This meme was started by Books by Proxy, whose fabulous idea was to compare UK and US book covers and decide which is we prefer and is currently hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog. This week the theme is a cover featuring grass, so I’ve gone with The Long Earth – Book 1 of The Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.
This cover, produced by HarperCollins in June 2012, is the version I read. As a result, I have a real soft spot for it. I love the worlds lined up in the sky, which give a strong sense of the content and the world depicted looks very unspoilt and free from mankind – until now, that is. My one grizzle is that the author names, along with the title do tend to sprawl across the image rather intrusively.
This French edition was produced by L’Atalante in June 2013. Again, sweeping grassland features, although this is a world where humanity has already got a foothold with tracks, fencing and an airship. Again, those other worlds are lined up in the sky. I like the fact that the title and author is clumped neatly in one corner, which gives a far better sense of the immensity of the landscape.
Published in April 2016 by Nemira, this Romanian cover is my favourite. I love the solitude of the figure on the outcrop, staring up at the other worlds lined up in the sky. As well as the lovely landscape, there is also that stunning spacescape – this one has it all, in my opinion.
Produced in 2013 by Prószyński i S-ka, this is another effective cover. While I prefer the figure just standing, a little stunned, in the previous cover, the running man in this one is also striking and once again, the sky full of different versions of Earth is beautiful. It is very close contender for the favourite.
This Turkish offering, published in February 2014 by İthaki Yayınları, is another lovely cover with those wide vistas and multi worlds, but what spoils this one is the writing sprawling across the whole image, which is the same peeve I have with that first cover. However, all in all, I think Terry and Stephen were very lucky to have such a lovely lot of different covers. Which is your favourite?
Brainfluff 