top 5 tuesday

top 5 tuesday: Favorite Book Titles

Rachel16 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the fantastic Bionic Bookworm.  This week’s topic:

DECEMBER 4 – Top 5 book titles

When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy

I love everything about this.  I love the subtitle and I love that the title is a line written by the protagonist’s husband.  The framing of her narrative around this abusive man is so effective, and when you read that line in the book it’s such a gut punch.

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Elif Batuman

There’s something about describing your own protagonist with this bizarrely harsh word that I’m always drawn to.  (Have read the Batuman, have not yet read the Dostoevsky.)

The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney

Delightfully irreverent and contradictory.  This is a fantastic pairing of words.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

I mean.  This title is perfection.  Haven’t read this yet; am largely interested because of that title.

Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch by Henry Miller

Another one I haven’t read, so I do not have the slightest clue how the title works in the context of the book, but that is just the most wonderfully unexpected way to finish a title that begins with ‘Big Sur’ and I just adore it.  Also because Hieronymus Bosch is one of my favorite artists and I’m just dying to know the connection between California and the Northern Renaissance.

What’s your favorite book title?  Comment and let me know!

16 thoughts on “top 5 tuesday: Favorite Book Titles”

  2. Great list! The Glorious Heresies is such a wonderful title and I really like The Idiot too. I’ve read the Dostoevsky, not the Bautman, but I hope I’ll enjoy the latter more. A few of my favorite titles are St Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, A Field Guide to Getting Lost and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? I guess I have a thing for long titles.

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    • I love long titles too! The Idiot is definitely the exception for me. I love titles that are full sentences. I LOVED Batuman’s Idiot, I hope you also enjoy it! I do want to read the Dostoevsky at some point even though I’ve heard it’s kind of tedious. I like all of those titles you mentioned too! Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? is a great one.

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    • Oooooh I had no idea. Thank you Mr Blake it is a kickass title. I’ve really gotta read the Dostoevsky Idiot at some point. And Drive Your Plow is one of the books I asked for for Christmas so I’ll probably be reading that one soon!

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  4. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is AMAZING, omg. I’m always so jealous of amazing titles because I am so terrible at coming up with any that are good.

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    • RIGHT??? Like damn what a memorable title. Ugh I know they’re SO hard 😦 I’d also be so scared of coming up with a title I think is amazing and a publisher being like lol we’re not doing that.

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