Last Friday morning as I was having my first hot drink of the day an article caught my ear - is there a more appropriate phrase? - and this was about the overall winner of the 30 years of the Oddest Book Title competition which is run by The Bookseller.
The winner is "Greek Rural Postmen and their cancellation numbers" by Derek Willan which has been voted the oddest title of them all in the last 3o years.
2nd was "People who don't know they're dead "- Gary Leon Hill
3rd -"How to avoid huge ships" - John Trimmer
The presenter interviewed a startled elderly 91 year old Derek Willan who needless to say was delighted with this unexpected accolade.
Here are a few past winners.
The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year:
Winners
1980: The Joy of Chickens
1984: The book of Marmalade
1988: Versailles: The View From Sweden
1992: How to Avoid Huge Ships
1994: Highlights in the History of Concrete
1995: Reusing Old Graves
1996: Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers
1999: Weeds in a Changing World
2002: Living With Crazy Buttocks
2004: Bombproof Your Horse
2006: The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America
Comprehensive list at theBookseller.com
I'm off to Truro later today so a browse in the bookshop is a must perusing titles for their quirkiness!
Any offers?!
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11 comments:
Brilliant ones!!
I shall go and browse in a bookshop and hopefully be back...
Hi Kissa, thanks for calling by my blog. I am afraid to say I actually own a copy of Bombproof your Horse!
Enjoy your day in Truro.
jan: any luck? Nice to see you.
fern: fancy youowning one of the list! Well if I am honest I quite fancy a copy of Versailles from Sweden!
I would love to read a book about 'Stray Shopping Carts'. I'm odd too I guess. The Joy of Chickens made me laugh loudest.
benjibopper: I feel sure that the titles are probably way better than the content however maybe I will track one of these down and find out one day on a dusty shelf at the back of a library somewhere.
I do agree with the joy of chickens, and would also like to bombproof my horse. Great titles. Debs x
Fantastic titles! Thank you for giving me a good laugh.
lehners in france & welshcakes: I laughed too with the radio presenter.
The 2004 winner is really worrying me... ;-)
Just dropping by your blog!
I feel that I ought to come up with some odd titles, but I'm afraid they'd all be in Dutch gathered from the library catalog. I could cheat and check into an American library catalog, I suppose, but do I have the where with all for that? I could make some up, would that count?
Like: "How to streamline your Cocker Spaniel."
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