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Here’s a visual summary of my visit.

These posters are available for sale on their site.

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Not consistent, but still a neat image.

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Research conducted by the Orange Prize for Fiction some time ago asked the following questions:

- How important is the gender of the author in our choice of books?
- To what extent are particular authors’ books perceived as being written mainly for women, for men or for both and on what basis is this judgment made?
- Do books written by women have to ‘work harder’ to sell to men than vice-versa?

Their work resulted in the following answers:

“From the survey, men are far more biased towards books written by men than women are to books written by women.  They are easily put off buying books if they judge the cover design or title too feminine, regardless of actual subject matter of the book.  Women on the other hand are less likely to judge a book’s suitability from its cover and less inclined to label a book a male or female read.”

It also showed:

“Of the 20 books chosen for the research…only one title, High Fidelity, was considered a male read and nonetheless over 50% of the female respondents said they would be interested in reading it.  Yet less than 30% of men would choose to read the books deemed to be female reads (12 of remaining 19) which include The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Tales of the City (both by men).”

So I wonder, did Mr. Hornby’s fan base, which clearly consists of a strong male presence, need much convincing to read How To Be Good?  And did the cover designers take this into consideration?

As mentioned in my previous post, Mr. Hornby’s stories involve predominantly male activities: music obsession; soccer; bachelorhood.

These book jackets use color and imagery to communicate the subject matter and to appeal to a broad audience.

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Similar elements used for different titles are also meant to entice a specific audience: Nick Hornby fans.  In maintaining a consistent look to some of the jackets and applying it to How To Be Good, male readers might be compelled to pick up this book, even if it is written from a female perspective.

Then again, perhaps the name “Nick Hornby” alone is effective enough.

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The story is about Joan, 64-year-old spouse of novelist Joe Castleman. On a plane ride to Helsinki, where Joe will be accepting the much coveted Helsinki Prize, Joan decides to leave her husband. The book retraces Joan and Joe’s relationship and examines their evolution both as individuals and as a couple. The characters are strongly developed and the tone is sharp, clever, and witty. Ms. Wolitzer reviews the role of “the wife” (well, of this wife) and all that it entails — the happiness, the sacrifices, the betrayals, the rewards. She raises issues about gender, including its impact on the characters (who shared literary aspirations) and their life choices. She also provides insight on the connection between two writers and shows how passion and talent can both bond and break people.

I have seen different jackets for this book, but this is my favorite. The M, the W, and the open book between the two letters could represent the author herself. But it could also refer to Man and to Woman — who, like the letters, share similarities, but are not the same — and to the ones in the story who were united and divided by the written word.

Cleopatra is one of the famous, but certainly not the first. When it came time to make a movie about her, studios turned to her Hollywood heiresses: Theda Bara and Elizabeth Taylor. (Oh, and they asked Claudette Colbert, too.)

They even created some excellent film posters using Egyptian elements (hieroglyphics as backdrop; font used in the title), regal colors, and the Cleopatras themselves in dominant and/or seductive poses.

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Maneaters such as these come in all shapes and sizes, as Vladimir Nabokov knew.  The book jacket designers for Lolita try to capture the obsession and fascination of Humbert Humbert through the use of playful typography and images of youth and innocence.

Watch out, boy.

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