Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

The book on your TBR with the ugliest cover.

I really like this prompt, because I am SUPER influence by covers, and sometimes a book comes highly recommended, but I Just Hate the Cover and I can't bring myself to read it. In my case, that book is . That cover just bugs me. (tbh, I may have finally deleted this book from my TBR because of that cover. It's on my TBR in my head, anyway.)

Back in 2018 there was a category about an ugly cover, and I ALMOST read this book back then ... but I still couldn't do it.

Since TBR's are unique to each reader, I have not created a Listopia for this one.

I read a lot of horror, and sometimes horror novels have intentionally ugly covers that draw me in. That's why I'm probably going to go with The Cipher - that cover freaks me out!



For something more conventionally ugly, I might go with Elantris. Just dark, plain, and uninspiring.

Makes my eyes bleed....

Hahaha oh that's a good contender for this Sue!

I'm going to go with this which is again a victim of terrible American covers, vs the beautiful European cover

Last year I read Seven Blades in Black, and it was an amazing book, but the cover is horrendous (it looks like an eight-year-old's craft project lol). I might read the sequel Ten Arrows of Iron for this prompt.



Edit: Another good one: I'm interested in Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts, but I'm not sure if I want the book in my library because the cover is blinding.

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein is the ugliest cover on my list.

I have plenty of just boring covers but really not many I would call ugly. Except for the UK cover of:


I am a stickler for adding the right editions but with this one I was tempted to go with the US edition. But this at least means I have something for this prompt!

Brandon wrote: "Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein is the ugliest cove..."


that's on my list too and yes it is such an ugly cover!!! Actually ... I started that book once, but my library loan ran out before I got very far into it, so I COULD use it for my "DNF" book too.

I've been meaning to read Slaughterhouse-Five for years and the cover does absolutely nothing for me so I may do that. Also thinking I've been wanting to read something by David Sedaris for awhile and I don't like any of his book covers.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go for because it fills several prompts on different challenges, and I DNF'd it earlier this year.

I think the cover of my paperback copy of Dune is pretty ugly!

In scrolling through my TBR, I came across this monstrosity:



And since I couldn't look away (like watching a car crash), I had to pick it... I'll be placing it face down on my nightstand.

I love Wheel of Time and I read one or two of the books each year, but my husband is always making fun of how ugly the covers are. Some are better than others, but this year I'm starting with this one.

The people just look so weird. So, that's going to be my ugliest cover.

Ugh...these are two of my ugliest
and

I'm going with . I have a different version saved on my GoodReads, but unfortunately that's the Kindle cover that I own and have to see. It's so heinous! And weirdly I'm pretty sure Tor is the publisher which makes it extra odd. Turns out it's a different publisher, but the original cover art was so amazing, it kills me that this is what it is now.

I think I'll go with one of these three.

Jenn wrote: "I think I'll go with one of these three.

"

Jenn, I can vouch that Dune and Sandman are both delightful.

How bout this.

I'm definitely going to pick a Stargate tie-in novel for this prompt. The covers are awful. I know it's typical for tie-in novels to highlight our favorite characters on the cover, but it makes the covers so unappealing.

These are the worst from my physical book shelf, they may not be pretty but I still want to read them all!

Erica wrote: "How bout this.

"

Hahaha, that's a good contender!

I'm thinking of picking since my copy is this absolutely obnoxious shade of yellow. It's too bad because I've seen other versions of the cover that are different colours, and they look so much nicer.

Heather wrote: "I'm definitely going to pick a Stargate tie-in novel for this prompt. The covers are awful. I know it's typical for tie-in novels to highlight our favorite characters on the cover, but it makes the..."

Okay bear with me here. I watched stargate sg6 and none of the other shows. How come the novels are stargate sg 1 and they're using the actors from sg6?

Great book, boring cover:



And a book that has intriguing reviews but I've been hesitating to get it because (imo) the clashing colors on the cover are hideous:

I read a LOT of horror, but these may be tied for ugliest.


But I love Bob Woodward

I think Sputnik Sweetheart is the ugliest on my TBR.

I once bought a second copy of Tess of the D'Urbervilles specifically because the cover was so laughably ugly. I don't know now where it is.

I think I'll probably go with for this prompt.

Drakeryn wrote: "Great book, boring cover:

..."

