Memorable Book Titles

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Time to talk titles of novels again! The names of books are very important, of course, and can be good in a utilitarian sort of way or very memorable. Today, I’m going to focus on the latter.

This topic occurred to me last week as I read The Late Show by Michael Connelly. It’s a page-turning start of a series featuring Renee Ballard, a Los Angeles police officer of Polynesian descent who deals with crime on her beat and sexism within her department. The novel’s title is perfectly fine — Ballard works the night shift in the 2017 book — but not one for the ages.

What are some titles for the ages? Looking at my list of novels I’ve read since starting this blog in 2014, here are a number of those that stood out:

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami’s 2013 novel starring a Japanese railroad engineer. A many-worded title that’s almost guaranteed to spark a reader’s curiosity.

There’s also Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (2009), Jamie Ford’s poetically named historical novel that hinges on the U.S. government’s disgraceful internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared! That title of Jonas Jonasson’s 2009 novel is unusually long, and descriptively grabs one’s interest. A bit clunky, too, but…

Then there’s The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken (2012), one of the India-set novels in Tarquin Hall’s series featuring private investigator Vish Puri.

The title of Jesse Walter’s The Financial Lives of Poets (2009) gets readers’ attention as they contemplate the left-brain/right-brain thing.

How about My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry (2013)? Fredrik Backman, who is most famous for authoring A Man Called Ove, doesn’t need to apologize for his intriguing nine-word title.

Also in 2013, Fannie Flagg created quite a title with The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion — whose characters include a woman who was a World War II aviator.

The alluring and alliterative title of Jane Smiley’s Perestroika in Paris (2020) throws readers a curve because it’s not about political reform a la late-1980s Soviet Union but about an interesting horse.

Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead takes the oft-used route of naming a novel after its title character, but what an unusual name that character has! A name that riffs on David Copperfield, star of the 1850 Charles Dickens classic that served as a quasi-template for Kingsolver’s 2022 book.

And lest we focus only on 21st-century novels with noteworthy names, there’s Janet Frame’s Yellow Flowers in the Antipodean Room (1969), about a supposedly dead man who turns out to be very much alive.

Some of the more memorably titled novels you’ve read?

Misty the cat says: “My college human is home for Thanksgiving weekend and majoring in Walking Me.”

My comedic 2024 book — the part-factual/part-fictional/not-a-children’s-work Misty the Cat…Unleashed — is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. It’s feline-narrated! (And Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 )

This 90-second promo video for the book features a talking cat: 🙂

I’m also the author of a 2017 literary-trivia book…

…and a 2012 memoir that focuses on cartooning and more, including many encounters with celebrities.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — containing more news about my school district’s huge deficit amid pizza-for-Thanksgiving comedic content 🙂 — is here.

145 thoughts on “Memorable Book Titles”

  1. Late, sorry, went to Scotland, accidently minus laptop.

    The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, better still, because I knew it was real, and all around. ( Cheshire, family, magical artist cousin) .

    The Land of Green Ginger. So intrigued, once almost went to Hull, made it as far as the Humber Bridge.

    Stig of the Dump – long before the rehabilitation of Neanderthals Had to be true, they couldn’t just disappear.

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  2. Hi Dave — what a thoughtful exploration of book titles. I appreciate how you show that a great title does more than label a story: it invites curiosity, hints at tone, and even evokes a world before the first page. Reading your list reminded me why I often choose books just by their names. Thank you for sharing this — you’ve renewed my love for browsing titles before diving into the story.

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  3. It’s probably a contemporary cultural reflex, but I’m repelled by books with long titles. Somehow I suspect those books to be as longwinded as their titles. I’ve made an exception for “The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared!” because that title amused me and I wasn’t disappointed. Maybe I should rethink my strategy but there are so many good books with short titles out there and my reading time became very precious. I even stopped browsing in the bookshops but rely on either following up on authors I know or critical acclaim by book bloggers that have similar taste. I even stand sceptical towards the latest literary prize winners (especially the Noble and Booker Prizes) since I found that they have lately a tendency to reward a kind of very convoluted twisted prose that I find unreadable.

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    • Thank you, Shaharee! I hear you that very long titles can be off-putting, but, as you say, it depends on the title. Long ones can indeed be droll, sometimes in a so-bad-they’re-good way. I also agree that some novels that win major literature prizes are not always the most readable of novels.

