# Unforgettable Titles



## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

I'm sure there must be a "best title ever" thread floating around already, but I don't see it near the top so I thought I'd start one.  

A book's title is obviously very important.  The better the title, the more it draws you in, makes you want to read, and sticks with you for years to come.  What are some of the best titles ever?

I'll start it off with the reason I wanted to start this thread - I saw this particularly awesome classic title mentioned in another thread, and was just struck by how great the title alone is.  So evocative and suspenseful... How could you not pick up a book like...?

"Something Wicked this Way Comes"  By Ray Bradbury.

How indeed, unless it's because it doesn't seem to be offered for Kindle at all.  Still a great title though.


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

Oh yes, that's a great a title. Not a bad book, either.

The title that first popped into my head is "Where the Wild Things Are." Been awhile since I read that one to my kids, but clearly it's memorable.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

A few favorites:

_Doorways in the Sand_ and _A Night in the Lonesome October_ by Roger Zelazny

_The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul_ by Douglas Adams

_Feersum Endjinn_ by Iain M. Banks


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## evanlavine (Oct 4, 2011)

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore certainly grabbed my interest and I was not disappointed in the least.


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## Moppet (Sep 30, 2011)

Lamb was so good.

I think "Steal this Book" is the catchiest, if not necessarily most lyrical, title ever.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

evanlavine said:


> Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore certainly grabbed my interest and I was not disappointed in the least.


That book sounds tremendous.... see? That title just sold a copy.  I'm even paying 9.99 for the Kindle version.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

Stephen T. Harper said:


> I'm sure there must be a "best title ever" thread floating around already, but I don't see it near the top so I thought I'd start one.
> 
> A book's title is obviously very important. The better the title, the more it draws you in, makes you want to read, and sticks with you for years to come. What are some of the best titles ever?
> 
> ...


That is a great title, though we oughta give props to the source:

William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act IV scene 1

"By the pricking of my thumbs, 
Something wicked this way comes..."


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

I've always been fond of the title to Tom Wolfe's collection of essays: _The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby_

_To Kill a Mockingbird_ sure grabs the attention, and among detective novels, _The Maltese Falcon_ is just so exotic, intriguing...


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

Eric C said:


> That is a great title, though we oughta give props to the source:
> 
> William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act IV scene 1
> 
> ...


Okay, but if whoever that is had thought to name his play THAT instead of "Macbeth," maybe he'd be famous.


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## Iwritelotsofbooks (Nov 17, 2010)

I love "Parliament Of Whores" by PJ O'rourke.


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## GerrieFerrisFinger (Jun 1, 2011)

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD immediatley comes to mind, alhough if I gave it thought I'd find better. I've never quite understood that title and I'm a southerner.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

I think books named after main characters is just plain lazy.  I'm looking at you "Jane Eyre" and "Anna Karenina" and "Emma," etc.

I've always loved the title "Interview with a Vampire."  I think "A Game of Thrones" is wonderful, though you kind of have to think about it for a moment and perhaps it means more after you read the book; it's full of meaning.  "The House of Mirth" is devastatingly ironic.  "The Remains of the Day."  "Blood Meridian."


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

DYB said:


> I think books named after main characters is just plain lazy. I'm looking at you "Jane Eyre" and "Anna Karenina" and "Emma," etc.
> 
> I've always loved the title "Interview with a Vampire." I think "A Game of Thrones" is wonderful, though you kind of have to think about it for a moment and perhaps it means more after you read the book; it's full of meaning. "The House of Mirth" is devastatingly ironic. "The Remains of the Day." "Blood Meridian."


Yes, it's great when a title has that kind of depth. Remains of the Day in particular has many layers of meaning to consider .


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## deckard (Jan 13, 2011)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?


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## youngadultfiction (Jul 28, 2011)

I'd have to go for 'Extremely loud and incredibly close' by Jonathan Safran Foer or 'the wind up bird chronicle' by Haruki Murakami. Both amazing books.


