Michael Chabon’s Maps and Legends sounds like the perfect book for me.
From Amazon:
Michael Chabon’s sparkling first book of nonfiction is a love song in 16 parts — a series of linked essays in praise of reading and writing, with subjects running from ghost stories to comic books, Sherlock Holmes to Cormac McCarthy. Throughout, Chabon energetically argues for a return to the thrilling, chilling origins of storytelling, rejecting the false walls around “serious” literature in favor of a wide-ranging affection. His own fiction, meanwhile, is explored from the perspective of personal history: post-collegiate desperation sparks his debut, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh; procrastination and doubt reveal the way toward Wonder Boys; a love of comics and a basement golem combine to create the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay; and an enigmatic Yiddish phrasebook unfurls into The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.
Not only are the colors lush and beautiful, but look at all the detail and personality that went into the cover! The design reminds me more of a comic than a traditional book because it’s 1) illustrated and 2) finely detailed. I see way too many book covers that are just boring snapshots of people sitting or walking or looking lustily at someone.
Do you think the book world could use more imaginative covers?
Misprinted Pages 