Friday Face Off : ‘nomad is an island’
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout. This week’s theme:
‘nomad is an island’ – A cover featuring a desert landscape
The first book that jumped into my head this week was Dune. It has some great covers and definitely fits the theme but I know I’ve used it before so wanted to come up with something different. I’ve come up with a book instead that I read as a teenager. It was one of my dad’s books that had three stories in one and at the time I read all three and was totally fascinated – I’m not sure how I’d feel about them if I was to reread but the author was H. Rider Haggard and the three stories in the volume were King Soloman’s Mines, She and Allan Quatermain (which is the sequel to King Soloman’s Mines. So this week my book is Allan Quatermain and here are a small selection of the covers:
My favourites are the covers with the lion and the elephants:
My favourite this week is the lion – just look at that face:
Which one is your favourite?
Like last week I’ve added a Mr Linky here so that you can leave a link if you wish or please leave me a link in the comments so we can all visit and check out each others covers. Thanks
I’ve updated the list and included themes through to the end of 2019 – I’ve also included events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share that let me know in the comments). I also have a list prepared for 2020 and so will set up a separate page soon for forthcoming themes. As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment.
Next week – A cover featuring a longboat
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ of one of your favourite covers)
2019
12th April – ‘Odin, Odin, send the wind to turn the tide – A cover featuring a longboat
19th April – ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – A cover featuring a school
26th April “The sunrise was the colour of bad blood” – A cover featuring a sunrise/sunset
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
3rd May – “How sweet to be a cloud, floating in the blue” – A cover that is predominantly blue
10th May – “As full of spirit as the month of May” – A cover featuring a festival/party/celebration
17th May – “The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow!” – A cover featuring a fantasy beast
24th May – “bibbity, bobbity, boo” – A cover that features ‘magical things’
31st May – “simples” – A favourite fantasy cover
7th June – “One swallow does not make a summer” – A cover that makes you think of Summer
14th June – “Coraline opened the box of chocolates. The dog looked at them longingly.” – A cover featuring something sweet
21st June – Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year – Pagan rituals/standing stones/blazing suns – a cover with your own interpretation
28th June – “And who decided which people wore the striped pyjamas” – A cover that is striped
5th July – “The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe… has been answered” – a cover featuring something/somebody historic
12th July – A wrap around cover
19th July – “You can’t choose between life and death when we’re dealing with what is in between.” – A cover that is grainy or looks like ‘white noise’
26th July – “Ludo ….. down” – A cover that is Upside Down
2nd August – “There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.” A cover featuring children
9th August – “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request.” – A cover featuring Pirates
16th August – “The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagles own plumes” – a cover featuring feathers
23rd August – A cover that is a movie tie in
30th August – “I wandered lonely as a cloud” – a cover that is predominantly yellow
6th September “Warm September brings the fruit” – a cover that is seasonal for Autumn/Fall
13th September – Friday the 13th – unlucky for some! A cover with ‘curse’ in the title
20th September – “Your hair is winter fire,January embers.” – A cover featuring hair
27th September – Freebie
4th October – “Feed me Seymour” – A cover that is 60s horror
11th October – ““And, though there should be a world of difference between the smile of a man and the bared fangs of a wolf, with Joss Merlyn they were one and the same.” – a cover featuring an Inn
18th October – “It’s your favorite scary movie, remember? He had on the white mask, he stalked the babysitters.” – A cover featuring a scream
25th October – for Halloween – pick any scary cover you like
(I’m hoping that November will once again bring to us SciFiMonth – Twitter @SciFiMonth)
1st November – A cover that is predominantly grey
8th November – “big badda boom” – a cover that features an explosion
15th November – “No thinking thing should be another thing’s property, to be turned on and off when it is convenient.” – a cover featuring a robot
22nd November – A cover that is Futuristic
29th November – “When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.” – a cover that is 60s sci fi
6th December – Now is the winter of our discontent, Made glorious summer by this sun of York” – a cover that puts you in mind of winter
13th December – A cover that features a temple/or religious icon
20th December – Longest Night – a dark and foreboding cover
27th December – the festive season – a cover that is glittery or sparkling
(2020 – January is Vintage SciFi month so I’ll be including possible themes to take that on board.)
Yep, I don’t know what the lion has to do with the book but I’d definitely want the one with it on the cover! Am I dreaming or wasn’t there an Alan Quartermain movie? Were they related?
Oh, I don’t know about the movie – I know King Soloman’s Mines and She were movies – I’ll have to have a look.
Lynn 😀
I love the lion cover too, but I also love the one with camels😁 Great choice!
I was quite pleased to find a book that I’d not used already.
Lynn 😀
I love the elephants with that beautiful sunset on the background, but the lion is quite amazing! 🙂
I love the elephants too – it was tough choosing between them and the lion.
Lynn 😀
I like the 4th cover the best, but it doesn’t have any animals on it which seems kind of important?
Yeah, I liked the 4th cover too but I wasn’t totally convinced that it reflected the book. Well, it’s not the image I had in my head at least.
Lynn 😀
I love the stately lion cover, but the right one in the second row is also calling to me. It’s the “retro movie poster” vibes!
Haha – yes, that reminds me very much of Indiana Jones??
Lynn 😀
These are all interesting covers in their own ways. I do love the lion cover though. 🙂
Yeah, you gotta love a lion.
Lynn 😀
I haven’t read any of these, however I have King Solomon’s Mines on my Classics Club list. I find myself very drawn to the 4th cover, but having not read them I don’t know if it suits it or not.
[…] UK and US book covers and decide which is we prefer. This meme is currently being nurtured by Lynn’s Book Blog and the subject this week featuring on any of our covers is DESERT LANDSCAPES, so I’ve selected […]
What a cool decision, Lynn! It brings back a raft of happy memories – I read about Allan Quartermain’s adventures as a young teen and loved them. I like the leopard spots and that magnificent lion glaring out at us – but my favourite is Allan5 – the cover featuring the man himself standing up in the canoe, fighting off a tribal attack. It reminds me of the cover on the book I used to own…
Yeah, there’s something about the covers on the version of book that you own – unless of course they’re really bad, we can’t help feeling sentimental about them.
Lynn:D
I love the covers of the lion and the one with the men riding the camels. Well done, Lynn! 🙂