The Clothing of Books

Who hasn't judged a book by its cover? Jhumpa Lahiri narrates an essay, originally written as a keynote speech, which examines the relationships among a book's cover, the words within, the author, and readers. Her clear diction makes the short audiobook easy to understand as she muses about her often negative but sometimes ambivalent feelings about the covers of her books and what they say about her novels, as well as her strong feelings about how book jackets are often marketing tools rather than gateways into the story. However, Lahiri's choppy delivery and reserved expression may distance listeners from her views on how books are dressed for a variety of circumstances, such as for bookstores, libraries, parts of series, and digital media. C.B.L. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine