# What are your favourite titles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161 "2007-12-07T15:25:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/21 "2007-12-07T18:52:06Z")
“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/22 "2007-12-07T18:54:26Z")
The Beans of Egypt, Maine. I heard (never saw in print) the title so many times it became “The Beans of Egypt Main” in my mind’s eye, giving it a mysterious quality. Beans? Egypt Main? Hmm, what could that mean? Makes you want to know more about this book! I think the title’s purposely enigmatic-sounding (it’s not really enigmatic) to give that pleasurable instant of recognition when you read the book and find out what the title is all about. I always thought it was a clever title. I won’t spoil it for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/23 "2007-12-07T19:08:55Z")
Edgar Allen Poe’s story “Never Bet The Devil Your Head” Plan 9 From Outer Space ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/24 "2007-12-07T19:20:59Z")
'Til We Have Faces" Another brilliant one by C.S. Lewis “Einstein’s Dreams” Philip Lightman" “One Thousand Years of Solitude” G.G. Marquez ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/25 "2007-12-07T19:23:27Z")
I’m a sucker for titles with the words “time” and any variation of “dark”. “Dead” will make me look twice too, and “lost”. _Geek Love_ is a great title. How could anyone not pick that up? I would have bought _Court of the Midnight King_ even if it wasn’t about Richard III and didn’t have magic. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/26 "2007-12-07T19:53:14Z")
I didn’t care for the book, and the movie was “meh,” but I loved the title: **The Deep End of the Ocean**. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/27 "2007-12-07T20:03:48Z")
_Gone-Away Lake_ is one of my favorite titles from childhood. It’s mysterious! And a lake! Recipe for success. I always liked _The Taking of Pellham One Two Three_, which should be too clunky to like, but I enjoy the realism. I always get _Pursuit of Love_ and _Love in a Cold Climate_ confused, because the first book is so good, and the second title is so good, they should go together. For years I thought _Gaudy Night_ an especially good title, but it seems more dramatic to me, I think, because we don’t use that meaning of “gaudy” in the U.S. Recently, I love _Sorcery and Cecelia; or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot_ – sorcery _and_ chocolate? What’s not to like? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/28 "2007-12-07T20:32:27Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] [The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stray-Shopping-Carts-Eastern-America/dp/0810955202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197042222&sr=1-1). [/QUOTE] Wow, thank you for this. I will have to get it for my father, to go with his [Boring Postcards](http://www.amazon.com/Boring-Postcards-USA-Martin-Parr/dp/0714843911/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197059500&sr=8-1) volumes. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/29 "2007-12-07T20:59:10Z")
Even Dwarfs Started Small Fear Eats the Soul Last Exit To Brooklyn Gas, Food, Lodging The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Little, Big ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/30 "2007-12-07T21:00:53Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Wow, thank you for this. I will have to get it for my father, to go with his [Boring Postcards](http://www.amazon.com/Boring-Postcards-USA-Martin-Parr/dp/0714843911/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197059500&sr=8-1) volumes. [/QUOTE] I note well the plural ‘volume **s** ’. Presumably your father is also the proud owner of [Boring Postcards: UK](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boring-Postcards-Martin-Parr/dp/0714838950) and [Langweilige Postkarten](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Langweilige-Postkarten-Boring-Postcards-Germany/dp/0714840629/ref=pd_sbs_b_img_4) (Boring Postcards: Germany). It’s a pity (and I really mean that) that [Highlights in the History of Concrete](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Highlights-History-Concrete-C-C-Stanley/dp/072101156X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197060741&sr=1-1) is unavailable for purchase, otherwise I would certainly have requested it as a filler for my Christmas stocking. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/31 "2007-12-07T21:30:39Z")
My favorite Harlan Ellison title is “Adrift off the Islets of Langerhans”. I don’t remember the subtitle, or anything at all about the story, but I love the title (mainly because I am enough of a geek to know what the Islets of Langerhans are). My favorite movie title is Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers: or, Pardon Me, but Your Teeth Are In My Neck. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/32 "2007-12-07T21:55:13Z")
**You don’t have to be evil to work here but it helps** by Tom Holt, it’s as twisted as it sounds. **The poisonwood bible** - great title, great book. **Never let me go** - I’ve not actually read the book but it’s still a lovely title. **Carter beats the devil** - again, not read the book (and not likely to after reading the blurb) but sounds like the kind of book that I _could_ like. **Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell** - an intriguing title that pulls you in, I feel. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/33 "2007-12-07T22:06:19Z")
[QUOTE=E. Thorp] **The Friday Book: Or, Book Titles Should Be Straightforward and Subtitles Avoided** by John Barth [/QUOTE] By the same author: _The Sot-Weed Factor_ By John Kennedy Toole: _A Confederacy of Dunces_ By Allan Gurganus: _Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All_ ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/34 "2007-12-07T23:11:49Z")
[Bollocks to Alton Towers: Uncommonly British Days Out](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bollocks-Alton-Towers-Uncommonly-British/dp/071814791X) Another good one to go with the postcards and bicycles. _A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil_- Christopher Brookmyre. His titles are great. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/35 "2007-12-07T23:16:11Z")
Great title, mind-numbingly bad movie: [Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama](http://imdb.com/title/tt0096142/). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/36 "2007-12-07T23:21:26Z")
I also like the title _That Hideous Strength_, despite having never read the book. _The Flying Sorcerers_ by David Gerrold and Larry Niven. _The Fire That Severs Day From Night_, a chapter heading in the webcomic _A Miracle of Science_. _The Book of Night With Moon_ by Diane Duane. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/37 "2007-12-07T23:54:09Z")
[QUOTE=Hazle Weatherfield] “One Thousand Years of Solitude” G.G. Marquez [/QUOTE] [nitpick]That would be waaay too much solitude. You mean “hundred.”[/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/38 "2007-12-07T23:57:47Z")
_Debbie Does Dallas_. Sums everything up in three words (all beginning with the same letter, by the way). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/39 "2007-12-08T00:13:55Z")
Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict. (Song) … and You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead. (Band) My Brother’s Blood Machine (Album.) (This is perhaps a double entendre, as there is a pair of brothers in this concept album that have a device called the Blood Machine, and the band that performs this is The Prize Fighter Inferno, and in the backstory, the actual Prize Fighter’s brother (Coheed Kilgannon) is a robot, who of course doesn’t have a heart, but a…) Prick up Your Ears. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161/40 "2007-12-08T00:20:22Z")
I might get this one slightly wrong. **Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You In The Closet, And I’m Feeling So Sad** **The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter** **How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying** **Something, Anything** **The Ropes To Know, And The Ropes To Skip** **How Can You Be In Two Places At Once, When You’re Not Anywhere At All** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-titles/429161.md?page=3)