Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 13th Read Harder task.

I'll be reading The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson. Such a boring cover that's doing this book no favors, imo.

I have a not-so-secret love of bodice rippers, and I have a bookshelf full of men embracing women with heaving bosoms. One of those will do. I also sort of hate the cover of (its the moth that grosses me out.) and it has been on my bookshelf for more years than I can count, so that is also in the running.

I read So Lucky for one of last year's prompts and I feel like the cover fits the bill--the book is fantastic, though.

I'll probably read Final Girls by Mira Grant--I'm not great at judging whether a cover is good or not, but I always click away from this one fast when it pops up on my Kindle, haha. Something unnerving about it.

I'd suggest literally any Chuck Tingle book for this task- and he's pretty prolific, so there must be one out there to offend the eye of any curious Read Harder tasker.
Personally, I think I will be reading . It...disturbs me.

For this I will be choosing Bless Me, Ultima. I've had it on my TBR for a while as I read through The Great American read list and the cover is just so meh.

Emma wrote: "I'd suggest literally any Chuck Tingle book for this task- and he's pretty prolific, so there must be one out there to offend the eye of any curious Read Harder tasker.
Personally..."

Yes!! Highly Recommend Chuck Tingle

I scrolled through my ASAP to-read list and here's the biggest offenders:

(Oh no. I mean it's a weird book too, but oh no)


(Why the ransom note style!?)


(The mosquito makes me cringe. I'd have to get the ebook so I don't have to look at the cover every time I pick it up)


(It's dated, but my goodness. It looks like it was made in Paint, and by someone who only enjoys primary colours)

Katie wrote: "For this I will be choosing Bless Me, Ultima. I've had it on my TBR for a while as I read through The Great American read list and the cover is just so meh.
[bookcover:Bless Me, Ultim..."

Please make sure you have a box of tissues handy. Read it in high school.

Kassidy wrote: "I'll be reading The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson. Such a boring cover that's doing this book no favors, imo. "

Agreed. Horrible cover. 5-star book! I read an advance copy and I was so sad about the cover ... and, sure enough ... it is languishing on the shelves at the library where I work. So sad.

Emma wrote: "I'd suggest literally any Chuck Tingle book for this task- and he's pretty prolific, so there must be one out there to offend the eye of any curious Read Harder tasker.
Personally..."

I've just read this book's description . . . I have no words . . .

(And I've not read any Chuck Tingle)

I'm going to go with . The story sounds great, but that cover is just ick.

Mind you, this is probably the most subjective category this year, since a cover I hate might be one that someone else thinks is fantastic.

I already have The Door Into Fire , and I'd like to thank the 1980's for that cover. Probably a lot of options in genre fiction from the 80's.

I really don't like the cover for .

So my top choices are probably or . I don't mind Casket of Souls, but it's just sad compared to the first three books in the Nightrunner Series, which were so cool. &

Krista wrote: "Emma wrote: "I'd suggest literally any Chuck Tingle book for this task- and he's pretty prolific, so there must be one out there to offend the eye of any curious Read Harder taske..."

I bought my first "Trans Wizard Harriet Porber and the Bad Boy Parasaurolophus" when he wrote it as a FU to Rowlings.

The Dutch House or The Silent Patient

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, I don't know how to deal with multiple versions of the same book, since I'll just be getting it from the library, but I hate this cover so very much.

I think I will go with
it stresses me out just to look at it lol!

I've read and enjoyed Geoff Nicholson's other books, but this is just wrong.

Hey hey! PERHAPS you already have your disliked book cover book picked out, but if not, here are some commonly disliked book cover types to consider (did anyone say movie tie-in?): https://bookriot.com/read-harder-2021...

Book Riot wrote: "Hey hey! PERHAPS you already have your disliked book cover book picked out, but if not, here are some commonly disliked book cover types to consider (did anyone say movie tie-in?): https://bookriot..."

Oh yes, A Stranger Beside Me also looks terrible and is a book I want to read soon. And I forgot movie tie-ins! There's so many good/bad options.

Can I just say that the only thing worse than movie tie-in covers is a movie tie-in cover for a biography. I hate every single one of them so much from concept alone. Either show me an actual photograph of the person or an artistic rendering of them, but under no circumstances do I want to see an actor unrelated to the subject of the biography as the image on the front.

I may honestly just pick a movie tie-in cover biography for this. Not sure yet though, it may just be whatever I get a hold first of where the cover gives me that visceral hatred reaction.

I always struggle with this topic when it comes up. It's hard to go SEARCHING for a book cover I dislike. Good think Goodreads has all sorts of lists.

I think this is something I don't pay much attention to as I'm usually reading via ebook on a Kindle Paperwhite (or now Oasis, thank you Mr Kringle). But I turn on the Kindle and there's my current page. I'm not typically picking up a book and looking at a cover I might detest.

That said, my pick for this is going to be:

BirthCONTROL: A Husband's Honest Account of Pregnancy

Anything with a doll or a clown. Maybe The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal or The Clown by Heinrich Böll. Or The Little Friend by Donna Tartt.

I read Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels in 2020. The covers are so bizarre and misleading but the books are incredible!

