Shortlist for Oddest Book Title of the Year Announced
Fed up with awards yet? Too bad, because the shortlist for the Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year has been announced. The entries this year include:
- How Tea Cosies Changed the World by Loani Prior
- Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts by Jerry Gagne
- God’s Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis by Tom Hickman
- Was Hitler Ill? by Henrik Eberle and Hans-Joachim Neumann
- How to Sharpen Pencils by David Rees
- Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop by Reginald Bakeley
Horace Bent, Bookseller diarist and custodian of the prize, appears to be setting a trend, as for the second year in a row a book with the word ‘penis’ in its title has appeared on the shortlist (last year’s entry was The Great Singapore Penis Panic and the Future of American Mass Hysteria by Scott D Mendelson). Mr Bent had this to say about this year’s list:
It remains a great honour to represent a prize that draws attention to authors not called Hilary Mantel that may need a little help in gaining column inches and subsequently entering public consciousness and bookshop bestseller bays.
Started in 1978 at the Frankfurt Book Fair to celebrate “an undervalued art” which is nevertheless very important to getting a book noticed, the first winner was entitled Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice — surely a classic.
The winner will be chosen by popular vote via website www.welovethisbook.com with the winner being announced on the 22nd of March.
I’m off to vote for Goblinproofing… and to think about making my next book title more interesting.
News by Dean Fetzer
Dean Fetzer is originally from a small town in eastern Colorado, but has lived in London, England, for the past 21 years. After a career in graphic design, he started a pub review website in the late 90’s; He left that in 2011 to concentrate on his thriller writing, as well as offering publishing services for authors, poets and artists. When not writing - or in the pub - he can be found in the theatre, live music venues and travelling.
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