Question of the day: good books, bad titles
While you're digesting--or not digesting--mentally or physically:
What's the worst title you know of to a book you actually like? Books that are themselves horrible don't count. The examples timprov and I came up with were Children of Dune, which neither of us actually likes all that much, but heavens, it's bland; Cyteen; and Have His Carcase.
I remember Cyteen actively putting me off for years because I thought it was about a cyber teenager, and bleh. (Cyteen is the name of the planet on which the book is set. It is filled with angst and woe and goodness.)
As for Have His Carcase--seriously? Seriously, Dorothy? Have His Carcase? This is the best we could do? There Is Someone Dead Somewhere And Oh, Hell, You'll Buy The New Lord Peter Book Anyway? I just--I am not impressed, is what. timprov made reference to Five Random Scotsmen, which gave me the urge to actually write a mystery novel called Five Random Scotsmen (dammit, timprov), but The Five Red Herrings still strikes me as far, far better than Have His Carcase.
I would include Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede on this list, but it's that horrible creature, an off-putting title for a book I like that actually suits the book well once I've read it. I can totally see why Bradley Denton called it that, and I do like the book (no, really, it is worth the time of day! it is not the horrible thing so many people think!)--but it's another one that caused so many people to go, "Ew." And yet I get that one, whereas Cyteen--meh, call it something else, call it something besides Here Is What Planet We're On This Time And Also It Happens To Sound Funny.
How about you? What strikes you as bland, mediocre, or generally bad for a book you actually like?
What's the worst title you know of to a book you actually like? Books that are themselves horrible don't count. The examples timprov and I came up with were Children of Dune, which neither of us actually likes all that much, but heavens, it's bland; Cyteen; and Have His Carcase.
I remember Cyteen actively putting me off for years because I thought it was about a cyber teenager, and bleh. (Cyteen is the name of the planet on which the book is set. It is filled with angst and woe and goodness.)
As for Have His Carcase--seriously? Seriously, Dorothy? Have His Carcase? This is the best we could do? There Is Someone Dead Somewhere And Oh, Hell, You'll Buy The New Lord Peter Book Anyway? I just--I am not impressed, is what. timprov made reference to Five Random Scotsmen, which gave me the urge to actually write a mystery novel called Five Random Scotsmen (dammit, timprov), but The Five Red Herrings still strikes me as far, far better than Have His Carcase.
I would include Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede on this list, but it's that horrible creature, an off-putting title for a book I like that actually suits the book well once I've read it. I can totally see why Bradley Denton called it that, and I do like the book (no, really, it is worth the time of day! it is not the horrible thing so many people think!)--but it's another one that caused so many people to go, "Ew." And yet I get that one, whereas Cyteen--meh, call it something else, call it something besides Here Is What Planet We're On This Time And Also It Happens To Sound Funny.
How about you? What strikes you as bland, mediocre, or generally bad for a book you actually like?