The Facebook Album Cover Challenge

I usually try to avoid these things. They are a drain on my time and resources, and more often than not completely pointless. This challenge, though, caught my attention. So much so, that I want to share it here. My Facebook page is a shit show. Things get buried and I often delete stuff without warning – usually when two or more of my acquaintances start arguing on one of my threads about Bigfoot or something. But this is my permanent record. It’s where things are kept for posterity, which is why you will find a near-complete record of everything I’ve ever had published here.

I was nominated by Douglas Sutherland (a madcap Canadian I first met when I worked at Southampton FC a lifetime ago – we later became house mates) to share one album per day for 10 consecutive days that influenced my taste in music – no explanations, no reviews, only the covers. It was pretty hard not to explain myself sometimes. I found the first few albums came easily, but the less choices I had left the harder it became and by day 10 there were five or six albums vying for a mention. 

So here they are for your perusal, in the order I posted them (which wasn’t in order of preference).

 

Cover to Cover: the Fifty Book Challenge

 

Last year, I took on a challenge to read 50 books in 12 months. The only rule was that each book had to be read cover to cover, no exceptions. It’s too easy to just read the first few pages then abandon it.

 

I will be upfront and tell you now that I failed. But only just!  

Here is a full list… 

December 2011

Dead Town – KC Elliot (2011) F eb

Stricken – Sean A Lusher (2011) F eb

Ten Rules of Writing – Elmore Leonard (2007) NF eb

Dark Waters – Peter Mark May (2011) F eb

How to Get the Women You Desire – Ross Jefferies (1999) NF eb

January 2012

Breathless – Dean Koontz (2010) F pb

The Legend of Rachel Petersen – F JT Baroni (2011) eb

Zen in the Art of Writing – Ray Bradbury (1973) NF eb

The Noctuary – Greg Chapman (2011) F eb

February 2012

Rock n Roll is Dead: Tales inspired by Music – Various (Bloodbound Books) (2011) F eb

Numbers:Their Occult Power and Mystical Value – W. Wynn Westcott (1911) NF eb

Sinful – Yolanda Sfetsos (2011) F eb

Bookie Wook 2 – Russell Brand (2010) NF pb

Desolate – Robert Brumm Jr (2011) F eb

March 2012

The Most Vital Chinese – James McGlasson (2011) NF eb

You Will Survive Doomsday – Bruce Beach (2010) NF eb

The Long Walk – Stephen King (1979) F eb

Machination Mutilation – Shaun Jeffrey (2012) F eb

Mile 81- Stephen King (2011) F eb

April 2012

Drugging the Nation: China & the Opium Curse – Samuel Merwin (1907) NF eb

Full Dark, No Stars – Stephen King (2010) F hb

Vampire Blood – Katherine Meyer-Griffith (2010) F eb

Deadline: The Horrifying Adventures of Harvey Banks, Tabloid Reporter – Jochem Van Der Steen (2010) F eb 

May 2012

By the Light of the Moon – Larry C. Kerr (2011) F eb

Ghost Writer – Tom C Underhill (2012) F eb

Sustenance – Nate D Burleigh (2012) F eb

Incident On & Off A Mountain Road – Joe R. Lansdale (2011) F eb

Country Driving: A Chinese road Trip – Peter Hessler (2011) pb

June 2012

12-21-12 – Parker Lee (2012) F eb

Eva: A Ghost Story – Mike Emmett  (2012) F eb

Rant  – Chuck Palahniuk (2007) F eb

July 2012

Horns – Joe Hill (2010) F pb

Windigo Soul – Robert Brumm, Jr (2012) F eb

Advanced Book Marketing – E.J. Thornton (2012) NF eb

August 2012

The Bad Place – Lincoln Crisler (2012) F eb

The CV – Alan Sugar (2011) NF eb

Mike’s China – Mike Dixon (2011) NF eb

Welsh Pirates – Dafydd Meirion (2009) NF pb

September 2012

Travels with Facebook – Phiona Stanley (2012) NF eb

Black Brig – Jeffrey Kosh (2012) F eb

The Uncollected Stories – Stephen King (2003) F eb

October 2012

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future – Michael J. Fox (2010) NF eb

Shudder – Harry F. Kane (2012) F eb

Fading Light: An Anthology of the Monstrous Companion – Various (2012) F eb

In The Tall Grass – Stephen King & Joe Hill (2012) F eb

November 2012

Mysteries in History – Paul D. Aron (2006) NF eb

It’s So Easy (and Other Lies) – Duff McKagan (2011) NF eb

A Face in the Crowd – Stephen King & Stewart O’Nan (2012) F eb

Shadows In Ink – George A. Turner (2012) F eb

December 2012

Ash – James Herbert (2012) F eb

Legends of Urban Horror: A Friend of a friend told Me – Various (2012) F eb

14 – Peter Clines (2012) F eb

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid: The Lives & Legacies of the Wild West’s Famous Outlaw Duo (2012) – Charles Rivers Editors

Key

F: Fiction

NF: Non-fiction

pb: paberback

eb: ebook