Friday Face-Off: Autumn Colors

Friday Face-Off is a weekly meme that compares book covers to decide which is best. It was created by Books by Proxy and is now continued by Lynn’s Book Blog.

This week’s theme:

“Warm September brings the fruit”

A cover that is seasonal for autumn/fall

This week’s theme reminds me of one of my BBC (Beautiful Book Covers) posts, where I selected a few covers that made me think of autumn. I chose from that selection for this post. I chose the book whose U.S. cover contains almost all the colors of autumn — Euphoria by Lily King.

I’ve never read Euphoria, so I have no idea what it’s about. But apparently, it’s inspired by true events and is about a woman who “changed the way we understand the world,” and there are some anthropology bits in it.

Let’s first compare the U.S. and U.K. covers.

FACE OFF!

U.S. cover

U.K. cover

Because I featured the U.S. cover in my BBC post and did a bit of research for it (and am too lazy to do any research now), I know more about the U.S. cover than the U.K. one. The colors of the U.S. cover immediately attract my eyes. They are stunning in how they blend into each other, and I love the texture that we see on the cover as well. At first, I thought the cover’s photo was of a painting, maybe thick oil paints slowly dripping down a canvas yet to dry. But after a bit of research, I learned that the cover is actually a close-up photo of a rainbow eucalyptus tree that’s common to Papua New Guinea.

From my BBC post:

“According to this blog post on Pan Macmillan’s website, when the tree sheds its outer bark, it leaves a bright green inner bark that darkens to the beautiful colored bark with its blues, purples, oranges, and maroons (like on the book’s cover). I think it’s beautiful and amazing and shows how much of an artist nature is.”

I do not know anything about the U.K. cover and do not feel like looking it up at the moment. However, I think the vibrant red of the parrot’s feathers pairs well with the cool teal background. It’s a simple design that works well, but I know, for me, it wouldn’t be enough to make me curious about the book. I think it’s interesting that both covers use a script font for the title. I wonder why that is. Anyway, here’s my

WINNER!

Of course, it’s the U.S. cover. I love the colors. I’ve seen the book a few times at bookstores and every time I’m tempted to purchase it because of the cover and its colors.

These are the colors of autumn. They make me think of autumn’s beginning when the leaves are turning. Sometimes when driving through the woods, I’d see trees stretching for miles in a variety of robust colors that dazzle me.

I came across these covers for the translated editions of the book:

Bulgaria

Canada

Russia

Australia

I love the vibrancy of the colors and the variety of patterns in the Bulgarian cover. It makes me think of a patterned piece of fabric I might use to make a skirt. I think it’s attractive and would certainly pull me toward the book.

The Canadian cover calls to the U.S. cover although the colors here are darker and do not have the texture seen in the U.S. cover.

The Russian cover, to me, is weird and have a lot going on. I don’t think it works well for this book (although I don’t know what exactly the story is about). The dark colors, mixture of images, and sleeping woman makes me think more of a dark fairytale-inspired fantasy novel than a historical fiction novel that touches on anthropology.

The Australian cover is nice but not very appealing to me. I do like the blue and black coloring of the butterflies (or moths?) and the black smudges on the white background. This cover also gives me a dark vibe and makes me think YA dark fairytale-inspired fantasy novel.

Of these, my favorite is

The Bulgarian cover! It’s just so vibrant and busy yet not overpowering.

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Which of these is your favorite?

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