Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming, by Roger Zelazny
It never caught me as a book, but I loved the title.
**Starship and Haiku ** by… I think. Somtow Suchartikul (if I spelled that right, I will be flat out amazed). I got through half of it, then wandered off to do something else, and never finished. Still have it, though, for when my brain finally stops buzzing around. It’s the kind of book you want focus to read. The plot wasn’t much, but the way the book talked about beauty was eye-catching.
The Last Whales by Lloyd Abbey. The story of the whales after the nuclear winter arrives. Mutation, starvation, and loneliness. Was trying to be lyrical like that seagull book, but it didn’t work too well. It made me sad, and reposes in the used bookstore-bound pile.
Stiff, the book about what our US society does with cadavers. Fascinating read if you don’t get icked out.
Beasts, by John Crowley. Amazing book. I keep meaning to pick up more books of his, but the 80’s color pencil cover of that one was amazingly dated, so I didn’t expect much. Silly Liz.
Get Your Tongue Out of My Mouth, I’m Kissing You Goodbye! by Cynthia Heimel.
Not too bad – you just reversed two letters: Sucharitkul. He tends to write as SP Somtow to avoid problems like that.
Some other great book titles:
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany
What Entropy Means to Me by George Alec Effinger
Towing Jehovah by James Morrow
It Came from Schenectady by Barry Longyear
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Age 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
I remember as a kid picking up and loving The Snark-Out Boys and the Avacado of Death
Also, I can remember running across Fat Men from Outer Space.
Buddy Holly Is Alive And Well On Ganymede by Bradley Denton. I think that was the title. An okay book, Denton’s short fiction is better than his novels, I think. I got started reading him after flipping through a copy of F&SF and seeing his novella title, The Calvin Coolidge Home For Dead Comedians.
Sir Rhosis
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers. It wasn’t. Catchy title, though.
Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb. It’s a mystery set at a science fiction convention. When I saw the title, I figured it was either really good, or hilariously bad. It was very good. Readers who have gone to cons should really enjoy this book. I highly recommend it, though it’s old…I read it in Las Vegas, and I moved to Fort Worth in 88, so it must be almost 20 years old.
Me too but I thought it was - loved it.
In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead got me started on James Lee Burke.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain was displayed so that I could see the direputable photo on the cover, which helped set the mood.
Can’t think of any others that I knew nothing about.
Hey, I bought that one for the title alone too! I’ve not had chance to read it yet though.
Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre comes to mind, as does Snow White & The Seven Samurai by Tom Holt. The former was better than the latter, but I enjoyed both immensely.
I agree. The book has been reprinted many times, and IIRC, is still in print. I don’t think the wonderful pictures ar still in it, though.
There’s a sequel with an equally-compelling title (and it had a great 1950’s horror comic cover), Zombies of the Gene Pool. Not quite as good, but not bad. Unfortunately, I think this one is out of print.
FYI, this woman is also the voice of Violet in the Incredibles.
Amazon says it’s in print, and more copies are on the way. They’re even selling them together.
(I expected a discount, but the bundle price is the same as the individual books, after considering the discounted ZotGP.)
I’m sure I’ve picked up lots of books because of the title, but I can’t think of any offhand except Microserfs, which was already mentioned.
Life of Pi. It was okay. The title of The Little Prince, on the other hand, practically convinced my 10-year-old self not to read it, and what a loss that would have been.
Waiting for the Galatic Bus by Parke Godwin. Quite amusing, and I’m glad I bought it (along with the sequel). The “About the Author” part at the end has a sort of disclaimer from the editor saying that the author has been told repeatedly that he should keep his funny remarks out of the bio and and keep them for the book itself.
Our Sister Killjoy
Get Off the Unicorn
I haven’t read it, but I want to:
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
SpazCat, I read The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. It’s a collection of stories about Spokane rez life, with a grudge. This is the book that earned Sherman Alexie the reputation of angry young man. It formed the basis for the movie Smoke Signals.
ditto on:
Bimbos of the Death Sun & Zombies of the Gene Pool by Sharyn McCrumb
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers
Also by McCrumb, who just has a genius for titles, If I’d Killed Him When I Met Him.
Then there’s When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman, Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, **Practical Demonkeeping ** by Christopher Moore, **The Dogs of Babel ** by Carolyn Parkhurstand, The Martian Child by David Gerrold and The Disapparation of James by Anne Ursu.
The ranged from excellent (Penman & Gerrold) to not too shabby (Moore).
I work in an Oxfam second-hand bookshop and a few months ago we had the 1948 best-seller A History of Cheese-Making in South Africa. We actually sold it after a couple of weeks for £8!
Skinny Legs And All. Worth it. Still my favorite book by Robbins.
Those About To Die. Never really bought it, but I checked it out of the school library many, many times.