Books: pictures vs. reality

I was recently in a huge Chapters, which isn't really that noteworthy, but it was a fantastically well-stocked Chapters (this one was in downtown Ottawa. Some people go see Parliament. I go look at books) and I saw some books on the shelf that I hadn't seen in person, only in catalogues. I hadn't realized how much I had imagined the physicality of these books until I plucked them off the shelf and thought, 'Wow, I thought you'd be bigger/smaller/brighter/pinker/whatever'.

I took a look at Between Sisters which is a lovely sized book. I thought it would be taller, somehow. It's shorter than most books. Isn't that a gorgeous cover though? The colours are easily that bright in person.

Choker is now on the shelves and for some reason, after staring at the black and white cover on my Kobo, I thought it would be pink in person. It's much more peach-y in person than in our catalog.

Damosel: In Which the Lady of the Lake Renders a Frank and Often Startling Account of her Wondrous Life and Times was another book that was a lot smaller in person. You'd think, being an account of a Life, it would be large and impressive but no. Very small and manageable. (As pretty as it looks on your computer screen, though).

Lauren Oliver recently posted a video of an actual copy of Delirium (which is out soon) and this was another case of, 'oh wow, that looks much better in person than I thought it might!'

Am I the only one who imagines what books are going to be like? (Even if I didn't realize I was doing it?) Do you ever go to pick up a hold and go, 'whoa! That's much bigger/smaller/prettier/whatever than I thought!'? It seems to happen to me all the time. Clearly I need to do more research on book dimensions before I order things. Or, you know, stop imagining books.