Coolest Book Covers 2011: The Year's Best So Far

The Year's Coolest Book Covers So Far
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It's not easy to make a cool book cover. The designer usually has a million different people weighing in, each with a separate need that can potentially tie creativity in a knot. The author wants one image, while the publisher wants a focus on the words on the jacket. "A cover is an ad," a publisher will say and then the creative director must create one while still trying to make it look unique, to make it stand out on the shelf against all the other books--many of which look the same.

At Huffington Post Books, we open a lot of packages every day, and after a while, the covers can start to look alike. But once in a while, something just pops out of the envelope and we had to point it out. We just can't help but give credit where it's due.

Here are the coolest book jackets we've received so far this year. Let us know what you think of them and tell us about any published since January 2011 that have cool book covers we should see.

"How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe" by Charles Yu(01 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Pantheon)
"Broetry" by Brian McGackin(02 of17)
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(Quirk Books)
"My American Unhappiness" by Dean Bakopoulos(03 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
"Men Women & Children" by Chad Kultgen(04 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Harper Perennial)
"The Wild Life of our Bodies" by Rob Dunn(05 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Harper)
"Our Tragic Universe" by Scarlett Thomas(06 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Mariner Books)
"Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements from Arsenic to Zinc," Hugh Aldersey-Williams(07 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Ecco)
"Leeches" by David Albahari(08 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
"The Uncoupling" by Meg Wolitzer(09 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Riverhead Hardcover)
"In Stitches: A Memoir" by Anthony Youn, MD(10 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Gallery)
"Cut" by Patricia McCormick(11 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Push)
"The Selected Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer(12 of17)
Open Image Modal
(W. W. Norton & Company)
"Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self" by Danielle Evans(13 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Riverhead Hardcover)
"The Borrower" by Rebecca Makkai(14 of17)
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(Viking Adult)
"The Clamorgans: One Family's History of Race in America" by Julie Winch (15 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Hill and Wang)
"The Solitudes" by Luis de Gongora(16 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Penguin Classics Hardcover)
"Pigeon English" by Stephen Kelman(17 of17)
Open Image Modal
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

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