Um. Ya. Careful posting yourself blindfolded on the internet with “weiner” in the title.
—that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

Thanks for all the traffic, though. I sincerely hope the blindfold ‘enthusiasts’ come back to read the *ahem* happy ending.

(Sorry.)

The nerd in me conjured up a book experiment.

I wanted to see how many books go unread because of crappy cover art. And– how does cover art affect our perception of a book’s contents?

The only way to do this was to:

1. Blindly pick a book.
2. Read the book (no matter what.)
3. Discuss.

You can read about the challenge HERE.

I love reading, statistics, and telling people what to do, so this was WAY fun for me.

But I gotta first thank my participants –mostly for indulging me and being good sports about it. Not everyone faired well.

*Please note we used a 5 STAR rating system in accordance with Goodreads. If you’re an avid reader and not on there already, I highly recommend you join.

RESULTS:

My Book:

Assumption BEFORE reading: 3
Rating AFTER reading: 4
Goodreads rating: 3. 41

Synopsis: London girl moves to the English countryside, faces Austen-esque predicaments in life and love.

Normally I yawn at this kind of stuff. (Does that surprise you?) Whereas it was super light reading and extremely predictable, I actually enjoyed it. Probably because I have unhealthy fantasies about English cottages.

Did the cover art represent the book? Yes. And basically tells the whole story.

****

Anna’s book:

Assumption BEFORE reading: 4.5
Rating AFTER reading: 2
Goodreads rating: 3.31

Synopsis: 19th century astronomer constructs massive equilateral triangle in efforts to communicate with the Martians.

“I didn’t like this book. I kept waiting for something to happen. The sentences were so. very. long.”

Did the cover art represent the book? “No. I felt it was misleading. I kept looking at the cover trying to connect it to the story.”

****

Amanda’s book:

Assumption BEFORE reading: 3
Rating AFTER reading: 2
Goodreads rating: 3.70

Synopsis: Disgruntled veteran collaborates with underground militia to blow up federal building in retaliation for his treatment as a soldier.

“This isn’t my type of book. It had way too many story lines and so many grammar and spelling errors! I wouldn’t read this author again.”

Did the cover art represent the book? “Yes. Very much so.”

****

Nedra’s book:

Assumption BEFORE reading: 2
Rating AFTER reading: 4.5
Goodreads rating: 4.02

Synopsis: Russian and American scientists race underwater to conceal a covert experiment from the 1940s.

“I like this book! I’m surprised that I liked it, but I’d totally read this author again. I’m already looking to read his next book!”

Did the cover art represent the book? “Yes, it does. But I really liked it anyway.”

****

Petra’s book:

Assumption BEFORE reading: 3.5
Rating AFTER reading: 3
Goodreads rating: 3.18

Synopsis: A young man learns what it really means to be a soldier during the Civil War.

“I kinda enjoyed this book. Can’t really say that it was interesting though. It’s still a horizontal thumb for me.”

Did the cover art represent the book? *Petra’s copy didn’t have cover art. We looked at the (many) different covers online and decided most were representative of the story.

****

Emily’s book:

Assumption BEFORE reading: 2
Rating AFTER reading: 3
Goodreads rating: 3.33

Synopsis: Southern girl grapples with gender identity issues.

“I did enjoy it, actually. I expected it to be saccharin and gross, but the author writes well, constructing beautiful paragraphs and sentences.”

Did the cover art represent the book? “Not at all. At no point does the main character wear a dress. I mean, she spends the entire book trying to hide her femininity!”

And so I asked:

Would you recommend your book?
Me: Yes. —but only to an Anglophile or someone familiar with English colloquialism.
Anna: “No. Probably not.”
Amanda: “Possibly to someone that’s into this type of book.”
Nedra: “Yes, I’d recommend this book.”
Petra: “Only to someone into the Civil War.”
Emily: “No. The author played it too safe. She really could’ve delved a lot deeper with these issues.”

So what did we learn from all this?

We TOTALLY judge books by their covers.

. . . but we’re not always right. Because covers LIE.

Nedra found a new author to love out of this! And her cover looked the worst of all of them! Maybe we should all employ Emily’s page 69 test before picking a book. — Good grief. 69. I just realized . . .

(I try to avoid these innuendos. But it’s hard.)

So to all my fellow book lovers and YOU too, my voyeuristic blindfold enthusiasts!

I’ll leave you with this:

What’s the last AWESOME book you read and how did you hear about it?

Jennifer: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. I read it because her books are often on hold at the library. Unputdownable!

Anna: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. My mom recommended it.

Amanda: Worthy by Catherine Ryan Hyde. My sister in law told me to read it.

Nedra: The Wayward Pines series by Blake Crouch. It was recommended by my Kindle.

Petra:The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. I read it because I liked her other books.

Emily: The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante. It’s her 4th book concluding her Neapolitan Novels. I’ve read ALL her books this year.

What’s the last badass book YOU read?