Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him

Great title, right? It's actually the name of the book I'm currently reading. It is not the book I should be reading, mind you. Correction: It is not one of the TWO books I should be reading. The books I should be reading are the two books we are going to discuss at book club next week and I haven't even started. I want to read them both. Look forward to it, actually, but haven't been able to make myself start either one of them.

You see, I have what you might call a book problem. Addiction, really. I love books. I love to own books. As much as I love libraries and spent countless lovely hours there as a child, I no longer want to read a library book. I want to own every book I read. I'm not even a fan of books on CD, because they're just not the same!

I realize my book-buying problem is not only expensive, it's bad for the environment. This I know. But I can't help myself.

I, personally, cannot walk out of a Barnes & Noble without purchasing something. Usually multiple things. Things I didn't go there for and things I don't need. But oooooh they're fun to buy.

Don't get me wrong, I don't read all the books I buy. I couldn't keep up! I buy them thinking they sound GREAT. But I get them home and realize they should take their rightful place at the back of the line of all the other books I have bought and have yet to read. So the pile gets higher and higher and I continually tell myself I will not buy any more books until I at least make a dent in the pile. But then I have a need to go to Barnes & Noble and... I simply cannot control myself.

Book club has made things worse (although I love it!) because I now have a book I *have* to read each month, which means there's that much less time to put a dent in my ever expanding "next to read" pile. The good news is that I'm a really quick reader, as evidenced by the fact that I read a 400+ page book in less than 24 hours this weekend. When I get on a roll, there's no stopping me. But at this point, I have three books I have to read before next Wednesday. Egad.

So, to sum it all up, I'll be reading a lot in the coming days. But that was not supposed to be my main point. (How did I get so sidetracked?) My initial point was to be this: I couldn't NOT buy "Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him" because it had an awesome title and a great cover. I am such a sucker for the cover!

And yes, I'm *aware* that you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but come ON. I'm not judging the book by the cover, but I'm darn well picking it up because of the cover. And isn't it the "picking it up" that enables me to read the synopsis, check out the reviews and decide if I want to buy it? So the cover is all important. And that's one of the reasons going to a bookstore is such fun. All those shelves and shelves of books with every fifth one turned out so you can see the cover and it can try its best to entice you. Paradise!

If I were a designer, I would want to design the covers of books. (I first wrote "book covers" but that sounds like what I wrapped around my 8th grade Geometry book.) My friend Trenton, who *is* a designer, has told me there are several things every designer longs to design, and yes, a book cover is one of them. If I ever write a book (and please, Lord, let me have a title as great as Lulu), I know who to call...

What I don't get, though is when a second printing of the book is done and the cover art COMPLETELY changes... often to something bad, or perhaps it just seems bad because it's different. Years ago I picked up the book Ella Minnow Pea simply because the cover was so dynamic. And it was a great book! But when I went back to buy a copy for a friend of mine, the cover was 100 percent different, and nowhere near as good. Why does this happen? Who is in charge? Do they have brains?

Don't worry, Trenton, I won't let that happen to the cover you design for me. I'll put some clause in my contract or something. I mean... seriously. Does the writer even have a say? God, maybe not. Probably not. Ugh. So many things to worry about, and I haven't even written the book yet. So yes, perhaps I have bigger issues to worry about... like content to fill 200+ pages or even, you know, a basic plot line.

Baby steps.

For now, though, I'll just enjoy Lulu, then Running with Scissors, then Bel Canto (all before next Wednesday) and will worry about the cover of my forthcoming book later. But you better believe it will be a good cover. Trenton, you're on notice.