The Bookseller magazine has announced the shortlist for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year, and invited the public to vote.
Unfortunately my choice Cheese Problems Solved is currently lagging in third place behind If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs and I Was Tortured By the Pygmy Love Queen. Also-rans — so far anyway — are How to Write a How to Write Book; Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues; and People who Mattered in Southend and Beyond: From King Canute to Dr Feelgood.
Also nominated was Squid Recruitment Dynamics but alas, it was ruled out of the running on a technicality.
For more about the prize and a description of the nominees see here. Then cast your vote! The winner will be announced on March 28. At some point there will be a public vote for the “Diagram of Diagrams” – the oddest book title ever.
Thanks to American Libraries Direct for letting us know about the contest.
The Bookseller is from the U.K. but surely we can come up with odder titles published in the U.S. Any suggestions?
Tao Lin recently put out a book titled ‘Eeeee Eee Eeee’. The title, if i recall, is the sound a dolphin would make jumping off of a cliff.
That’s hilarious, Devin!
I had to look it up. You can get it on Link+!
http://csul.iii.com/record=b25289735
On a related tangent, here are some of my favorite government document titles:
1. Let Potatoes Fight
2. An Annotated List of Literature References on Carpets and Rugs 1940-1963
3. Fish Stick Report
4. Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Shipping High-Level Nuclear Wastes
5. Identifying Sheep Killed By Bears
6. Do You Know Oatmeal?
And saving the best for last…
7. A Winning Combination: Wild Horses & Prison Inmates
I think Let Potatoes Fight is going to be my new email signature.
Carol – That’s hilarious! Thanks for sharing.
Fish Stick Report—from the Gorton Fisherman??
My favorite–How to Write the How to Write Book
And then there’s the ever-popular Canadian governmnent document Who Are the Zombie Masters and What Do They Want? … there are more great gov doc titles at the Free Government Information blog.