Blogging books

Lionel Shriver, the American writer who won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005 for We Need to Talk About Kevin, has been complaining on her blog about book covers.

Despite a reluctance to be seen as a Luddite, she regrets computerisation and graphic design, yearning for simpler times. Her first two books had handpainted covers, the first a pastiche of a Rousseau painting. Now, she sees the industry as being all art design and stock photos – certainly Kevin and her latest, Double Fault, used appropriate but not original photographs. We agree with Shriver to a point – it would be great to see a little more pride and originality enter the production-line of modern publishing. If this isn't going to happen, how about a return to the orange or green simplicity of early Penguin covers? It might also become Shriver to put more effort into identifying her own work. Double Fault, a romance set firmly in the world of professional tennis, hit the shelves with blanket reviews and scant reference to the fact that it was not her follow-up to the crowd-pleasing Kevin, but a re-release of a 1997 book. Forget about the art and concentrate on authenticity.  

Book Notes would like to blame anyone but himself – but can't – for incorrectly transcribing Seamus Dunleavy's name when writing about his new book Finally Meeting Princess Maud.