We ignored the cardinal rule of literature—“don’t judge a book by its cover”—to assemble this collection of 2017’s best book covers. The reality is that a striking design can influence whether we’ll pick up a title or leave it untouched on a shelf, so talented designers craft images that will catch our eye as well as communicate a book’s content.
With this in mind, we selected 30 gorgeous covers* that weave creativity and practicality into memorable designs. These are by no means the only exceptional covers released this year, but they are some of our favorites.
If you want to view even more stunning book covers, we recommend visiting both Spine Magazine’s and The Casual Optimist’s websites. They introduced us to most of our favorites this year, and you can get lost for hours viewing literary eye candy at each site.
*Rather than rank the covers, we listed them in an aesthetically pleasing order.
1 of 30
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Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Cover design by Tyler Comrie and Rodrigo Corral
2 of 30
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The World Goes On by László Krasznahorkai
Cover design by Paul Sahre
3 of 30
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When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
Cover design by Regina Flath
4 of 30
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Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman
Cover design by Teagan White
5 of 30
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The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne
Cover design by M.S. Corley
6 of 30
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Investigations of a Dog by Franz Kafka, translated by Michael Hoffman
Cover design by John Gall
7 of 30
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White Tears by Hari Kunzru
Cover design by Peter Mendelsund
8 of 30
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Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood
Cover design by Rachel Willey
9 of 30
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Always Happy Hour by Mary Miller
Cover design by Elena Giavaldi and photo by Lee Price
10 of 30
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Lotus by Lijia Zhang
Cover design by Adly Elewa