c/strange-book-covers

Paid $40 for a 'collector's edition' cover art that was just a weird AI blob mess

Found this horror novel at a thrift shop in Tacoma, the cover had this melting face thing that looked like someone smeared wet clay on a scanner and called it art. Spent $40 online because I thought it was some rare printing, turns out it was a 2022 batch where the publisher clearly let a computer design the whole sleeve. The actual story inside was fine but I couldn't stop staring at the cover, it felt like it was judging me. Has anyone else paid way too much for a cover that turned out to be a total disaster? What's the worst rendering you've bought?

1 comments

mitchell.wade•25d ago

That cover with the floating asparagus man still haunts my grocery run

Saw it at a used book bin outside a gas station in Flagstaff last month. Some 1980s diet book with a guy in a suit sprouting asparagus instead of arms, and the tagline said something about "greener living." I laughed for about 5 minutes and then bought it for $1.50 just to show my sister, who now refuses to let me bring it over for Thanksgiving. Has anyone else found a cover so weird you had to own it just to prove it existed?

1 comments

wood.andrew•26d ago

Old paperbacks had way weirder paintings than today's covers

I was at a thrift shop in Tucson last weekend and flipped through a box of 1970s sci-fi novels. The covers were all airbrushed monsters with three arms and women in silver bikinis standing next to lava. Compare that to the new releases at the same store, which are basically just minimal shapes and a font choice. I get that publishers want a clean look for online thumbnails, but we lost a lot of weirdness somewhere in the last 40 years. Anyone else hold onto old covers just for the art even if the book was garbage?

1 comments

cora_martinez•26d ago

That time I found a romance novel with a guy who had two left hands on the cover

Last Saturday at a garage sale in Denver, I grabbed a 1980s romance called 'Midnight Embrace' for 50 cents. The cover guy was clearly supposed to be leaning on a fence, but his hands were both angled the same way, so it looked like he had two left paws. The blurb on the back said something about his 'gentle grip,' which made it even funnier. I showed my friend and we laughed for a solid five minutes. Has anyone else found a cover where the anatomy is just completely off?

1 comments

bennett.luna•26d ago

Isabelle's Makeover Book Has a Headless Chicken on It

My daughter grabbed a 2005 teen makeover guide at a garage sale last Saturday, $1.50 well spent on confusion. The cover shows a girl with a giant sparkly wand, but floating right behind her shoulder is a chicken with no head, just feathers and a little red comb. I flipped through the whole thing and there's zero mention of poultry anywhere, not even a recipe. I showed my husband and he thought it was a weird editing mistake, but the chicken looks way too intentional, like it was Photoshopped in on purpose. Has anyone else found a cover where the image clearly doesn't match the book's subject, or is this just my lucky find?

1 comments

christophermorgan•27d ago

That $60 'collector's edition' cover art was just a blurry JPEG blown up

Bought it online last month for the painted dragon cover, but once it arrived the image was so pixelated you could count the squares, anyone else get burned by a book cover that looked sharp on screen but turned to mush in print?

2 comments

rowangonzalez•27d ago

Can we talk about that cat cover with the human teeth I found in a Tucson thrift shop

My neighbor laughed at it for a solid minute, but I think the artist was making a real point about pets aging and now I can't stop staring at it, does anyone else actually take these covers seriously?

1 comments

eva243•27d ago

Rant: finally hit 100 weird covers collected and my spare room now looks haunted

Hit my 100th odd cover from a library sale in Ohio, and now every guest asks if I'm running some kind of cursed bookstore, has anyone else's hobby crossed into full-on creepy territory?

2 comments

ramirez.caleb•27d ago

That anatomy book cover with the skeleton doing yoga in my dentist's waiting room

Picked up a 1987 medical textbook from a library sale in Boise and the cover had a skeleton in full lotus pose smiling, so now I'm wondering if the illustrator was just messing with people or if that's a real chiropractic thing, has anyone else found medical book covers that look like inside jokes?

1 comments

victor_carr54•29d ago

Rant: That "CEO" cat book cover in the self-help section is a trap

I was at the Barnes & Noble in Columbus last Tuesday and grabbed a book with a smug cat in a suit on the cover. Paid $18 for it thinking it was a joke gift. Got home and it's actually 200 pages of serious business advice, no jokes at all. Whoever designed that cover needs to be stopped, it's pure clickbait for people like me who just wanted a laugh. Has anyone else bought a book based on a silly cover only to find out it's dead serious?

1 comments

the_nancy•3mo ago

Warning: That $35 'vintage' book cover was just a bad photocopy job

I bought this book from an online seller last week because the cover looked like a cool 70s sci-fi painting (you know, spaceships and weird planets). Turned out the whole cover was a blurry photocopy glued onto some beat up cardboard. Total waste of 35 bucks, plus shipping. The inside pages were just blank sheets, so it wasn't even a real book. Has anyone else gotten tricked by those cheap reprints on secondhand sites? I'm sticking to actual thrift stores from now on.

2 comments