I adore I Capture the Castle. It is one of my favorite books. The movie was really good too.

On the topic of covers: If a book has a “perfect,” skinny, curvy girl on the cover then some people may feel like they can’t identify with the main character from the start. And that’s a shame. I remember seeing Maureen Johnson’s covers of just a body, and thinking it wouldn’t be my kind of read. Thank goodness I picked it up any ways, because I adore Maureen and her books are wonderful. If a cover is cryptic and interesting (Looking for Alaska, Twilight, Lament, Hunger Games, So Yesterday, etc, etc) then people will be curious. That’s why I like the frog, and snowman, and penguin covers of the Ruby Oliver series. Not that having people on covers can be a bad thing. The Mortal Instruments are amazing books and have interesting covers that still include people.

I do think covers can help sell books. I recently bought another of The Princess Diaries book, and I’m loving the new cover so much more than the one I had in high school (which I can’t find, so even though I have the old copy (somewhere), it does me no good). The cover caught my eye, in a way the old ones didn’t. I’m enjoying the story so much more as well, but since I can’t remember all the details I read so long ago it’s really like a new book.

Margaret: I am a huge fan of I Capture the Castle. I just assumed people would realise. Am clarifying just in case.

You should definitely write more about the Ruby Oliver books. Yes, please!

As for praising the Ruby Oliver books, I have to say, I barely even began in that post. I had a lot more direct commentary towards the front that, sadly, got chopped out when I edited the post down. I really can’t praise these books enough. Their exceptional quality really hit me in book three, when Ruby is reading Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth for school– thinking about Lily Bart and Ruby as a matched pair is really illuminating. Both E. Lockhart and Edith Wharton have managed to dramatize really brilliantly the painful ways women can be victimized for being attractive when it’s not a quality they are in full control of. They also demonstrate the stiffling constrictions of small, elite groups and the intense pain of being ostracized from one of them. That E. Lockhart has managed to create a story with such complexity and depth, while keeping Ruby, her narrator, a completely realistic 15-16 year old, is really incredible. When you then consider how funny and readable the books are as well, it becomes even more astounding.

I could definitely write more (and maybe will) but for now I just wanted to wholeheartedly second your recommendation.

And lastly, while classic YA fans who come across the blog post will recognize the name, wanted to make sure others knew that Cassandra Mortmain is just my “pen name.” When she’s at home, she’s the main character of Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. When I’m at home, I go by Margaret.