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The Best Book Covers Of 2021 (So Far)

The best book covers are magnetic. They draw us in, commanding the helpless consumer to heed the call: YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK. Will the helpless consumer obey or will they scroll past the book released in 2021 to cultivate their intellect with a more rarefied choice? Maybe something by a dead Russian author with an unpronounceable name? Readers are viewers first and whether or not people give a new release the time of day depends on the cover art. Period. Since we’re only halfway through the year these are the 21 best book covers of 2021 (so far)…in no particular order. Let’s hope the rest of the year’s book covers are as good as these. 

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What to Make of Words by Stefan Kiesbye

Words

I’ve always believed that reading texts out loud — to your children, to your partner, to an audience of strangers — should make them better. Adding an instrument, your voice, to words on a page should add a new dimension to a story. This is not a universal truth (truth being one of the most useless categories in writing, the arts, and life in general) but something I’ve been striving for in my own writing. Whatever I’ve written, mostly novels and short stories, I’ve imagined to be read, to be performed, in front of willing listeners. As a boy I read for guidance, didn’t want to get swept away, needed proof that rules in life existed for good reason. In the end, I found that each thought is canceled out by its exact opposite, both true. Therefore, I’m equally convinced that reading has to be more than making a film in your own head in order to be called reading. Writing has to be more than putting together a text that is easily transferable to a stage or screen. But that’s another story.

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