Plus, you have to love that green, especially paired as it is with the sumptuous pink and blue smoke-this is a cover that makes you want to open the book. The glasses-as-font-embellishment here is working very well. Antoine Wilson, Mouth to Mouth cover design by Jim Tierney (Avid Reader Press, January 11) The image choice works very well here, but what elevates the whole thing is the base texture and the overpainting, which imbue it with a spooky, underwater, and (in conjunction with the handwritten text) an almost Norman McLaren-ish tone. Mark Prins, The Latinist cover design by Jaya Miceli (W.W. The visual metaphor is also not lost on me, but is very nicely understated. In some ways, this might be an advertisement for any product aimed at millennials-which feels just right for this novel about modern motherhood and how easily structures can tip into dystopia. Jessamine Chan, The School for Good Mothers cover design by Grace Han (Simon & Schuster, January 4) I love the unusual sense of a collage created through block printing, but the real excitement comes in the delicate balance of shapes and weights here: that high curved title! The offsetting drape of hair! The strong font and the “A Novel” on the “wrong” side! It’s a cover you want to keep looking at, just to make sure you haven’t missed anything. Xochitl Gonzalez, Olga Dies Dreaming cover design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Flatiron, January 4)

This month, my favorite book covers are awash in color, sparkle, humor, and surrealism, none of which may solve the problems of the world, but all of which might make your bookshelf a little brighter.

While 2022 may have started with a whimper when it comes to the things that really matter-voting rights, filibuster reform, vaccines for children under 5, a robust and timely government pandemic response-it also started with some pretty nice-looking books.

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