Paris (2)

Back
from Paris to a grey and slightly windy London. The dress that didn't
seem too short when I bought it in Paris now does seem slightly too
short. Oh well. Monday found me in Rue St. Honoré. As I was passing, I had a look in the Librarie Delamain, which is lovely inside, a proper bookshop with wooden ladders and everything.

While I was there I made the following observation about French cover design: It's
pretty boring. Isn't it? They have this whole white-(or
cream)-with-a-red-band-around thing going on

and actually, as a designer, I rather like the simplicity of just a white cover and some nice type. But I can't see a book like Iegor Gran's 'Thriller' doing well in the UK with this cover. In fact, it might stand out, but the point is in France lots of the covers seem to be like this, so it doesn't stand out at all. So what makes a French person want to pick up a book?

One of the things I like to do in bookshops abroad is find copies of books whose covers I know well, to see how they're different.

So here is Micheal Chabon's 'Yiddish Policeman's Union'

which in the UK looks like this

And 'What is the What', by Dave Eggers

Which in the UK looks like this.

And 'Netherland', by Joseph O'Neill

But it turns out this last one is some kind of formula jacket, as I find another book just like it.