I'm going with

I'm thinking either or (I hate book covers that cut the heads off the female leads, like women are only important for their bodies and not their minds)

Allyson wrote: "I read Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels in 2020. The covers are so bizarre and misleading but the books are incredible!"

That's a good point! It's weird when book covers don't match up with what the story is actually about. I've thought that about those books, plus this one . The scene on the cover never happens or even comes close to it (at least in the book).

It sort of feels like cheating if I pick a book that has multiple covers and only one that I don't like, but I may read Burn the Place , anyway. Another one I may do is Outlawed , a new release.

I picked out Braithwaite’s To Sir With Love as the copy I have is boring (just planks... I guess an old desk top), but I am tempted to change to Detransition, Baby which I will be reading in February as part of Roxane Gay’s new book club. I like the American cover, but I live in the UK and the cover here is so... Meh.

I read

I read Figuring last year - the cover is terrible IMO - but the book is great, especially if you enjoy science, history, and literature.

I admit I glossed over all the reviews for this book because of the cover, so when the prompt came up it jumped to mind.

I read for this prompt. I initially read this because it was selected for my book club, but I would never have picked it up because of the unbelievably twee cover. It was...fine, I guess, if you can set aside the creepier elements of the plot.

As I look through my TBR, there are so many that could fit! Many of these came from various year end "best of" lists, but some are authors I like who've had some ugly covers. Of course, this is so subjective, but hopefully some of you might find some potentially good books with awful covers here!

A Children's Bible, Lydia Millet
Missionaries, Phil Klay
Deacon King Kong, James McBride
Amnesty, Aravind Adiga
Utopia Avenue, David Mitchell

Books I've read, where the story far surpasses the cover:

Tenth of December, George Saunders
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline
The Mars Room, Rachel Kushner

Tammy wrote: "Allyson wrote: "I read Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels in 2020. The covers are so bizarre and misleading but the books are incredible!"

That's a good point! It's weird when book covers don't ma..."

The books in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs fit this too - I picked up the first one because I thought the cover was ridiculous and maybe it would be "so bad it's good", but turns out it's just really good, and the main character looks and acts nothing like the woman on the cover
Moon Called

The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story because the mermaid's tail (and thus the mermaid) looks like a big piece of shrimp cocktail.

cherie wrote: "A Morbid Taste for Bones"

That's a good one! People have been recommending that series to me for years and I've been turned off by the cover of literally every edition I've seen.

Nancy wrote: "The books in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs fit this too - I picked up the first one because I thought the cover was ridiculous and maybe it would be "so bad it's good", but turns out it's just really good, and the main character looks and acts nothing like the woman on the cover."

Totally agree. Same for Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series.

Agatha Christie is on my tbr, and almost all the covers are uninspired

I actually started the year off with this prompt and I picked Kushiel’s Dart (without checking the page count lol!)

I’m not sure if it’s still published with the same cover that it was in 2001 but it’s definitely an early aughts fantasy novel cover (not my thing) + the overall cover design and I don’t care for the painting specifically either. Unsure why. It’s the cover that shows up on my Kindle though haha.

I almost picked a self published romance novel but i figured picking something where there was a really limited budget for cover design was unfair to those books.

I might actually enjoy this book. I had to search for disturbing covers etc. I’ve never had a book that had a cover that bothered me. I don’t pay much attention to covers. I feel like I’m so different from most. I see a book, the title might grab me, I read the summary and decide if that way if I’m going to buy it. Another way, is I’ve read the author, and I like the authors books, but don’t anything about the author unless they put their picture on the book. It’s never mAttered to me if the author was male, female, black, white, disabled, gay, straight. I only care if the book is good. Another way, is by recommendation, best sellers lists etc.
I found TAMPA. The cover of this book is a little disgusting. It’s a button hole, but it doesn’t look like one. I don’t think I would have noticed until it was pointed out. This is the first book I found that seems some what interesting to me.

I read Masks by John Vornholt for this. I do love Star Trek, and this tie-in TNG novel has a seriously awful cover. The characters apparently thought that mask was reminiscent of galaxies, and so my only conclusion is that they were either blind or drunk and the author just didn't bother to mention the fact.

The book was actually entertaining, by the way! But the cover... No. Just no.

I went with . If think the graphic is ugly, but the font is flat out horrendous. For those who double up this definitely works as investigative nonfiction by an author of color and depending on how you define memoir (she incorporates her own family story into a broader narrative) it might work for LatinX memoir. I am about halfway in and its very good.

I've never hated a cover a much as I hate the cover of A Little Life. Already read it though! Great, but absolutely gutting, read.

Mo wrote: "I've never hated a cover a much as I hate the cover of A Little Life. Already read it though! Great, but absolutely gutting, read."

Not sure if you know about the cover, but its from a series called Orgasmic Man. The picture was used because while in orgasm one could not tell if the man was overcome by pleasure or pain but it was clear he was momentarily completely vulnerable, She thought that was a good visual representation of Jude's state of being.

I chose . Lots of buzz around this one, but hideous cover. So far it's giving me a bit of a Gone Girl vibe with the unreliable narrator.

This is the worst cover I could think of off the top of my head XD