# All time favorite book title?



## manhattanminx (Mar 10, 2012)

Do you have a favorite all time book title? Did the book live up to the title?

I was pondering those questions today. (The power is off at my home so I've been doing a lot of pondering, that and trying to figure out how to work my new phone. Soooo many options!)

My favorite title is _The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,_ and I also enjoyed the read.


----------



## VannaSmythe (Feb 28, 2012)

I like most of the Wheel of Time series titles, Knife of Dreams most notably


----------



## LilianaHart (Jun 20, 2011)

Outlander is my all time favorite.


----------



## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew
A Wrinkle in Time
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Changeling Sea
Gone with the Wind
Practical Magic
The Accidental Tourist
That Hideous Strength
Lonesome Dove
Saint Maybe (which I'm rereading right now to put me in a better mood)

All right, I better quit.  I could go on and on . . . I love good book titles and have a different favorite for every day of the week, depending what mood I'm in.


----------



## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

IT


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

_You Can See A Lot Standing Under A Flare In The Republic Of Vietnam_ -- I read it many, many years ago, recall finding it a very interesting and sometimes enlightening book, but the main thing that stuck with me was the title. 

_Doorways in the Sand_ -- one of my favorites by my favorite author, Roger Zelazny.


----------



## Pavel Kravchenko (Mar 2, 2012)

I think One Hundred Years of Solitude is the best title ever. At least tonight I do.


----------



## RachelleVaughn (Jan 20, 2012)

I like Delicate Freakin' Flower by Eve Langlais. Great title, great book.


----------



## Jeroen Steenbeeke (Feb 3, 2012)

I'm gonna go with Joe Haldeman:

The Forever War


----------



## Todd Trumpet (Sep 7, 2011)

Don't know about all-time favorite, but I like this one:

"THE EMPTY MIRROR"



Todd


----------



## Sean Patrick Fox (Dec 3, 2011)

Of all time, I don't know. But I thought _Walking the Perfect Square_ by Reed Farrel Coleman was a great, sort of out there title.


----------



## Jorja Tabu (Feb 6, 2012)

Yes, 'of all time' I can't commit to, but 'right this second' I'd go with _The Way of All Flesh_.


----------



## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

Gorin No Sho (五輪書), even in English (A Book of Five Rings) it sounds great.


----------



## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

Think there was a thread on this topic a while back, and I'd noted a few goodies then, but for some reason when I saw this one just now, the titles that popped into my head were all by a guy named Jack Douglas.  Douglas wrote humor books and, if memory serves, wrote for the Tonight show back when Jack Paar was hosting it (and that's pre-Leno, pre-Carson, and bloody near pre-Cambrian).

His titles:
The Jewish-Japanese Sex and Cookbook and How to Raise Wolves
A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to the Grave
The Neighbors Are Scaring My Wolf
My Brother Was an Only Child


----------



## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

_In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead_ by James Lee Burke. An excellent read.


----------



## Darth John (Mar 23, 2012)

Impossible to just pick one, however I've always liked the title _The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul_.


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Darth John said:


> Impossible to just pick one, however I've always liked the title _The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul_.


Ooh...yeah, and one of my favorite books.

Another that just came to mind for some reason: Ray Bradbury's _Something Wicked This Way Comes_.


----------



## Paul Reid (Nov 18, 2010)

When the Lion Feeds. 
By Wilbur Smith.
A powerful title for one of the most powerful novels I've ever read in my life.


----------



## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Pavel Kravchenko said:


> I think One Hundred Years of Solitude is the best title ever. At least tonight I do.


Was just thinking almost exactly the same thing. Ask me tomorrow and I might say something different. Or I might not.


----------



## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream


----------



## AbigailFero (Mar 23, 2012)

Have to agree with NogDog, Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes is an epic title! Definitely made me pick it up and read it! Though I have to say The Graveyard Book is an intriguing title from Gaiman.


----------



## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

Some outstanding titles here!

I was going to second _Something Wicked This Way Comes_ but then decided that quoting Shakespeare shouldn't count.

_The Heart is a Lonely Hunter_ is a great choice, IMO.

In another vein, given my political leanings, I had to admire the audacity of Al Franken's _Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations_. The title starts off snarky as can be, then it turns inwards and pokes fun at the author himself with the sardonic "and Other Observations."

Loving monsters and dogs as I do, I *had* to buy _Lives of the Monster Dogs_.


----------



## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Two of my favorite titles, and I loved both books:

_The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_

_The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society_


----------



## sheiler1963 (Nov 23, 2011)

One favorite title that comes to mind is 'Steal This Book'. I found my copy at a garage sale and I did just that! Of course that might not really count since it was a friends garage sale and I called her when I got home an confessed my crime. She thought it was hysterical that not only did I steal the book, but that I felt compelled to call her and tell her so. 
BTW I thought the book was stupid but maybe that's because I would make a really lousy thief considering my propensity to confess to my crimes.


----------



## Jorja Tabu (Feb 6, 2012)

Tony Rabig said:


> His titles:
> The Jewish-Japanese Sex and Cookbook and How to Raise Wolves
> A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to the Grave
> The Neighbors Are Scaring My Wolf
> My Brother Was an Only Child


These are amazing--I'm going to dig them up as soon as I can.


----------



## Neil Ostroff (Mar 25, 2011)

Less Than Zero


----------



## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

_The Zap Gun_ and _Space Opera_. The editors at Pyramid came up with the most essentially pulpy guaranteed-to-sell titles they could and then commissioned books to fit them.

