Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 is gorgeous in more ways than one. My review will be in next week's Mercury, but in the meantime, here's super-designer Chip Kidd talking about the hardcover (which, like a whole lot of books Kidd's designed, is pretty impressive to look at and to hold). As ebooks continue to gouge away at old-school bookstores, I expect/hope publishers will start taking the exterior and interior design of dead-tree editions more seriously. Maybe not like Chip Kidd-level seriously, but still.

Via Suvudu.