Cover Crazy: The Opposite of Loneliness

The purpose of Cover Crazy is to feature a cover each week for us to admire its beauty. I really like this idea since there are so many great covers out there! Cover Crazy is a meme that was started by The Book Worms.

I love the simplicity of this cover and, if I'm honest, the cover was prompted me to pick up the book as I'm not usually a short story/essay collection reader. (Good work, Scribner!) Unlike covers that feature stock photos or hand-picked models, the girl on the cover is the author, Marina Keegan. And after looking at this cover, I want to know her; I want to hang out and get coffee and talk about books with this girl. The way she's standing, taking the camera head on, but also sort of curled into herself with her too-long sleeves pulled over her hands, conveys combination of a vulnerability and self-effacing self-confidence, if such a thing exists.

Read Julie's Reading Lark review of The Opposite of Loneliness.

I also wonder if Marina Keegan knew what this picture would become when a friend snapped it of her for use with the Yale Daily News article it accompanied? But there is no way she would have any idea that it would become the way the rest of the world saw her and the cover of her breathtaking collection of essays and short stories after her sudden and untimely death, just a few days after her graduation from Yale and a few days before she started her job at The New Yorker.

Read Jack Hitt's lovely article: Remembering Marina Keegan

The Opposite of Loneliness on Goodreads