“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”
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.
Edgar Allen Poe’s story “Never Bet The Devil Your Head”
Plan 9 From Outer Space
'Til We Have Faces"
Another brilliant one by C.S. Lewis
“Einstein’s Dreams”
Philip Lightman"
“One Thousand Years of Solitude”
G.G. Marquez
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.
I didn’t care for the book, and the movie was “meh,” but I loved the title: The Deep End of the Ocean.
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?
Wow, thank you for this. I will have to get it for my father, to go with his Boring Postcards volumes.
Even Dwarfs Started Small
Fear Eats the Soul
Last Exit To Brooklyn
Gas, Food, Lodging
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
Little, Big
I note well the plural ‘volumes’.
Presumably your father is also the proud owner of Boring Postcards: UK and Langweilige Postkarten (Boring Postcards: Germany).
It’s a pity (and I really mean that) that Highlights in the History of Concrete is unavailable for purchase, otherwise I would certainly have requested it as a filler for my Christmas stocking.
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.
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.
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
Bollocks to Alton Towers: Uncommonly British Days Out 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.
Great title, mind-numbingly bad movie: Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama.
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.
[nitpick]That would be waaay too much solitude. You mean “hundred.”[/nitpick]
Debbie Does Dallas. Sums everything up in three words (all beginning with the same letter, by the way).
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.
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