There’s no formula for choosing the books of the year. Some break ground, some tackle familiar themes with new energy. Some represent the best work from established authors, some introduce us to important new voices. And some are simply in-house favourites we feel deserve a little more attention. Here are the 5 most notable book covers of 2010.

Seven Good Reasons Not to Be Good
by John Gould (HarperCollins Canada)
Cover design by David Gee

I like this cover for so many reasons, one of them being that it doesn’t rely on bland and obvious stock photography. It’s simple, effective, and ­geometrical. It does what a good cover should do: it instantly grabs my attention and piques my interest. It does not rely on a visual representation­ of the book’s content, which can really hobble a cover design. I don’t­ ­instantly know what the book is about, but that’s why flap copy was ­invented, and this cover made me stop to read the flap. “ Jessica Sullivan, senior ­designer at Douglas & McIntyre