Don't judge a book by its cover...
 

... judge it by its title.

From time to time a book title strikes me as intriguing. Some of my favourite book titles are from books I haven't read. Others are old friends.

One of my favourite titles to date is: Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Rolls off the tongue like black cherry.

One I like but have never read is: The Steep Approach to Garbadale by Iain Banks. Don't know why. Maybe because I live in Calderdale and it resonated with me as a name.

I always really liked the titles Stephen Donaldson gave his books. Particularly for his Gap sequence. Two in particular stand out for me:

The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises
The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die.

I've recently added another title to my favourites list and again it's one I have never read. Mainly because it hasn't been released yet. I'm not usually one for short stories (unless they're Whovian in nature:P) but one of the Big Finish crew (playwrite and writer of several doctor who episodes for tv) is also writer of shorts. His newest collection is called:

Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical,
by Robert Shearman.

That's the title that got me thinking about book titles just lately. As soon as I read that I thought, I need to tell the Cellar about that one. Something about it reminded me of us :P

So...anyway/ Anyone else got any cool, astounding, beautiful, or just plain strange, booktitles that have stuck with them?

I never look at the title first when handling a hard copy. I'll glance at it but I don't buy books based on the title. I do look at authors names first because some I can't stand.

I actually just look at the size of the print. The smaller the print the better the book. I then will read an excerpt and if I like it then I read the cover front and back.

"How to Heal the Hurt by Hating".....Anita Liberty.

I got the book during a period when there were so many self-help books coming out that I thought I was drowning in them. That was a welcome title...The book is all in fun, and a comedy of course. As soon as I had heard of it, I got a copy. It's so worth it...It sits on the shelf and only the really adept book seeker can see the title. It sits in-between classics and dictionaries. It's almost a joke waiting to be found.

Wonderful! I love it.

"On Sledge and Horseback to Outcast Siberian Lepers" is probably the most striking title on my shelves ...

Both great books which are part of The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson. Brilliant work IMO.

eta: You should stop and read the whole lot.

*Smiles* I read them all as they came out. Those were just the two titles that had stayed in my mind most strongly. Awesome series.