The Terror of Knowing

Welcome one and all to this week’s Top 5 Wednesday post! For those of you who don’t know Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme/challenge which was created by the wonderful Lainey from gingereadslainey and is now overseen by the equally lovely Sam from Thoughts of Tomes. Every Wednesday, participants devise their Top 5 based on a given topic.

This Wednesday’s topic is Book Covers You’d Live In: we all love a good cover but what are some covers you’d like to be transported into? As this is a very self-explanatory Top 5 Wednesday topic this week, let’s not waste any time and just jump right on in to my list…

5. My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff (x)

I’ve surprised myself with this choice but I think I would love to have the opportunity (/the means) to live in New York City for a while. I’ve never been and I know zero about actually living there that isn’t just TV’s rather fanciful portrayals (i.e. Friends, Gossip Girl), but this book charts Rakoff’s year working as an assistant to J.D. Salinger in the 1990s. I’d love to get a glimpse into the New York literary scene, with all its ups and downs. I’m like 80% sure I’d actually feel claustrophobic and insignificant if I did live and work in NYC but what is this if not hypothetical – I’m sure hypothetical Emma could get over the feeling.

4. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (x)

Confession: I didn’t actually enjoy this second book in the companion novel trilogy anywhere near as much as I enjoyed Anna and the French Kiss. Regardless, I’m sure I would love the chance to live in San Francisco. Just as with New York, I’ve never even visited San Fran, but having the means to live there for even a short period of time would be so freaking cool. The Californian weather is not something I’ve ever wanted to experience but I hear San Fran has cool winds, fog, and is relatively cool in summer compared to other US cities so maybe me and its climate would get along. Mind you, we’d see how long I’d last there with all those hills!

3. A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray (x)

I would love to jump into any of the places shown on the Firebird series covers but I’ve chosen this one specifically because I’ve actually read this one and it would be so much fun and I’m getting two places and time periods for the price of one with this cover – modern-day London and a Tsarist Russia. (Which city is that on the cover? My geography/history knowledge is so bad!) Um, yes please?? I could do without the ‘hopping into alternate reality versions of yourself and not knowing who/what/where you are’ element of this novel though.

2. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (x)

We delve into another book which I have not read but whose cover is just… wonderful. If you can’t tell, the cover depicts Oxford, specifically the University of Oxford’s Radcliffe Camera building which is so iconic, and nestled among so many other stunning buildings that it’s hard to know where to look (read: gawk at) first! Oxford is a stunning place, one of my school friends now lives/works there and I’m so jealous of her life right now. I would love to get the chance to jump into it/this cover, especially if I got to live/work in the university itself – dream come true!

1. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (x)

First of all, can we just take a second to fully appreciate how stunning this cover design is? I mean, w-o-w. So obviously I’m swayed by pretty things but especially so by pretty, pretty space. (It’s one of the reasons I adore the first Thor film, if I’m honest.) Being able to jump into this cover would mean being able to explore space and who doesn’t want the chance to do that?! Also, it would mean getting to hang out with the crew of the Wayfarer which would be SO MUCH FUN, yes please, beam me up now.

That’s all, folks! Those were the top 5 book covers I’d love to escape into. Which book covers/worlds would you like to live in? Let me know below or, if you’ve done your own Top 5 Wednesday post, be sure to link it below!

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