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## Louie Flann (Aug 3, 2011)

I like: _Steal This Book_ by Abbie Hoffman, from the wild sixties.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Michael Moorcock is a master of book titles:

The City in the Autumn Stars
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
The Warhound and the World's Pain
The Dreamthief's Daughter
The Skrayling Tree
The Dancers at the End of Time
The Phoenix in Obsidian


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

There are some great new titles out there lately that have some pretty catchy titles as well like _Anna Dressed in Blood_ (the cover is great too!). I know there are more I just can't think of them at the moment!


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

"Glimpses of the Moon" by Edith Wharton has always struck me as wonderfully poetic.

And then there's "A Room with a View," which has become a phrase in modern culture, though I'd guess most people couldn't even say where it came from.  (Naturally not people in this forum!)


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## Iain Manson (Apr 3, 2011)

There was a discussion recently on great opening paragraphs, to which I contributed the thought that it's often in retrospect that people decide an opening was wonderful. I suspect that the same is true of titles: I'd bet that many great titles have been forgotten simply because the books have been forgotten.

For what it's worth, I'd say that you can be more confident of spotting a bad title than a good one, so (with apologies for going against the grain of this thread... if a thread can be said to have a grain) here are two nominations for the worst title ever:

_*Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less*_ (Jeffrey Archer)

_*First Russia, then Tibet*_ (Robert Byron)

How did those two ever make it past an editor?


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

A friend had a copy of _Steal This Book_ when I was a kid. I don't know if he stole it.

I would nominate _A Confederacy of Dunces,_ and _Pet Semetary._ (The misspelling is intriguing.) I will try to think of more.


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

deckard said:


> Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?


Agree!

Another of my favorites:_ If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?_ by Cynthia Heimel. I think it's actually a title of a song.
_The Egg and I _by Betty MacDonald.
And of course _To Say Nothing of the Dog_ by Connie Willis.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

Ah, yes... Michael Moorcock. Sailor on the Seas of Fate and Stormbringer. I remember those books but they aren't in Amazon. Lots of Elric titles available though. Maybe they were repackaged?


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

R. M. Reed said:


> A friend had a copy of _Steal This Book_ when I was a kid. I don't know if he stole it.
> 
> I would nominate _A Confederacy of Dunces,_ and _Pet Semetary._ (The misspelling is intriguing.) I will try to think of more.


Wasn't the misspelling suppose to be because children created the cemetery?


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Iain Manson said:


> _*Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less*_ (Jeffrey Archer)
> 
> _*First Russia, then Tibet*_ (Robert Byron)
> 
> How did those two ever make it past an editor?


Hilarious! I always see the most ridiculous titles when I look at the Kindle top 100 (especially the free ones.) Just now I decided to check it out and ran into this (not on the free list.) I mean, if this doesn't catch one's attention - I don't know what will. This is one unforgettable title.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Oh and how about "Help! A bear is eating me!"  The opening paragraph of that is brilliant as well.


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## Andrew McCoy (Sep 17, 2011)

When I was a teenager, I hated James Gould Cozzens unreasonably for having already taken the best title. As it turned out, I would write an entirely different sort of book, on which his fabulous title would look silly. But I still think By Love Possessed is the best book title ever.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Stephen T. Harper said:


> Ah, yes... Michael Moorcock. Sailor on the Seas of Fate and Stormbringer. I remember those books but they aren't in Amazon. Lots of Elric titles available though. Maybe they were repackaged?


Yes. Repackaged. The editions like the one you linked to are the original tales before expanded or collected into novel form. Or sometimes it's the whole novels, I think. I don't have those yet. White Wolf put out omnibus editions in hardcover some years back, those are the ones I have. Science Fiction Book Club collected them too. Unfortunately no ebooks of the collected editions or standard novels.

I need to get those new ones. I'm not entirely sure what the differences are. It's just when you already own two copies of everything, justifying a third can be difficult.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

_The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade_ (German: Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss. (The common short title is Marat/Sade)


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

MLPMom said:


> Wasn't the misspelling suppose to be because children created the cemetery?


Yes.


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

"Between the Strokes of Night"

And one with the same rhythm:

"The Stress of Her Regard."

Actually, Tim Powers titles are almost all great:

"Earthquake Weather"
"Dinner and Deviant's Palace"

And somewhere I saw "What the What".  I think it's by the same person who wrote that novelised "Where the Wild Things Are".

"The Subtle Knife" is great title too.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

DYB said:


> Hilarious! I always see the most ridiculous titles when I look at the Kindle top 100 (especially the free ones.) Just now I decided to check it out and ran into this (not on the free list.) I mean, if this doesn't catch one's attention - I don't know what will. This is one unforgettable title.


And #28 in the Kindle store! Power of the title. Wish I'd thought of a way to work "penis" into my... whoa, suddenly heading down an unexpected road.


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## Raymond Embrack (Sep 18, 2011)

_Shaft Among the Jews _ by Ernest Tidyman. Yes, that Shaft. Unforgettable great title...._Goldfinger _


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## KindleChickie (Oct 24, 2009)

I always thought *The Four Stages of Cruelty* was an excellent title.



There is an author here who has the absolute best title for a book, but of coarse I forgot it....


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## Iain Manson (Apr 3, 2011)

DYB said:


> I always see the most ridiculous titles when I look at the Kindle top 100 (especially the free ones.) Just now I decided to check it out and ran into this (not on the free list.) I mean, if this doesn't catch one's attention - I don't know what will. This is one unforgettable title.


Good God, DYB, you nearly gave me a heart attack. _The Princess and the Penis_!!! What is the world coming to?

By the way, one commentator says that this edifying work _is_ available free, so er...

Anyway, I reckon that you have effectively closed the discussion, because The Princess and the er... you know... _Thing_... just has to be the most memorable title ever. I'm doing my best to forget it, and I can't. By contrast, the other titles on this thread are already a blur.


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## journeymama (May 30, 2011)

I love "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet," by David Mitchell.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Iain Manson said:


> Good God, DYB, you nearly gave me a heart attack. _The Princess and the Penis_!!! What is the world coming to?
> 
> By the way, one commentator says that this edifying work _is_ available free, so er...
> 
> Anyway, I reckon that you have effectively closed the discussion, because The Princess and the er... you know... _Thing_... just has to be the most memorable title ever. I'm doing my best to forget it, and I can't. By contrast, the other titles on this thread are already a blur.


  And the book has a high score from amazon reviewers!


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I always loved Victoria's Holt's romantic and mysterious title ON THE NIGHT OF THE SEVENTH MOON (great book, too!).

And now that I think of it, the Nancy Drew mysteries of my youth were compelling both for those gorgeous full-color cover and for the lush, mysterious, romantic-sounding titles like

PASSWORD TO LARKSPUR LANE
THE WHISPERING PINES
THE MYSTERY AT LILAC INN
THE MYSTERY OF THE MOSS-COVERED MANSION
THE SIGN OF THE TWISTED CANDLES

Those are titles with poetic appeal.  

Julia


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

Geemont said:


> _The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade_ (German: Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss. (The common short title is Marat/Sade)


That's the longest title ever. Different thread.


mashadutoit said:


> "The Stress of Her Regard."


That's a good one.


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## Craig Allen (Apr 2, 2011)

I always thought _Gun, with Occasional Music_ by Jonathan Lethem was catchy.


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

Stephen T. Harper said:


> That's a good one.


Isn't it? It's a line from a poem by Charles Ashton Smith, "Sphinx and Medusa"

_The old constraint of an essential bond
Hath linkt them in my mind: opposed they stare,
Twin silences, that through Time's Otherwhere,
The ruinous past, thus each to each respond,
One with mysterious gaze that sees beyond
The straining suns, calm as the voidness there;
And one with eyes like deserts of despair,
Flameless as granite, clear as diamond.

They gaze across the past... Yet thought must see
That eve of time when man no longer yearns,
Grown deaf before Life's Sphinx, whose lips are barred;
When from the spaces of Eternity,
Silence, a rigorous Medusa, turns
On the lost world the stress of her regard._

I really like the line "who's lips are barred" as well.


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## youngadultfiction (Jul 28, 2011)

I also love 'No One Belongs Here More Than You' by Miranda July.


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## GerrieFerrisFinger (Jun 1, 2011)

How about "One of Our Thursdays is Missing." Great writing and fun!!


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## Derz7sk (May 14, 2011)

Two off the top of my head, ones I haven't read but would like to:

STAR OF THE UNBORN
HE KILLS COPPERS


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

Moppet said:


> Lamb was so good.
> 
> I think "Steal this Book" is the catchiest, if not necessarily most lyrical, title ever.


Yeah, I like that one, too.


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## KateEllison (Jul 9, 2011)

DYB said:


> I think books named after main characters is just plain lazy. I'm looking at you "Jane Eyre" and "Anna Karenina" and "Emma," etc.
> 
> I've always loved the title "Interview with a Vampire." I think "A Game of Thrones" is wonderful, though you kind of have to think about it for a moment and perhaps it means more after you read the book; it's full of meaning. "The House of Mirth" is devastatingly ironic. "The Remains of the Day." "Blood Meridian."


_A Game of Thrones_ is a great title; I've always loved it.
_
The House of the Scorpion_ is one title that grabbed my eye. Also John Green tends to have good titles--_Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, An Abundance of Katherines_, etc.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

From the world of nonfiction:

_American on Purpose_ ~ Craig Ferguson (sub-titled: "The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot")
_Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!_ ~ Richard Feynman (sub-titled: "Adventures of a Curious Character")


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## Michelle Muto (Feb 1, 2011)

Oh yes! Something Wicked This Way Comes. Definitely a great title.

King's The Dead Zone, Poppy Z Brite's Lost Souls, Rice's Interview With A Vampire, Grisham's A Time To Kill... 

Good thread! I'll try to think of some more.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

Julia444 ~ love the Nancy Drew titles you picked--those are awesome. As an aside, the spookiest cover, IMO, is the cover for _The Mystery at Lilac Inn_

Some of my favorite titles are:

_The Accidental Tourist_
_Saint Maybe_ (a bit of an Anne Tyler trend here--she's one of my favorite authors)
_Lord of the Flies_
_Cry, the Beloved Country_
_The Sociopath Next Door _ (not a novel, but one of the most interesting non-fiction books I've ever read)
_Practical Magic_
_The Catcher in the Rye_
_A Clockwork Orange_
_Watership Down_
_Atlas Shrugged_

all right, I have to stop now . . . backing away from the keyboard slowly.


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## youngadultfiction (Jul 28, 2011)

> Also John Green tends to have good titles--Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, An Abundance of Katherines, etc.


Yeah, the fault in our stars is a great title (can't wait to read it when it come out in January! )


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

mashadutoit said:


> When from the spaces of Eternity,
> Silence, a rigorous Medusa, turns
> On the lost world the stress of her regard.[/i
> 
> Well, I guess that explains a lot. "Her regard" would be quite stressful if it could turn you to stone. Thanks for the poem, Mash!


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

The Word for World is Forest


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

R. M. Reed said:


> The Word for World is Forest


Yes!

Also "The Saliva Tree" although I did not enjoy that book so much.

And how about "Engine Summer" and "Fire Upon the Deep"?


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## ashel (May 29, 2011)

Every time I read a thread like this, I end up thinking, "I haven't read enough books."

I am going to wear out my e-reader.


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## saraesperanza (Oct 10, 2011)

_Splinter of the Mind's Eye_ immediately came to mind (no pun intended, I assure you) when reading this post. It's a Star Wars EU novel by Alan Dean Foster and something about the title always sent chills up my spine as did _The Silence of the Lambs._


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## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

A Complete State of Death by John Gardner
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-State-Death-John-Gardner/dp/0224616331


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## KerriWoodThomson (Sep 26, 2011)

_The Slap_ by Christos Tsiolkasis a recent one that comes to mind.


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## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

I like Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.

Elizabeth Peters also has great titles; one of my favorites is The Last Camel Died at Noon.


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

LaRita said:


> Elizabeth Peters also has great titles; one of my favorites is The Last Camel Died at Noon.


Oh yes! That's such a classic title. Sets up the story beautifully too.


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## S.M. Boyce (Sep 13, 2011)

ToniD said:


> The title that first popped into my head is "Where the Wild Things Are." Been awhile since I read that one to my kids, but clearly it's memorable.


I loved that book as a kid and I agree - I will forever remember it, but mostly just because of the awesome title.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I tend to like very evocative, overly lush titles (and I like very evocative, overly lush books!)

The Place in Flowers Where Pollen Rests
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Cold Moon Over Babylon
Our Lady of Darkness
The Far Pavilions
Red Earth and Pouring Rain
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Invisible Cities


And I'm a sucker for "house of" or "the house of" titles. 

House of Sand and Fog
House of Stairs
House of Leaves
The House of the Spirits
The House of Many Ways
House of Paper
The Castle of Crossed Destinies
The House of Lost Souls

Some of those are good books, some of them aren't, and some I haven't read -- but I love all their titles!


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

I think "The Autobiography of Henry VIII" by Margaret George is a really clever title. (It's an awesome read to.)


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

saraesperanza said:


> _Splinter of the Mind's Eye_ immediately came to mind (no pun intended, I assure you) when reading this post. It's a Star Wars EU novel by Alan Dean Foster and something about the title always sent chills up my spine as did _The Silence of the Lambs._


I remember that book too! I think it came out before Empire, right? I don't think we knew about Luke and Leia's true relationship. Cool cover on some forest planet. And definitely a great title.


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## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

I love _*Mourning Becomes Electra*_, a wonderful double-entendre.

Edward C. Patterson


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

1984


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

How about a short story: "Spiders of the Purple Mage" (by Philip José Farmer in one of the "Thieve's World" anthologies)?


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

How about Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford? Wonderful, beautiful literary-type novel, about the Japanese camps set up in the U.S. during World War II.

And it is both a bitter and sweet tale...


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## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

I love this one by James Lee Burke - _In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead_.


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## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

LaRita said:


> I love this one by James Lee Burke - _In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead_.


James Lee Burke has some great titles. 
Tin Roof Blow Down
The Neon Rain
Heaven's Prisoners
A Morning for Flamingos
Last Car to Elysian Fields
Jolie Blon's Bounce
In the Moon of the Red Ponies
A Stained White Radiance

That's a random selection, and not a dull title among them. Brilliant!


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## Patrick Reinken (Aug 4, 2011)

I'll echo _House of Sand and Fog_.

And how about:

_Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Gods Behaving Badly
The Pig Did It
Skeletons at the Feast
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time 
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
The Emperor of All Maladies
The Devil in the White City
In the Garden of Beasts
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Garden of Last Days
The United States of Arugula
I Was Told There'd Be Cake_


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## JulietMoore (Oct 18, 2011)

Love in the Time of Cholera


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## Alexis-Shore (Feb 20, 2011)

Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead.


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## Julie Morrigan (Jun 29, 2011)

Some great titles here!

My favourites include Charlie Huston's _Half the Blood of Brooklyn_, the third book in his series starring vampire Joe Pitt (highly recommended, by the way). Also _Too Weird for Ziggy_, a cracking collection of music-themed short stories from Sylvie Simmons, and Dani Amore's excellent _Death by Sarcasm_.


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## Skate (Jan 23, 2011)

"The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty" by Sebastian Barry
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

When I was a kid, back when you had to walk ten miles in the snow uphill both ways and there was no such thing as the Young Adults section, I remember standing in the Fantasy stacks and finding a book called "Magic Kingdom for Sale -- SOLD!"



I remember thinking it was THE FUNNIEST TITLE I HAD EVER SEEN.


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## MarionSipe (May 13, 2011)

My all time favorite title is a short story by Charles de Lint, "The Moon is Drowning While I Sleep."


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## Sherlock (Dec 17, 2008)

Love the children's book title by Judith Viorst "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day".


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

Just started "Skinny Legs and All" by Tom Robbins.  I like a title that is deeply enmeshed with the theme of the book (the whole thing is an extended metaphor of Salome dancing the Dance of the Seven Veils... with her skinny legs and all).  Excellent book.  It's prose is closer to poetry.  But the title is not really up to "Something Wicked This Way Comes" for the sheer "oh, what's that? I must read it!" factor.


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## Alexis-Shore (Feb 20, 2011)

Moab Is My Washpot.

The Star's Tennis Balls.


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## evanlavine (Oct 4, 2011)

I like these:

Random Acts of Senseless Violence



and

Kafka on The Shore


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

I love this one:

"Sleep and His Brother" by Peter Dickenson

His brother, of course, being death.


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

Short stories in quotes, book titles in caps.  Always liked these...

From Fritz Leiber: OUR LADY OF DARKNESS, NIGHT'S BLACK AGENTS, "Belsen Express," "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes."

From William Goldman: MARATHON MAN, BOYS AND GIRLS TOGETHER, SOLDIER IN THE RAIN, NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY

From Harlan Ellison: "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," "Lonelyache," "Jeffty Is Five," "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty," "Paladin of the Lost Hour," "All the Lies That Are My Life," SPIDER KISS

From John D. MacDonald: APRIL EVIL, THE EXECUTIONERS, CANCEL ALL OUR VOWS, END OF THE TIGER, THE LAST ONE LEFT

From Roger Zelazny: "A Rose for Ecclesiastes," "This Moment of the Storm," ISLE OF THE DEAD

From Theodore Sturgeon: "A Saucer of Loneliness," "Bright Segment," MORE THAN HUMAN, SOME OF YOUR BLOOD, "The Graveyard Reader," "The Widget, the Wadget, and Boff"

From Dennis Etchison: "It Only Comes Out at Night"

From James Tiptree Jr.: "The Women Men Don't See"

From Gerald Kersh: NIGHT AND THE CITY, MEN WITHOUT BONES

From Peter Beagle: "We Never Talk About My Brother," A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE, THE LAST UNICORN

From Cornell Woolrich: THE BRIDE WORE BLACK, THE BLACK PATH OF FEAR, NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES, BLACK ALIBI, RENDEZVOUS IN BLACK

From Don Robertson: THE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD, MISS MARGARET RIDPATH AND THE DISMANTLING OF THE UNIVERSE, MYSTICAL UNION, and THE IDEAL, GENUINE MAN


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## geniebeanie (Apr 23, 2009)

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus tells Scout that it is a sin to kill a Mockingbird because all they do is sing beautifully.  It is one of my favorite books of all time.


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## Andrew McCoy (Sep 17, 2011)

Tony Rabig said:


> From William Goldman: MARATHON MAN, BOYS AND GIRLS TOGETHER, SOLDIER IN THE RAIN, NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY
> 
> From Gerald Kersh: NIGHT AND THE CITY, MEN WITHOUT BONES


Thank you for reminding me of Gerald Kersh, a fine novelist now apparently forgotten.

Another fine title from Bill Goldman is THE COLOR OF LIGHT. It is enigmatic because light is the presence of all colours or the absence of colour.


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## Thomma Lyn (Oct 21, 2011)

I love the titles _The Wind-up Bird Chronicle_ (Haruki Murakami), _The Left Hand of Darkness_ (Ursula K. LeGuin), and _The Wind in the Willows_ (Kenneth Grahame).


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

Andrew McCoy said:


> Thank you for reminding me of Gerald Kersh, a fine novelist now apparently forgotten.
> 
> Another fine title from Bill Goldman is THE COLOR OF LIGHT. It is enigmatic because light is the presence of all colours or the absence of colour.


Meant to include THE COLOR OF LIGHT, but I was typing faster than I was thinking (not hard to do these days) and missed it. And Kersh -- THE DEAD LOOK ON, THE WEAK AND THE STRONG, PRELUDE TO A CERTAIN MIDNIGHT, "Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo?" and on and on.

Once you start thinking about terrific titles, though, you just can't quit -- d*mn things are worse than potato chips. Jack Finney, with I LOVE GALESBURG IN THE SPRINGTIME. Avram Davidson's "Or All the Seas with Oysters." I don't even want to start with Ray Bradbury. Ruth Rendell's A JUDGMENT IN STONE. Irwin Shaw with "Girls in Their Summer Dresses" and VOICES OF A SUMMER DAY. Henry James, too, with "The Beast in the Jungle," "The Altar of the Dead," and "The Turn of the Screw."

Jeez, stop me before I list more...


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## Debra Purdy Kong (Apr 1, 2009)

The first title that came to mind was "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. It's the first in a series of autobiographies and was a really compelling book.

I remember years ago reading an article about book titles and there was a book published called "In Praise of Older Women." It was said that the title alone rocketed the book to bestseller status. I didn't read the book, so I can't comment on the content, but I can see why the book sold a lot of copies based on the title alone!


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

BowlOfCherries said:


> Is Man a Myth?


 

Also "Nymphs and their Ways" and "Men, Monks and Gamekeepers, a Study in Popular Legend"


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## Tommie Lyn (Dec 7, 2009)

I like Sharyn McCrumb's titles (and her stories, too), but these are the ones that stand out most to me:

_If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him...

The PMS Outlaws

Lovely in Her Bones

She Walks these Hills

Bimbos of the Death Sun

Zombies of the Gene Pool

The Devil Amongst the Lawyers

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O_

And this title, by Vicki Lane, intrigued me so that I had to buy it...and I _loved_ the story:

_The Day of Small Things_


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## JLeighBralick (Oct 31, 2011)

Ahh...so many excellent book titles.

My favorite that I've encountered lately is _Anna Dressed in Blood_. I can't get that title out of my head for some reason. I haven't read it yet, but I'm going to have to, just because the title is so fantastic.

I also love Brandon Sanderson's _Warbreaker_. I don't know why that one just evokes so much meaning, but it does. I love that book.


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## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

Just reading this stunning thread again. It's amazing how many books with intriguing titles are also intriguing books.


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## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

Saw another one today: "Gargling with Tar"

Havent read it so no idea if it's good, but the title is fantastic.


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## Steverino (Jan 5, 2011)

_The Lovely Bones _is nicely enigmatic.

_The Left Hand of Darkness_.

Say what you want about the book, I think _The da Vinci Code_ is one of the most seductive titles ever.

And I love the title _House of Leaves_.

Are we allowed to list ineffective titles? No points for _Twilight_ or _1984_.


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## Darlene Jones (Nov 1, 2011)

Strange perhaps, but for me it's a longish title. I Do Not Come to You by Chance. Perhaps this stays in my mind more because the book was so powerful, rather than the title being catchy.


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## Vianka Van Bokkem (Aug 26, 2010)

purplepen79 said:


> Julia444 ~ love the Nancy Drew titles you picked--those are awesome. As an aside, the spookiest cover, IMO, is the cover for _The Mystery at Lilac Inn_
> 
> Some of my favorite titles are:
> 
> ...


I second all your titles!

-Vianka


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## wordsmithjts (Nov 14, 2011)

The title of a book definitely has to be something that leaps out at you. When you are thumbing through the bookstacks at your favorite book store or just looking through kindle to find a great book, the title is important. One of my favorite titles would have to be "The Catcher in the Rye." It's a very interesting title that most would not understand at first what it is referring to. It is definitely intriguing.


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## GerrieFerrisFinger (Jun 1, 2011)

Here's another I've always loved: Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

Oh, yeah, that's a wonderful title! I like Mourning Becomes Electra and The Iceman Cometh, too.


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

Robert Anderson's play I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER.  Great title, and for my money this play is the Great American Tragedy rather than Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN (which ain't a bad title itself).

Rod Serling's work for television gave us plenty of memorable titles, among them REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT, SLOW FADE TO BLACK, PATTERNS, THEY'RE TEARING DOWN TIM RILEY'S BAR, ON THURSDAY WE LEAVE FOR HOME, WALKING DISTANCE...


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## acellis (Oct 10, 2011)

There are some great titles here!


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

Southern writers have all the best titles, don't they? Not just To Kill a Mockingbird, but:

A Streetcar Named Desire
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Lie Down in Darkness
Set This House on Fire
Music for Chameleons
The Sound and the Fury
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Gone with the Wind


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## Ken Magee (Nov 17, 2011)

Here's an odd one that caught my eye some years ago... Is Shane MacGowan still alive? by Tim Bradford. The sub-title is Travels in Irishry.


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## Bailey Bristol (Mar 22, 2011)

Probably all of Stieg Larrson's books:  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, etc.


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## Steverino (Jan 5, 2011)

I have to say that I loved both the "supertitle" (the opposite of a subtitle?) and the bold first-person declaration:

_The first three are dead.

I AM NUMBER FOUR._


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## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

Cardinal Newman's poem, probably better known as the setting into an oratorio by Elgar:

The Dream of Gerontius

-- who was Gerontius, what was his dream, why do the great and the good think we should care?


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

geniebeanie said:


> In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus tells Scout that it is a sin to kill a Mockingbird because all they do is sing beautifully. It is one of my favorite books of all time.


This is all true. Great book, great title, and a great quote. But... Mockingbirds get their name for their ability to mimic sounds. They also have very powerful lungs for such small birds. I once heard a Mockingbird that had the sound of a car alarm stuck in its head. It sounded like there was a car lodged in a tree just outside my window. In such cases, even Atticus Finch could be wrong about Mockingbirds.


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## martaszemik (Dec 4, 2011)

Has to be Lord of the Rings for me 

Marta


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## Randirogue (Apr 25, 2011)

evanlavine said:


> Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore certainly grabbed my interest and I was not disappointed in the least.


We have multiple copies of this book and are wearing them out. I think it's the most read and retread book in my household. And considering how many times it's been retread by us, that's saying a lot because there are only two of us.

Other faves by Christopher Moore (and also great titles) are "Fool" (King Lear from the bawdy pov of the jester), "A Dirty Job" (widowed father raising his strange, precocious daughter who just happens to be Death while recruited to collect and distribute soul vessels -which end up in strange items), "You Suck: A Love Story" (vampire and slacker hilarity), and "Practical Demonkeeping" ('cause you know that has to be a reasonable and rational endeavor, tee hee).

With all those faves listed, you'd think he was my favorite author, but alas, while he is near the top of my list, Jacqueline Carey and her (sometimes poorly misinterpreted as bondage erotica even though there's probably like thirty pages out of over 900 in the first book slone that have any actual sex on them) lush use of language, inventive twists on historical inspirations, complex political/fantastical plots, and poignant, thought provoking exploration/humanization of fringe concepts.

But, her titles are good, but not to the captivating levels befitting the title of this thread.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

Debra Purdy Kong said:


> The first title that came to mind was "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou.


This was my first thought.


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## Nick Steckel (Sep 2, 2010)

Any of the Malazan Book of the Fallen books qualify. Here's the ten in order:

Gardens of the Moon
Deadhouse Gates (my favorite)
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides
The Bonehunters
Reaper's Gale
Toll the Hounds
Dust of Dreams
The Crippled God

I also think Dave Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius", Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and David Wong's "John Dies at the End" are good ones, too.


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## brianrowe (Mar 10, 2011)

The Catcher in the Rye. To Kill a Mockingbird. A Home at the End of the World. The Comfort of Strangers. Everything is Illuminated.


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## samuelhawk (Dec 8, 2011)

I would say "Woe to Live On".  Actually kind of upset that it was renamed when the movie came out.


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## teashopgirl (Dec 8, 2011)

Cool thread. Here are some titles that always stick in my mind:

Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him (not a great book, but the title stays with me)
The Emperor of All Maladies (I love how this title has the appropriate gravitas for its subject)
Bonk (funny and memorable)
Me Talk Pretty One Day

And I know this isn't part of the thread, but one title I've never liked (even though the book is arguably my favorite of all time) is The Great Gatsby. I just think the title could've been more evocative. I don't know. Maybe I'll start a thread called "alternate titles for The Great Gatsby."


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

How about "That Bitch Daisy"?


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## James Conway (Jul 7, 2011)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being comes to mind


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