New York Times: The Best Book Covers of 2014

Area X by Jeff Vandermeer

The New York Times published their annual collection of the Best Book Covers of 2014. I was happy to see Rodrigo Corral was mentioned again this year - he happens to be one of my favorite dust jacket designers these days, and has been for quite a while. This year his chosen design was “Area X — The Southern Reach Trilogy — Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance” by Jeff Vandermeer. 

Rodrigo Corral's selection of Palahniuk covers

 He caught my attention quite a few years ago with Chuck Palahniuk's title from WW Norton, 'Survivor'. Once Palahniuk switched from Norton over to Doubleday, the titles (and covers) kept coming. I think one of Corral's most interesting covers in recent memory is Palahniuk's new novel 'Beautiful You' which just came out in October, 2014. However you may recognize some of Rodrigo Corral's more noticable work with Junot Diaz's 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao' and Oprah's pick of James Frey's 'A Million Little Pieces'. 


'Why does this all matter?' you may ask. It matters because in our ever-busier world of shopping, scrolling down the aisles like our facebook feed, only stopping on something for a brief instance that really catches our attention - and only stopping to actually read something that stops us in our tracks. Book covers can tie us back to the memory of our eyes walking down the shelf of our neighborhood bookstore, catching that first glimpse of a striking book cover. Most of the times the book covers tie-in to the story (much like F. Scott Fitzgerald's iconic dust jacket for 'The Great Gatsby') and at the end of the story, bring your memory back to the first time you laid eyes on it. 

Find all the 2014 Best Book Covers here.