What is it that makes a book title memorable? Working at the Thunder Bay Public Library I come across interesting, amusing and downright bizarre titles every day. My own two favourites are Life is Elsewhere by Milan Kundera and Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. Like other good titles they tease you to pick them up and read them, with the provocative suggestion that the writing inside will be clever and unique. (It is). I’d like to share with you my shortlist of book titles which have that “hook” and which, silly or serious, somehow convey something about the inner nature or soul of the writing. And in case you get hooked by one or two, they are all available at Your Library.
Fantastic Fiction TitlesDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing by Tomson Highway
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea by Morgan Callan Rogers
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
Notable Non-Fiction Titles
Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron
In the Land of Long Fingernails: A Gravedigger’s Memoir by Charles Wilkins
Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Slow Death by Rubber Duck by Rick Smith
Why You Should Store Your Farts in a Jar and Other Oddball or Gross Maladies, Afflictions, Remedies or “Cures” by David Haviland
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
Clever Kid Lit Titles
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
The Barefooted, Bad-tempered Baby Brigade by Deborah Diesen
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman
Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom by Susan Nielsen-Fernlund
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
Grown Ups Get to Do All the Driving by William Steig
Monkey With a Tool Belt by Chris Monroe
Olive the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Angela Meady
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