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  5. You’ve turned the art of book titles into a brilliant literary adventure.
    Each example shows how a name alone can pulse with an entire story’s life.
    Your writing continually sparks curiosity, wonder, and the joy of reading.

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  8. Here are some of my favourite book titles:

    A Postillion Struck by Lightning by Dirk Bogarde (1977) British
    The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (2003) Britain
    Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989) Mexico
    Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa (1977) Peru
    Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexadra Fuller (2011) British-Zim
    The West Rand Jive Cat Boxing Club by Lauren Liebenberg (2011) Zim-South Africa

    and, of course, The Weight of Snow and Regret by Liz – almost finished this (excellent).

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  9. Hmm, a very interesting topic. I can share titles I liked I.e. they piqued my interest: The Thorn Birds, The Weight of Snow and Regret, The Scarlet Letter, Peter Pan, The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Stephen king has some good titles like The Dead Zone and Firestarter.

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  10. Many memorable book titles have been mentioned in your post and in the comments. I thought Love in the Time Of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez were both intriguing titles. I loved both stories too. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón  is another title that didn’t disappoint.

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  11. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared sounds like a very intriguing book, and I can see how the title, although quite long, draws your attention as a reader. I think unusual titles capture one’s attention, mainly because they stand out from the norm! I like high-conflict ones; at the moment, I’m reading a thriller called It’s Me or Her🎄❄️

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    • Thank you, Ada! Ooh…conflict titles (like “It’s Me or Her”) can definitely be memorable. I’ve never read it, but the “Fight Club” novel kind of fits that category.

      “The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared” IS a good read, though not an extraordinary book.

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  13. I always liked the book title Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman. I don’t know how many copies of the book were stolen, but always wondered and so has Wiki–“The book sold more than a quarter of a million copies between April and November 1971.[3] The number of copies that were stolen is unknown.[4]”

    Nice theme Dave. Susi

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  14. I think I read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, solely because of its title. Another title that intrigued me was Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It was a great read as well. I am currently reading The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. The writing is very dreamy.

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  15. Well, it’s non-fiction, but how about: Fascinating Facts About Famous Fiction Authors and the Greatest Novels of All Time: The Book Lover’s Guide to Literary Trivia.

    They aren’t long, but I loved Richard Brautigan’s titles: The Hawkline Monster, In Watermelon Sugar, Trout Fishing in America and A Confederate General from Big Sur,

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  16. Your exploration of novel titles makes me see them as art in themselves—tiny story portals before the first page. Some of these names linger in the mind long after the book is closed. Truly, a title can be as unforgettable as the story it introduces!

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  21. Yet another great post, Dave, and I fear you’re going to be deluged. For me, Fay Weldon’s ‘The Life and Loves of a She-Devil’ is one for the history books, not just for the title but because it’s a wonderful book. The link back to Chaucer, along with the double-entendre of the last word makes ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ another that scores on both counts. More recently, ‘Ten Minutes and Thirty-Eight Seconds in this Strange World’ by Elif Shafak also qualifies. ‘Dopesick’ by Beth Macy has a title which reverberates not just for the terrible-sounding title but the appalling and tragic scandal to which it refers. I’ll stop there, but I may be back … Thanks as always for the exercise of my little grey cells! 🙂

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  22. The title of Jonas Jonasson’s 2009 novel is quite a mouthful and intriguing. Two memorably titled novels I’ve read and added to my small library are “Their Eyes were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston and “A Brief History of Seven Killings” by Marlon James. I’ve learned that Hurston’s novel is an American 1937 literary classic. Marlon James, a Jamaican-American award-winning novelist, explores the lives of the characters involved in the attempted murder of the Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley on December 3, 1976.

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  25. What a wonderful way to end the month of November and welcome December, Dave. Oh, I love reading the tiles that invite us into a story long before we read the first sentence. As I read through your list, I was reminded that the titles that stay with me are often the ones that appear at exactly the right moment. When I look back over my own reading life, the titles that called to me were not always the most unusual or clever. They were the ones that met me where I was.

    The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott. (A recommendation from Elisabeth Vandermeer) This title that felt like an invitation into a story of hidden lives and quiet courage. You recall Elisabeth introduced me to Russian Literature and this book was all about the title Dr. Zhivago.

    Circe by Madeline Miller. A single name that carried the weight of myth, power, and transformation. A great way to return to the myths that I read as a child.

