These book titles remind me of one of my least favorite trends in headlines, the bold, vaguely censorious assertion that is almost always wrong: "You Are Peeling Potatoes All Wrong" "You Don't Actually Like the Band Geese" "Why Your Children Hate You."
There were SO MANY other examples. I had to stop somewhere!
I'm a former newspaper and magazine editor, so I understand the logic behind those censorious heds, but they did get overplayed. P.S. "Why Your Children Hate You" is an example of one of the other trends I mention, the faux-journalism title (who-what-when-where-why-how).
This sort of title makes sense if you peruse new books in the same way you peruse article titles in a big periodical. My own book titles are two words each, and the two words give the shopper an idea of the story, but don't explain the genre. Maybe they give you a hint at the tone.
This full-sentence thing is more like an article: "The Two Reasons Bobby Can't Get Married," or "Of Course We Hate You: You're an Idiot." Maybe "The Girl On the Train Gets Off."
Next up, "Something Bad Is REALLY Going to Happen." Interestingly, you can't copyright a book title. Years ago, I proposed to my agent a book titled "War and Peace: Jane Fonda's Workout Book." She pointed out that Ms. Fonda could still sue me for stealing her name.
Back in the 1920s, publishers liked to say they could sell any book that had Lincoln, a doctor, or a dog in the title. In the years since, several books came out with the title "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog." (I challenge my fellow writers to pitch "Lincoln's Doctor's Vampire Dog." Or maybe "The Girl Who Gave Lincoln's Doctor a Dog.")
One more title yarn: "Naked Came the Stranger," a huge bestseller in 1969, turned out to be a hoax. The alleged author, "Penelope Ashe," was the nom du blague of a young secretary at Newsday. The real authors, two dozen reporters, didn't let the woman read the book before she went out on press tour. The genius behind the hoax, a Newsday editor, wrote a tell-all book appropriately titled "Stranger Than Naked, or How to Write a Dirty Book for Fun and Profit." As a young editor, I treasured that book.
Several years ago I got to know a woman named Jane who revealed -- to my utter surprise -- that she had been one of the contributors to "Naked Came the Stranger." She eventually left journalism and got a PhD in anthropology.
Super interesting! How about "This Is How You Lose the Time War." Hopefully that book returns to the zeitgeist if it ever gets adapted into a show or movie.
If you were wondering about the name "Julian Brave NoiseCat," per Wikipedia:
> Notwithstanding an anecdote that the name "NoiseCat" derives from the 1959 incident in which NoiseCat's father, as a newborn at an Indian residential school, was abandoned in a trash incinerator, where he was found by a night watchman who purportedly thought the infant's crying sounded like a cat,[25] it actually has nothing to do with noises or cats. "NoiseCat" was a bastardization of the ancestral name "Newísket", which might mean "Long Day" or "Tall Timber Day", but unfortunately nobody remembers the exact meaning of the name.
I think a portrait can also be "glittering." At least I think that's what my jacket copy read? Or maybe a society - I can't bear to look at it again! And it sounds like "everyone is lying for money" is the new horror story, not to mention the current government's global warfare and economic strategy. This is very well-done. I think my new book title may fall into this category minus one article - maybe I'll add it back!
OG exanmple: “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”
See also: No One Belongs Here More Than You.
These book titles remind me of one of my least favorite trends in headlines, the bold, vaguely censorious assertion that is almost always wrong: "You Are Peeling Potatoes All Wrong" "You Don't Actually Like the Band Geese" "Why Your Children Hate You."
There were SO MANY other examples. I had to stop somewhere!
I'm a former newspaper and magazine editor, so I understand the logic behind those censorious heds, but they did get overplayed. P.S. "Why Your Children Hate You" is an example of one of the other trends I mention, the faux-journalism title (who-what-when-where-why-how).
I find the opposite form more irritating: “Why we all love _______”. I rarely love whatever it is. Do I not count?
How to make the best scrambled eggs. What the hell is wrong with mine? It's so NOT "I'm OK You're OK."
This sort of title makes sense if you peruse new books in the same way you peruse article titles in a big periodical. My own book titles are two words each, and the two words give the shopper an idea of the story, but don't explain the genre. Maybe they give you a hint at the tone.
This full-sentence thing is more like an article: "The Two Reasons Bobby Can't Get Married," or "Of Course We Hate You: You're an Idiot." Maybe "The Girl On the Train Gets Off."
Next up, "Something Bad Is REALLY Going to Happen." Interestingly, you can't copyright a book title. Years ago, I proposed to my agent a book titled "War and Peace: Jane Fonda's Workout Book." She pointed out that Ms. Fonda could still sue me for stealing her name.
Back in the 1920s, publishers liked to say they could sell any book that had Lincoln, a doctor, or a dog in the title. In the years since, several books came out with the title "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog." (I challenge my fellow writers to pitch "Lincoln's Doctor's Vampire Dog." Or maybe "The Girl Who Gave Lincoln's Doctor a Dog.")
One more title yarn: "Naked Came the Stranger," a huge bestseller in 1969, turned out to be a hoax. The alleged author, "Penelope Ashe," was the nom du blague of a young secretary at Newsday. The real authors, two dozen reporters, didn't let the woman read the book before she went out on press tour. The genius behind the hoax, a Newsday editor, wrote a tell-all book appropriately titled "Stranger Than Naked, or How to Write a Dirty Book for Fun and Profit." As a young editor, I treasured that book.
Several years ago I got to know a woman named Jane who revealed -- to my utter surprise -- that she had been one of the contributors to "Naked Came the Stranger." She eventually left journalism and got a PhD in anthropology.
Of course she did!
Super interesting! How about "This Is How You Lose the Time War." Hopefully that book returns to the zeitgeist if it ever gets adapted into a show or movie.
If you were wondering about the name "Julian Brave NoiseCat," per Wikipedia:
> Notwithstanding an anecdote that the name "NoiseCat" derives from the 1959 incident in which NoiseCat's father, as a newborn at an Indian residential school, was abandoned in a trash incinerator, where he was found by a night watchman who purportedly thought the infant's crying sounded like a cat,[25] it actually has nothing to do with noises or cats. "NoiseCat" was a bastardization of the ancestral name "Newísket", which might mean "Long Day" or "Tall Timber Day", but unfortunately nobody remembers the exact meaning of the name.
Hah!
I love "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This." It's sarcastic, cynical, and true.
One day, I hope to chide Republicans I know with this. If they haven't managed to ruin everything.
That's kind of like Nobody Wants This. Which is also appropriate for Republicans, even though it's not a book title.
I think a portrait can also be "glittering." At least I think that's what my jacket copy read? Or maybe a society - I can't bear to look at it again! And it sounds like "everyone is lying for money" is the new horror story, not to mention the current government's global warfare and economic strategy. This is very well-done. I think my new book title may fall into this category minus one article - maybe I'll add it back!
You said it: These titles are SO HARD to remember.
Side note: The Tom Junod memoir is pretty good.
He’s a terrific writer.