “always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” Not that anyone will be around to see you, we guess. Luckily, there are a ton of really exciting books coming out this year, including many that we’d be racing to read apocalypse or no, and good looks aside. Since publishing schedules are not often announced super-far in advance, and they’re subject to change based on a million factors, this is really a first half of 2012 list, heavy on spring releases, to be followed by a second-half of the year list in the summer. Click through to check out the books we’re most looking forward to in the first half of this year (boy was it hard to narrow it down to just ten!), and let us know which others you’re having trouble waiting for in the comments.
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We’ve talked about book cover designs — both new and old — quite a lot this year, and it’s no surprise. Being completely obsessed with pop culture as we are, we’re more than a little bit fascinated by covers, since they manage to combine two of our favorite things: literature and design. We’ve been tracking our favorite covers all year, but to get an expert opinion on the topic, we asked illustrator and graphic designer Andrew Henderson, who runs one of our favorite Tumblrs, Lovely Book Covers (tagline: yes, you should judge a book by its cover), to curate this list of the best book covers of 2011. Since he’s based in Scotland, several of Henderson’s choices are from UK or other foreign editions, which we think makes the list all the more interesting. Click through to see his picks for the most evocative, beautiful, and well-designed book covers of the year, and let us know if you agree with his assessments in the comments! Read More »
This week, the always excellent Everyman’s Library released a gorgeous new printing of Phillip Pullman’s epic fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials. Not only is it a beautiful edition, but it’s the first time that the three books have been published in one volume, so it is quite a neat little package. Inspired by Pullman’s wonderfully evocative new cover, we’ve collected a few other utterly gorgeous book cover redesigns for your viewing pleasure. Many of these are full backlist redesigns — after all, there’s something magical about a set of books designed to be together — but all of them are, we think, rather glorious. Click through to feast your eyes on these redesigned books, and let us know if we’re missed any of your favorites in the comments! Read More »
Today at Flavorpill, we teared up a little over this story of an old married couple who died holding hands after spending 72 years together. We were shocked to discover that a Matthew Perry sitcom that’s more than 20 years old correctly predicted Qaddafi’s death in 2011. We wanted to eat this QReo – a scannable QR code made out of Oreo cookies. We found it hard to believe that Snoop Dogg turns 40 years old today. We loved listening to these kids back in the early ’80s explain what a computer was. We couldn’t decide whether or not we preferred this hilarious alternate ending to Back to the Future to the original. We were truly frightened to see what drinking, smoking, and eating too much will do to your face. We were thrilled to hear that the Wachowskis will be returning to their sci-fi roots with Jupiter Ascending — that is, after they wrap up work on Cloud Atlas. We enjoyed The Hairpin’s guide to eating your feelings. We listened to the legendary Chip Kidd describe how he came up with the cover design for Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. And finally, we took a trip down to New York City’s Lower East Side circa 1983, thanks to this trippy video by French filmmaker Marie Martine.
You may not think you need True Prep, Lisa Birnbach and Chip Kidd’s manual on all things preppy, a sequel to Birnbach’s 1980 original, The Official Preppy Handbook. After all, you’re too artsy and alternative for that. But then, when it comes time to go on a job interview or meet your significant other’s WASPy parents, you start to wish you knew the rules to this strange tribe’s inscrutable game. After the jump, we select some choice quotes from True Prep to give you a crash course in how to understand the preppy mindset and hang with the Lilly Pulitzer set.
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With the recently-released Rough Justice
, fans of DC Comics get a peek inside the private sketchbooks of famed artist Alex Ross. The nascent images, a mixture of pencil and ink drawings, include deleted scenes and altered panels from the Kingdom Come series, reject covers from Superman and Batman comics of 2008-2009, and plenty of appearances by DC favorites like Batgirl, Captain Marvel, and Sandman.
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As a race, we’re totally obsessed with ourselves. Much of our art is about introspection, self-discovery, and self-expression, and we ascribe human characteristics to anything we can — cars, clocks, can openers — whenever we can. So then, to complement what may be the most stereotypically introspective art form — the written word — it makes some amount of sense that graphic designers and artists would go to the body. After all, the more easily and immediately we can subconsciously see ourselves in something, the more we love it (just ask Scott McCloud). But there’s nothing wrong with that. We’re a narcissistic species, and hey, it’s been working for us. Check out our collection of gorgeously designed book covers featuring body parts and revel in your humanity for a while.
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John Gall, art director for Vintage International, was gifted the “most daunting project of [his] entire life”: redesigning all 21 book covers in the Vladimir Nabokov literary canon. Not an easy task. Gall rounded up an ace group of graphic designers to contribute to the project, from Pentagram partner Michael Beirut to Knopf heavy hitters Chip Kidd and Barbara de Wilde.
Because Nabokov was an avid butterfly collector, Gall assigned a design brief that proposed all the covers should resemble specimen boxes. Vintage and Anchor Books are currently hosting a giveaway of these art-meets-literature re-imaginings; we’ve listed our five favorites after the jump. Read More »
It’s not enough to just be awesome at one thing anymore. More and more artists are multitasking, and we’re seeing a particular amount of crossover between the somewhat unlikely genres of music and literature. But wait — aren’t musicians supposed to be outgoing egomaniacs and aren’t writers supposed to be tweedy shut-ins? Well, the writer/musician isn’t exactly a new trend — remember Tarantula, Dylan’s stream-of-consciousness book of prose-poetry? And don’t forget that Leonard Cohen was actually a writer first. So maybe there’s something to this whole writer turned rock star thing. Here are some multitaskers who make us feel bad about ourselves when we lie around the house all Sunday.
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