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Book cover wars: Freedom

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If there were ever a book that deserved less of a crap cover, then it has to be Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. With all the hype surrounding his latest book, one would have thought that the book cover designers would have maybe a put a little more effort coming up with something which is better than the covers pictured above.

Let's take a look at the covers, shall we?

The US version:
- The colour combination is horrible
- The background image looks as if it was pulled from a low-budget stock image website
- Slanted text on covers? Isn't that reserved for just-out-of-high school students who've discovered the wonders of Photoshop for the very first time?
- There is a bird on the cover. A very random blue bird that would have made the cover more bearable had it actually not been there.

The UK edition:
- The black and cream colour combination? Gets an F (just like the cover) for originality. 
- I wonder if the UK cover designer killed the bird on the US cover because there is a random feather in the bottom right-hand corner of the cover. In which case, they should have at least tried to hide the evidence.

Still, I much prefer the stark, clean black and cream cover of the UK edition to the birdie-gone-wrong mess that is the US version. But why don't you tell me what you think?

Which cover would you rather choose?
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