Virtual Bookcase of Marvelous Titles

Somewhere I either read about or saw a bookcase dedicated to books with titles so marvelous it hardly matters what is in them. I thought it would be fun to make our own out of our collective wit and wisdom. The good thing about this bookcase is you don't have to READ any of the books, just enjoy knowing they exist (although many of them live up to their promise, to be sure).

Feel free to add a word or a sentence about what's in the book if you like! Post the cover if you don't mind the time it takes -- or I might put together a 'bookcase' when we have enough......

I already wish I'd put 'Wondrous' instead of 'Marvelous' -- is it possible to retitle a topic? Apparently not.

I'm having trouble getting Bride of the Rat God onto this bookshelf! It wants to load a quilting with feathers book, which is funny in itself. Actually, LT doesn't want to load more than two pix in a comment area at a time, drat it. I give up for now.
I'm uploading the covers, I wish I could make them go across, but I don't think I have that option, so I'll just go along and post what covers I can here and there.

My first offering (and the book that gave me the idea) is He Died With a Falafel in His Hand by John Birmingham - a stirring portrait of young and feckless Brisbanites. I've had to write a curse hex in it to make sure no one walks off with it!

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig. I've always loved that title. I think it was inspired. Heh.

I'm adding my recently acquired Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly. I think it deserves a place here.

Unfortunately you can't change a Talk topic name. Still the one you used it intriguing enough.

I'd add How to Become Extinct by Will Cuppy.

>4 Fourpawz2: Yes that title was one of the inspirations for this bookcase. To it, of course, one must immediately add: Rats, Lice and History which is one of the great titles of all time, methinks. I own the book, haven't read it, but I know it really is about rats and lice and history. I've been reading a book lately with a woodlouse and a human louse having a chat. Peggy knows I'm not making that up.

I've always loved this title. Not sure why.

Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth

I have two books that immediately come to mind:

No Matter How Much You Promise to Cook or Pay the Rent You Blew It Cauze Bill Bailey Ain't Never Coming Home Again by Edgardo Vega Yunque

A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett & James Kincaid (A Novel) by Percival Everett

Off the top of my head: Bimbos of the Death Sun and Zombies of the Gene Pool by good old Sharyn McCrumb.

AbeBooks' Weird Book Room is chock full of books with great titles, such as Liberace: Your Personal Fashion Consultant, How to Start Your Own Country and How You Can Bowl Better Using Self-Hypnosis.



Edited to add the cover of Liberace: Your Personal Fashion Consultant.

I just finished a YA book called Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. I loved the title better than the book, alas.

I'm a real sucker for titles, but it's always very sad when a book doesn't live up to its nomenclature.

I have Jennifer Hecate etc - From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler is another great title by the same author, and I love the book too.

I have the Sharyn McCrumbs but haven't read them - yes, the titles were part of the appeal.

I had to track down The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse when someone mentioned it online, it's a fun read too - Robert Rankin also has some other great titles.

Yet to read: Granny Made Me An Anarchist and Stalin Ate My Homework

Well, I got an e-mail asking me to review Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys. It's a self-published book, but the title demands inclusion here...

Came across this one somewhere here on LT...The Pop-Up Kama Sutra

>14 drneutron:: Surely one of the best titles ever.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: The Fourth Book in THE HITCHHIKERS'S TRILOGY, by Douglas Adams.

>14 drneutron: Dare I ask for a picture of THAT cover?????

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

Huh. I have the same reaction to that title as I did when I found out on NPR that lobsters have lips. Huh.

Whoops, forgot to add touchstone.

I'm currently reading and enjoying There once lived a woman who tried to kill her neighbour's baby.

Another book I bought on the strength of the title last year was a collection of short stories, St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves - it's the title of the last story in the collection and it and most of the other 9 are pretty good too.

The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner) by Jill Connor Browne



Elvis is Dead and I Don't Feel So Good Myself by Lewis Grizzard.

Pretty much anything by Erma Bombeck.

The Earth, My Butt, and other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

I bought How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone based solely on the title although I haven't read it yet.

Fat White Vampire Blues made me snort so loudly I had to buy it to cover my embarrassment.



"I Watched A Wild Hog Eat My Baby!" was too weird not to buy. Haven't read it, but I expect it's pretty good...a history of the tabloids, how can that fail to amuse?

Marvelous and wondrous indeed! It'll take time but I'll try to make a visual 'bookcase' up at the top bit by bit.

I have a category of books whose titles are the best thing about them, which doesn't quite overlap with "wondrous" titles. My list includes Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle and Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean.

ROFL! These titles are v. funny!

Wish I could add one or two, but I'm only beginning to learn to remember titles and authors... now that I'm part of a group that cares. I'll be on the lookout though!

Thanks Rebecca, and believe it or not I have to put this one on my wishlist as my husband has a rather colorful Jewish forbear from Curacao and from that era!

OK, so does anyone think that titles in the past 5 or so years have gotten just a little bit too "cute"? Too marvelous or wonderous or whatever? Is this a trend, and are we ever going to see the end of it?

Let's hope not (both being a trend and seeing the end), Becky, if it keeps people writing and reading.