The first was a Philip K. Dick novel that had been serialized under another title in one of the SF magazines, and the second was an original Jack Vance work. So the paperback house got, as they knew they would from these authors, books that overturned the expectations set by the titles.

I give the editors and both writers credit for a sense of humor.


----------



## Richard Parks (Feb 29, 2012)

A MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY - Ray Bradbury

Problem is, if I'd seen the question yesterday I'd have a different favorite. There are a lot of really good ones.


----------



## JASchneider (Mar 27, 2012)

Rosemary's Baby, Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil.....Rosemary's Baby especially. You KNOW it's going to be something intensely close & creepy!

I'm almost done with a medical thriller titled "Embryo..."


----------



## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

Steal This Book

Been a long time since I've read it, so I don't remember how good it was, but the title stuck with me.


----------



## sheiler1963 (Nov 23, 2011)

hamerfan said:


> Steal This Book
> 
> Been a long time since I've read it, so I don't remember how good it was, but the title stuck with me.


Yup! Me too and I mentioned this title on post 23 on this thread! (I also stole the book)


----------



## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

NogDog said:


> Another that just came to mind for some reason: Ray Bradbury's _Something Wicked This Way Comes_.


Yes, that's the one I was thinking of.
Dawn


----------



## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

The Mote in Gods Eye
Dandelion Wine
The Fall of the House Usher
For Whom the Bell Tolls


----------



## Shawn Mackey (Mar 28, 2012)

Either _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ or _Red Harvest_.


----------



## sheiler1963 (Nov 23, 2011)

While not a book but a short story, I really like
'I Sing the Body Electric' -Ray Bradbury
There is magic in the title. 
I typically never read anything twice, but I can read this story over and over


----------



## soyfrank (Feb 2, 2011)

I didn't read the book but "Pissing in the Gene Pool" by Henry Rollins always sticks with me as an interesting title.

I also like Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, Deliverance, Crime & Punishment, The Postman Always Rings Twice


----------



## Pinworms (Oct 20, 2010)

"The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester

_Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination_


----------



## manhattanminx (Mar 10, 2012)

_Lonesome Dove_ is another favorite of mine. The fight between the bear and the bull was a great metaphor for the story line. Too bad that scene didn't make it into the television series. The author won a Pulitzer for that novel.


----------



## edmjill (Dec 19, 2012)

If we're talking clever titles, you gotta add "Steal This Book" - for the sheer audacity of it.


----------



## dbowz360 (Sep 5, 2012)

The neverending story...unfortunately it did end.


----------



## Adele Ward (Jan 2, 2012)

Everything Is Illuminated (by Jonathan Safran Foer).


----------



## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Edward Behr's autobiography, which I read many years ago, isn't perhaps my _favourite_ title, but it's certainly one the most memorable and has stuck in my mind for nearly thirty years - "Anyone Here Been Raped and Speaks English?"

I do like the previous suggestions of Douglas Adams' books "A Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy" and "The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul".

Then of course there's "To Kill A Mockingbird".

It's hard to detach thoughts about the book itself and just see the title though, since generally I tend only to remember the titles of books I liked.


----------



## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

When I self-published my first novel (Ballad of the Blue Denim Gang) I had a friend try to order it from the POD publisher.  He, instead, got a book entitled "The Ballad of Billy Badass."

I think that remains my favorite title of all time.


----------



## laa0325 (Feb 21, 2010)

Atlas Shrugged.


----------



## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

My all time favourite book title is Margaret George's 
"The Autobiography of Henry VIII" - clever, very clever.


----------



## billie hinton (Jan 30, 2011)

I don't know about all time, as there are so many great titles out there... but these come to mind off the top of my head:

Carson McCullers' The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Paul Bowles' Sheltering Sky
Marianne Wiggins' Evidence of Things Unseen
and almost all of Tennessee Williams' plays, though I guess that's cheating.


----------



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Never the Twain, by Kirk Mitchell










The book's modern-day protagonist decides that preventing Mark Twain from arising as a major literary figure will be a good thing. He is able to use a time machine and go back to Nevada to find Samuel Clemens before his literary fame and murder him. So the title is a nifty pun! The book wasn't awesome, but it was decent.


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Todd Trumpet said:


> Don't know about all-time favorite, but I like this one:
> 
> "THE EMPTY MIRROR"
> 
> ...


A good book, too. I read it many years ago, and then read a few of his mysteries.

Mike


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

My favorite title may very be: _Bimbos of the Death Sun_ (by Sharyn McCrumb).



The book itself was mildly amusing, but the title was memorable.

Mike


----------



## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

Another goodie was George Alec Effinger's _Maureen Birnbaum: Barbarian Swordsperson_. Never read the collection, but love the title.


----------



## UnderControl (Jan 4, 2013)

jmiked said:


> My favorite title may very be: _Bimbos of the Death Sun_ Sharyn McCrumb.


Woah, hard to beat that.


----------



## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

_A Confederacy of Dunces_. OK, it's from a quote:



> When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
> 
> --Jonathan Swift


I'm also fond of _You Can't Go Home Again_.


----------



## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

My favorite campy title is '_Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse_' - which really isn't a bad book at all ....


----------



## scottnicholson (Jan 31, 2010)

In the Electric Mists with the Confederate Dead- James Lee Burke


----------

