Last Friday I was browsing over at Walrus Books, my favorite English-language bookstore in Buenos Aires. I ended up buying a copy of Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War
But I almost didn’t pick up the book. I had heard of Faulks but never read anything by him. So, a while I back I did some research and learned that Birdsong is considered his best novel. Yet, on this recent visit to the bookstore I had almost forgotten that fact.
At the bookshelf I was glancing over the spines of the half-dozen or so books that the store had by Faulks. None of the books stood out and I couldn’t remember, at the time, which was his best work.
Later, still browsing around I see this book on the table that is in the middle of the store:
And it immediately occurs to me that this it the title that I should have remembered. Just curious, I went back to the shelf to see if there was another copy of Birdsong, perhaps I had just overlooked it though I really didn’t at the time remember seeing it.
Indeed, there was another copy but this one with a different cover:
For some reason, I had missed noticing the book entirely on the shelf with this cover. I ended up purchasing the edition with the top cover. I like it better.
But, did I notice the book because of the different and, I think, better cover design or did I notice the book because it was sitting out on the table? Obviously, table displays are important areas for bookstores to promote books but each book still has to compete with every other book on the table for attention.
For me this was one of the clearest experiences where the book cover made the difference. If I had not seen the other cover, then I probably would never have purchased this book the other day.
About the covers
The top cover is from the UK condition. The bottom cover is from the U.S edition. In Buenos Aires we are more likely to find UK editions for sale in the bookstores, probably somewhat related to the historical ties between Argentina and the UK, I don’t know.
The photo of the UK edition, downloaded from Amazon UK, doesn’t quite do it justice.
The photo is a little washed. In reality the lighter background is more of a sepia.
While Birdsong is a romantic story set during World War I, I feel that the UK cover is much more evocative than the U.S. cover.