#28, Sibyx, The title was extremely misleading. This is what I said in my review: "I bought this because I couldn't resist the title, and it was a interesting look at a little known (to me, anyway) part of history even though the title was quite misleading, since the pirates themselves take up a tiny percentage of the book. It explores the role of the so-called "secret Jews" in Spanish, Dutch, and English exploration and colonization of the Caribbean and South America. These Jews were ones who "converted" to Catholicism at the time of the Inquisition but maintained their religion in secret and longed to find a place to live where they could openly practice. The history is written in a somewhat breezy style, and it's hard to keep track of all the people, but it was nevertheless enjoyable and enlightening."

#29: You mean like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Dim Sum of All Things? These titles are far too cutesy, and I hope that this trend will soon end.

I bought this book last fall at a San Francisco bookshop because of its title: How to Be an Existentialist: or How to Get Real, Get a Grip and Stop Making Excuses by Gary Cox.

#31> Now you've got me interested in it. Have you heard of Pomegranate seeds : Latin American Jewish tales, quite a mixed collection of stories but interesting if you are exploring the heritage of the continent.

Kerry, I bought that one for one of my friends for Hannakuh, but haven't heard if she's read it yet.

Two books that I've bought (and read) on the strength of their titles alone are The Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore (at that time I had never heard of him and The Menstruating Mall by Carlton Mellick III. Moore's The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove probably also qualifies.

Probably my least favorite entry (!) in this category is one to make Darryl blanch: The Haunted Vagina, a gift to me from one of my friends last year. Still not sure how I should take it.

Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing by Tomson Highway



I'm still laughing at "Elvis is Dead and I Don't Feel Too Good Myself"

It seems indigenous authors have a good run of these titles. Here's another:
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

Iew! I mean, iew. I like the Lust Lizard though.

You're ewing at Richard's title, right?

#37: I'm definitely blanching at that title.

Cooking With Pooh..now there's a culinary treat!

Can this be real?

As real as this one, Whisp:

How to Shit in the Woods by Kathleen Meyer



Didn't take us too long to get scatalogical, did it.

Yeah, I was ewing Richard's book.

I have a very eco-minded aunt who GAVE us this last book, Tui For Christmas! She's shifted over to giving us Peet's Coffee, thank goodness.

This thread is hilarious! I have nothing to contribute that can hold a candle to Richard's, Linda's, or Tui's submissions. I'll just sit here and chuckle.

>45 sibylline:: Lucy, we own a copy too. Canoeists and campers in my family who love stuff like this in their stockings...books, that is.

>38 tiffin:: I'm still laughing at "Elvis is Dead and I Don't Feel Too Good Myself"

That was a good one, Tui. Lewis Grizzard had a way with book titles...and words.

Here are a few more from him: When My Love Returns from the Ladies Room, Will I Be Too Old to Care?,
Don't Bend Over in the Garden, Granny, You Know Them Taters Got Eyes, and
If Love Were Oil, I'd Be About A Quart Low.

This is such a LOL thread. Thanks for thinking of it , Lucy.

Oh, my God! I am laughing right out loud at Don't Bend Over in the Garden

Where do people come up with these titles anyway?

Here are a few others:


It's Not Going To Get Any Better When You Grow up
--How very true!!!--



Goodbye, Testicles

Ouch..ouch..ouch!!!

Miss Bugle Saw God in the Cabbages surely qualifies for the "the title is the best thing about it" category. (If I knew how to post covers, I would.) Others I love: Eats, Shoots and Leaves,
It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on it,
Howard's End is on the Landing,
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,
The Pig Did It,
Napalm and Silly Putty,
The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood
The Husband Who Ran Away; A Gay Novel (which has absolutely nothing to do with being gay, as we now use the term)
Where Did You Go? Out. What Did You Do? Nothing.
and finally,
The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager and the Doomed.

Going to check my blood sugar. Read that as "The Transvestite Vampire: A Handbook etc.".

>51 tiffin:: As did I. I often have these little slips of the brain, and must do a quick re-read.

I bought Howard's End is on the Landing largely because of the title; it was a worthwhile read.

I can't believe I forgot this one, which is, btw, a terrific book:Get Out Of My Life, But First Will You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall?

49>

Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought this was supposed to be for real books?

On the kitchen shelf:
The Star Wars Cookbook: Wookiee Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes.

And from the 70's:
How to Enjoy Your Weeds.

That last one was an updated version of the '60's edition, which was called "How to Enjoy Your Weed". ;>)

"How to Enjoy your Weed"? In Wookie Cookies, obviously!

A book in a series I loved as a child:

How to Stop a Train with One Finger by David Henry Wilson

For the Russophile:



And Quiet Flows the Vodka: or When Pushkin Comes to Shove

OK... I got one.

How about The Guy Not Taken? Saw it in the used book store and thought of this thread. Didn't buy it, but it tickled my funnybone.

>24 richardderus:: Richard, my all-time most favourite headline on a tabloid that I saw during my uni days: "Two-headed dog-faced Martian fathered my child"! I should have bought that one and had it framed.

I've got a children's book out from the library at present, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.

61- Ooh...tabloid headlines!! I saw one that has stuck in my brain for years now...

"Human Vaccuum Cleaner Chokes to Death on Dishrag!"

I should have bought and framed that one, too!

Snort!

Sib, you dear, you just knew all of us needed a lift, didn't you!

I have no comment.



You've Had Worse Things In Your Mouth Cookbook

Ran across this one at work last night and it made me chuckle.



The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex

I'm loving this thread! So funny!

A title that's always stuck with me is one that was recommended by Nancy Pearl in Book Lust - I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots.