The kid’s book The Story of The Little Mole who went in search of Whodunit is a pretty good title. In Danish it’s a bit more graphically titled: Muldvarpen, der ville vide, hvem der havde lavet lort på dens hoved (The Mole who wanted to know who had laid a turd on its head). I like the Danish one more and it was the first one I thought of.
David Foster Wallace published some essays with titles that I enjoy:
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again
Certainly The End Of Something Or Other, One Would Sort Of Have To Think
Then there’s a book by Julian Jaynes called The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind.
And since some have noted song titles, I like Junior Brown’s (You’re Wanted By The Police And) My Wife Thinks You’re Dead.
The Poisonwood Bible
The Origin of Species - yeah, it’d be a dry read but the title would grab me if I’d never heard of evolution.
Inferno
Ordered, but not yet arrived:
Installing Linux on a Dead Badger by Lucy A. Snyder
I’m not too crazy about the book itself, but one of my all-time favorite novel titles is The Crying of Lot 49. It’s so creepily enigmatic, but not so much that it seems deliberately nonsensical. In fact, it does mean something, but you don’t find out what until the very end of the book.
For short stories, I’m surprised no one has mentioned R.A. Lafferty yet. Nobody was better at coming up with eye-catching, unforgettable titles. Here are just a few:
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
The Six Fingers of Time
Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne
The World as Will and Wallpaper
And Read the Flesh Between the Lines
Flaming Ducks and Giant Bread
Groaning Hinges of the World
When All the Lands Pour Out Again
Lord Torpedo, Lord Gyroscope
Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies
About a Secret Crocodile
What’s really amazing is that most Lafferty stories actually live up to (or in many cases surpass) the bizarre allure of their titles.
There was a porn titled “Yank My Doodle It’s a Dandy” That is by far the best ever titled porn flick.
King Missile also hase some great song titles like:
The boy who ate lasagne and could jump over a church (parts 1 and 2)
Detatchable Penis
And of course there’s always Frank Zappa
Fembot in a Wet T-shirt
Peaches in Regalia
Nanook Rubs It
Watermelon in Easter Hay
The Brentford Chainstore Massacre - Robert Rankin
Show White and the Seven Samurai - Tom Holt
Snakes on a Plane
Bonus points for the great, and equally descriptive, double entendre.
I’ve thought of a couple more.
James Kirkwood’s novel PS Your Cat is Dead
and a favorite novelty song of mine
Who Put The Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine?