A review by teriboop
The Clothing of Books by Jhumpa Lahiri

5.0

Jhumpa Lahiri's essay, which she presented as a keynote address in 2015, discusses the topic of book covers and how they can appeal in different ways to readers and authors. I tend to be a very visual person, and often the cover of a book will pull me in before I even read a word within its pages. I'm disappointed if the story doesn't live up to the cover art. Lahiri explores this topic from an author's point of view. Picking out a cover is often a task for the editor; covers may differ between different book editions, or they may end up sharing similar or even identical artwork with an unrelated book. Lahiri describes how these changes affect her as an author, and the reader can certainly consider how it affects them as well.

This is a short read, but it packs a lot of thought-provoking ideas on how we connect to books, visually and mentally.