    The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. A title that arrived like a companion during a season of deep reflection and loss.

    I Was Here by Rachel Kadish. After reading “The Weight of Ink” I found her book, “I was here” to be a reminder of legacy, memory, and the need to leave a gentle mark.

    Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. What can I say. As a child I could not resist this title. It way my doorway into playfulness and possibility.

    Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese, a Canadian author. I read this book after I read Richard Wagamese’s obituary. This title felt like a blessing, reminding me that stories themselves can be a form of healing.

    Looking at this small collection, I think the real truth is this
    We are drawn to the titles that answer something within us. They open the door to what we are ready or perhaps longing to discover. From the exuberance of Dr. Seuss to the introspection of Joan Didion, each title holds a piece of the journey.

    Your post reminded me that titles are not just labels. They are invitations. They offer a clue to the inner landscape we are about to explore, and sometimes they arrive right when we need them most.

    Another wonderful post that prompted me to reflect on the beauty of my reading journey I am looking forward to hearing what others add to the conversation. I am going to leave a long quote today!!

    “All that we are is story. From the moment we are born to the time we continue on our spirit journey, we are involved in the creation of the story of our time here. It is what we arrive with. It is all we leave behind. We are not the things we accumulate. We are not the things we deem important. We are story. All of us. What comes to matter then is the creation of the best possible story we can while we’re here; you, me, us, together. When we can do that and we take the time to share those stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship – we change the world, one story at a time…”
    Richard Wagamese

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    • Thank you, Rebecca! Wow — quite a comment! I appreciate all the memorable title mentions, and your thoughts about the importance of titles/the power of titles/the relevance-to-the-stories of titles/etc.

      Loved the inclusion of “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss, a number of whose books had whimsical titles — including “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.” Many other children’s books by other authors have interesting titles, too.

      And a beautiful quote from Richard Wagamese!

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  27. Thinking on it, many titles came to mind, but I really think it was the book, more than the title I was remembering.

    So, the one title that popped into mind without pondering was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

    I must say, I remember the title more than what is in the book, except the craziness in general… and a carousel. That must have been in Circus Circus.

    Thanks Dave!

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  28. From your today’s proposals of memorable books I certainly remember Demon Copperhead and The 100-Year Old Man who climbed out the Window and Disappeared and that he even saved General Franco! One of the books I read many years ago and still rememember is Sophies Choice by William Styron and very much hope that we never have to face such a period again!! Many thanks, Dave, for your alway very interesting posts:)

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    • Thank you, Audrey! “She’s a Lamb!” is definitely a striking title! I hadn’t remembered those words from “The Sound of Music”; it has been many years since I’ve seen that movie. So, I appreciate the reminder. 🙂

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  30. I like DEMON COPPERHEAD as a title, and I like another of Kingsolver’s titles, ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE, too–about a year when she and her family resolved to eat only food grown by them or produced in their neighborhood, or do without it. Gerald Durrell’s titles have always appealed to me, like MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS or MARRYING OFF MOTHER. Or what about Terry Pratchett’s FEET OF CLAY, which is about a Golem. My friend Clare wrote a novella about the day in 1959 when Swiss men voted against Swiss women getting the vote (they didn’t vote “yes” until 1971!) In English it’s called VOTING DAY (and I recommend it as an excellent book), but I love the title in German, which is THE DAY THE MEN SAID NO.

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    • Thank you, Kim! I agree that “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” is an excellent title; I found that book to be a very good nonfiction work. The titles of most of Barbara Kingsolver’s other novels also “pop” — including “The Poisonwood Bible,” “Prodigal Summer,” and “Flight Behavior” (the last of which has a double meaning in the context of the book).

      I’ve also read Gerald Durrell’s “My Family and Other Animals,” and agree that it has quite a memorable name.

      I appreciate the other interesting title mentions, too!

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  31. A memorable Italian novel title is “The Solitude of Prime Numbers” (La solitudine dei numeri primi) by Paolo Giordano. It’s a title inspired by a mathematical concept that perfectly captures the essence of the loneliness and isolation of the two main characters.

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  32. I am glad you enjoyed The Late Show, and I am glad Misty’s human is home for Thanksgiving. Some of my favorite/memorable titles: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, and Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney. There is something lyrical to these long(ish) titles. I also like The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore because it produces a “Huh?” reaction. I could go on (I seem to be attracted to books with memorable titles.

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