Comments on: Books Oprah Wants to Club

Books Oprah Wants to Club

wendell — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:13:59 -0800

It's time again for the greatest literary competition this side of Bulwer-Lytton: The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title (previously), and YOU can vote here for your favorite from 'the shortlist':
I Was Tortured By the Pygmy Love Queen (scroll down to see the author's blog)
How to Write a How to Write Book (other books by the author, mostly unavailable)
Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues (written by a woman)
Cheese Problems Solved (ONLY £135.00)
If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs (with extra points for the author's name: Big Boom)
and People who Mattered in Southend and Beyond: From King Canute to Dr Feelgood (this might be declared ineligible since the publisher's cover picture shows a shortened title) The books that, sadly, missed the cut: Drawing and Painting the Undead
Stafford Pageant: The Exciting Innovative Years 1901–1952
Tiles of the Unexpected: A Study of Six Miles of Geometric Tile Patterns on the London Underground(my personal choice)
Squid Recruitment Dynamics (also available as a FREE pdf)
and Glory Remembered: Wooden Headgear of Alaska Sea Hunters

By: tremspeed

tremspeed — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:28:19 -0800

Squid Recruitment Dynamics. that's that new Bob Pollard solo joint, right?

By: Roach

Roach — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:33:13 -0800

No Island of the Sequined Love Nun or Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore?

By: spasm

spasm — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:40:38 -0800

A Melon For Ecstasy?

By: ZaneJ.

ZaneJ. — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:57:47 -0800

Neither of which, gentlemen, where published in 2007.

By: ZaneJ.

ZaneJ. — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:58:59 -0800

Er, none of which where published in 2007. Need caffeine.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:00:22 -0800

A Melon For Ecstasy? I love that book. It takes its title from the old arab saying: A woman for duty. A boy for pleasure. But a melon for ecstasy.

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:02:12 -0800

"Cheese Problems Solved" is a magnificent name for a book. When I have a cheese problem, I now know exactly where to go for the answer. It sells itself.

By: box

box — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:07:22 -0800

That Big Boom book is actually quite popular at my library. He's got a follow-up called 'How to duck a suckah: a guide to living a drama-free life.'

By: Enroute

Enroute — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:15:46 -0800

Wow, Cheese Problems Solved solves problems I didn't know cheese had! To wit: How can I cure the "toad-skin" and "cat-hair" defects of Camembert cheese? What causes "blind" Emmental cheese? Why might smear cheese develop excessive mould? Sobering.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:17:45 -0800

Wonderful, now you can add cheese to the list of "things with problems".

By: burnmp3s

burnmp3s — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:18:19 -0800

When the title was Cheese, people said "But what about the problems?" When the title was changed to Cheese Problems, people said "But what about the solutions?" When the title was changed to Cheese Problems Solved, people said "I smell international best-seller. And cheese."

By: Floydd

Floydd — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:26:50 -0800

I think the key is to look at them as cheese opportunities.

By: otio

otio — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:31:56 -0800

Are Women Human? shouldn't be included as it's just stolen from Dorothy L. Sayers.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:32:04 -0800

collected Speeches of Marcel Marceau

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:23:34 -0800

My personal favourite: How to Avoid Huge Ships

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:09:51 -0800

I love FPP's where I don't even need to click on anything in the entire post or thread and already I'm laughing.

By: allen.spaulding

allen.spaulding — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:14:12 -0800

I don't see why MacKinnon's book is on the list. It's a pretty smart title for a book that asks whether or not international law and the international community views women as humans when it comes to things like Human Rights. It's a brilliant collection of essays by one of the leading public intellectuals of an era. One of these things is not like the others.

By: rush

rush — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:36:57 -0800

My personal all-time favorite is "How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarky? or Effective Way?" It's a stunning read.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:38:49 -0800

For sheer self-referentiality, but actually a very useful if not indispensible read, I submit How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren. It was a real "gift that keeps on giving" early in college; wish I'd read it in high school instead.

By: rush

rush — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:40:36 -0800

67... 68... 69... 70 ...

By: Target Practice

Target Practice — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:59:40 -0800

This contest is a fraud. The clear winner is Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:03:23 -0800

I've got 99 problems, but the "toad-skin" and "cat-hair" defects of Camembert ain't one.

By: Tube

Tube — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:44:07 -0800

My all time favorite book title was also the subject of a Metafilter FPP: How to Draw a Straight Line. A close second is Charles Fort's Lo!

By: cogneuro

cogneuro — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:11:03 -0800

well, it's no "cheese problems solved," but I always thought this was funny. It's 448 pages on the history of the pencil. It's called "The Pencil."

By: jonp72

jonp72 — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:30:32 -0800

A personal favorite: Void Where Prohibited: Rest Breaks and the Right to Urinate on Company Time Marketing the Menacing Fetus in Japan is also up there.

By: mannequito

mannequito — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:52:11 -0800

no 'I Am America (And So Can You)'?

By: taz

taz — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:24:52 -0800

I vote for Cheese Problems Solved: Start With Your Legs.

By: A-Train

A-Train — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:38:23 -0800

How am I supposed to believe that this is a serious attempt to find the oddest book titles when there are no entries from Crad Kilodney? Lightning Struck My Dick, Blood Sucking Monkeys from North Tonawanda, Suburban Chicken Strangling Stories are the first that come to mind. And Kilodney's efforts go far beyond being merely curious titles, of course.

By: Catfry

Catfry — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:48:49 -0800

Neither of those titles are from 2007, A-Train.

By: Catfry

Catfry — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:51:09 -0800

Er, none of which are from 2007. Too much caffeine.

By: A-Train

A-Train — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:40:35 -0800

Oh. Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. I'll apply Rush's defense and say I was thinking of my all-time favorites. Carry on.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:40:46 -0800

Don't forget Stewart Home, notable for titles such as: Blow Job Cunt 69 Things to Do with a Dead Princess Whips & Furs: My Life as a bon-vivant, gambler & love rat by Jesus H. Christ Fasting on SPAM and Other Non-aligned Diets for Our Electronic Age The Correct Way to Boil Water

By: liza

liza — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:31:42 -0800

Squid Recruitment Dynamics : I feel a punk rock band in the making :D