Today, columnist Karen Heller rejects one of librarians' most beloved maxims -- second only to "Shh!" -- and judges a book by its cover. In fact, she broadly judges the jackets of books written by female authors and observes a theme: "Disjointed body parts." Is Heller on to something here or is she overstating this cover conspiracy? You decide:

Publishers are also fond of blurry photos featuring the backs of women, often in fluttery summer dresses. No faces, please, we're women ... Without effort, you can find a dozen similar covers on your local bookstore's shelves. They all blur into so much Lifetime fuzz.

These covers scream to men "Please don't read me!" while to women they coo "Here's more of the same!"

The thinking, or so I imagine, is that readers will look at these women's body parts or backs and identify. "Why that's me!" or "That looks just like my old friend Susie!" In other words, they think we're stupid.

(Via Mediabistro.)