It’s 4:45pm EST on December 31, which means that I’ve got about 7 hours and fifteen minutes…fourteen minutes…to write a final recap post of the year that was. And while I could talk about the juiciest industry gossip, the biggest deals (and failures) or the trends that never materialized, I’m going to choose, instead, to look at covers. Book covers. That’s right, made from real paper and glue and ink. Despite the Kindle being the biggest selling item of all time on the biggest online retailer in the world, paper books do still exist. Their covers are beautiful. They’re real and they’re spectacular.

Here is a round up of some of my faves from the world of adult fiction.

• A. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
• B. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• C. Decoded by Jay-Z
• D. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachmann
• E. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
• F. An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

And while YA is not known as a hotbed of exciting or innovative book covers (so. many. brooding. teens.), it is the genre to which my heart – and the hearts of most of the other Interronbangs – belongs. So here are a few of my faves from the YA shelves.

• G. Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
• H. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
• I. Torment by Lauren Kate
• J. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
• K. Matched by Ally Condie
• L. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Here’s to more beautiful covers in 2011!