I’ve picked 26 favorite book covers from 2019, most of which are on books I haven’t yet managed to read – either they’re U.S.-only releases, or my library doesn’t own a copy. In the past I have sometimes found that the most eye-catching covers and the most striking titles end up belonging to disappointing books, but at least a few have bucked that trend.
Here are my favorite covers from books I have actually read or am currently reading:
And here are the rest:
What have we learned from this exercise? That I’m a total sucker for flora and fauna on book covers, especially birds. (Bizarrely, rabbits/hares make four appearances, too.)
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Great post, Rebecca. That The New Me jacket is very eye-catching although I thought the book was overrated. My own 2019 favourites were Ayelet Gundar-Goshen’s very pink The Liar, Vesna Main’s Good Day? and Chloe Turner’s Witches Sail in Eggshells.
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I’ve only seen a handful of Goodreads reviews for The New Me. It’s certainly not a priority. (I just love the fly, how it looks like it must be a mistake.) I do like that still life on Witches Sail.
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I think I was the only one who didn’t like the jacket for The Confession – such a shame after the beautiful jackets for her previous two novels. I thought it was too crowded and the rabbit was weird! I agree with pretty much all your other favourites though – I tend to prefer US covers so I’m not surprised that many of them are US only.
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One of the internal illustrations from the Tom Cox book is very similar to the cover of The Confession: a rabbit outline filled in with flowers, etc.
I do hope some of these books will make their way to the UK. Otherwise my only hope of reading them (since I’ve missed my chance on NetGalley if I ever had one) is to buy a secondhand copy. Like I said, though, I often find that the most eye-catching covers end up housing really disappointing books, or maybe it’s just that I’ve put too great a weight of expectation on them.
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P.S. The U.S. cover of Stubborn Archivist would also be among my favourites, but it’s not the edition I read so would seem like cheating 🙂 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40796015-stubborn-archivist
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I forgot Starling Days, another birdy cover I loved.
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Ooh yes, a pretty cover for a not-great book.
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I liked it a little more than you did 😉 But yeah…
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I rather like that fox, and I love the woodcut style of the Tom Cox. What a great idea for a post.
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I feel like there have been a lot of fox books in the last few years.
Cox’s mother does all the woodcuts for his books. They’re rather lovely.
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I stand corrected: his mum does all the interior engravings, but the cover is by Clare Melinsky.
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If we’re going to judge all of those books by their covers – and why not? – for me the winner is Johannes Anyuru. A lovely cover, and intriguing too.
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I agree — I would make a rare exception and read a speculative / time travel novel based on the synopsis (and that cover).
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As always – a great post. While I’ve not read any of the books, I enjoyed the Nature themed covers.
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Thank you! It’s true, they are almost all nature-y this year, even if it’s just a floral background.
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What lovely covers and yes, indeed, lots of nature on there!
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Flowers, especially, have been huge in cover design this year and last. They knew just how to hook me in, it seems 😉
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Love the cover of Little Weirds and also the soft pastels of Willa & Hesper.
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If you’ve watched Parks and Recreation, a fun piece of trivia I learned is that the author of Little Weirds, Jenny Slate, played Mona Lisa.
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I’m a fan of trees and whales on covers. Turtles and octopuses also come to mind.
How To Come Alive Again catches my eye.
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Marine life gets your vote! I don’t often encounter it on book covers, but I know you’ve had some Atlantic Canada books feature it recently.
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I love the cover of The Difference by Marina Endicott!
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Oooh! I’ve only ever read her book The Little Shadows.
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I have liked all of her books. Little Shadows is the only one I haven’t read! And I’ve only read half of The Difference – just waiting for it to come back to me again from the library so I can finish!
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I read Little Shadows with a book club years ago and I’m afraid none of us liked it! But I don’t know anything about her other work, so maybe this was just a one-off.
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Good to a Fault and Close to Hugh are both contemporary. Maybe you’d like them more? The first one I read was Good to a Fault.
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Sounds worth a try!
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I think so!
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Here’s a tree cover I love (I’m currently reading this one): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44284647-the-dearly-beloved.
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That’s a nice one! It reminds me of the cover of An American Marriage.
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Good point. Very similar.
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Book covers, lovely post thnx to share
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