Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: When you feature a book in your posts, do you include a book cover?

The short answer that readers of my blog already know is yes.  I think it’s pretty standard to include a cover with reviews, and I always do.  I usually find the cover image on LibraryThing, which is a great resource for that.  They usually feature multiple covers that a book has had, making it interesting to see the variation.  Most of the time I put up the same cover that was on the copy I read, but sometimes I choose another one that seems to capture or display the book better.

I do judge books by their covers, contrary to the old adage!  I don’t think you can often tell if a book is good or bad by the cover, but it can tell you something about the type of book it is (and whether it’s a type I’m interested in).  The first thing that catches me with a book is the title–if it intrigues me I’ll look at the cover, mostly for a sense of genre.  If there’s a dragon, or a kid with a dog, or angry-looking teenager in a leather jacket, that tells you something about what to expect.  (Although lately I’ve read some books with basically geometric covers like this one, which tells me nothing!)  After I look at the cover, I read the inside book jacket, or plot summary portion of the review–and usually not all of it.  Books generally have about two sentences of plot summation before I decide yea or nay.  So–title, cover, plot summary opening, and I’m in or not.  Mostly that works for me!

Of course, sometimes titles and covers do lead me astray.  There’s Dating Hamlet, with its silly title, comical cover, and serious, dramatic plotline.  And sometimes covers are a little too subtle.  The Girl From Everywhere‘s cover got much cooler once I actually noticed the girl’s eyes in the wave…and that took a strangely long time!

Other reviewers, do you include covers?  And for all readers, are covers important to you?