The doorway is cut out on the physical editions, so I kinda like it, but yeah it is a bit boring on digital.

Erica wrote: "Heather wrote: "I'm definitely going to pick a Stargate tie-in novel for this prompt. The covers are awful. I know it's typical for tie-in novels to highlight our favorite characters on the cover, ..."

The show and main team have always been SG-1. I did a quick search for SG-6, and all I found was the team SG-6 that was one of the 10 or so teams that was created to explore the galaxy on the show SG-1.

Kelly wrote: "These are the worst from my physical book shelf, they may not be pretty but I still want to read them all!
..."

I highly recommend The Mere Wife. Absolutely one of the best novels I’ve read in recent years.

Sandra wrote: "I think Sputnik Sweetheart is the ugliest on my TBR. "

Wait, scratch that. My boy Raymond Queneau gave me this gift from beyond the grave.

I might go with one of these:

I agree Susan, fascism is quite ugly indeed.

Thinking of reading . I love color but this is a bit much.

Brandon wrote: "Erica wrote: "Heather wrote: "I'm definitely going to pick a Stargate tie-in novel for this prompt. The covers are awful. I know it's typical for tie-in novels to highlight our favorite characters ..."

My first question was ... Did they brand SG-1 as SG-6 in another country for some reason? I don't think they did, so Brandon's answer is my answer.

I'm going with Superior: The Return of Race Science. I've just always disliked statues...

biggest turnoff, but I can't get my hand on this one I'm afraid... honestly I*m not even sure I want to read it anymore, it's so UGLY!
other contenders are

Very interested in this subject matter, but man, what is up with these colors and the weird, grainy inverse black-and-white images? This edition was printed in 1993 but the design looks much older to me.

Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

I almost went with Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher, but the bright yellow and red cover is growing on me for some reason.

I might go with The Zonderling by Kersti Niebruegge for this one.

Heather wrote: "I'm definitely going to pick a Stargate tie-in novel for this prompt. The covers are awful. I know it's typical for tie-in novels to highlight our favorite characters on the cover, but it makes the covers so unappealing."

Just having Richard Dean Anderson's face assures that it won't be an ugly cover! Granted, I haven't looked at the rest of the cover.

Teri wrote: "Just having Richard Dean Anderson's face assures that it won't be an ugly cover! Granted, I haven't looked at the rest of the cover."

Haha! That's what my mom would say. She didn't watch MacGyver every week for the just story. Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping, and Christopher Judge are pretty nice to look at too. Let's say the cover style is ugly. Then we can exclude the very attractive actors from the insult.

The book on my TBR shelf with the ugliest cover is The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution, but I don't own it, it's out of print, secondhand copies are more than I want to spend, my library doesn't have it and they currently won't do interlibrary loan. So, sorry Stamp Act Crisis, not reading you.


I saw someone above mentioned Elantris. I have that, so I may just go that route.

Jen K wrote: "Thinking of reading . I love color but this is a bit much."

Ooh.. I have that on my list, and yeah it's pretty ugly. I might go for that one!

Oh, I'll definitely go with for this one.

I also have some older SFF on my TBR with "meh" covers. Luckily my own copies are digital so I don't have to look at them.

and then there's

I have a few options for this prompt.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Jam
Brief, Horrible Moments: A Collection of One Sentence Horror Stories

Still don't know how to add the actual cover picture...

Rachel wrote: "I'm thinking of picking since my copy is this absolutely obnoxious shade of yellow. It's too bad because I've seen other versions of the cover that are different co..."

The Perks of Being a Wallflower has a cover of a similar color, which I think is hideous.

Kirby wrote: "I have a few options for this prompt.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Jam
Brief, Horrible Moments: A Collection of One Sentence Horror Stories

Still do..."

At the bottom of the book adding box, there is a radio button that lets you choose between the link and the cover. Once you see the HTML coding that it gives you, it's pretty easy to copy/paste the what you got for the cover and change the first part to "book" to include both the cover and title in the post.

Heather wrote: "Haha! That's what my mom would say. She didn't watch MacGyver every week for the just story. Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping, and Christopher Judge are pretty nice to look at too. Let's say the cover style is ugly. Then we can exclude the very attractive actors from the insult."

Your mother and I should be friends.