Literary fiction: what are the best ever book titles, and why?

[nighbynight]

Is this question considered on creative writing courses? (Never done one, so dont know.)
Anyway, I was trying to think of a good title, and was thinking of lots of famous books, and recent books, and why the titles are so great.

Quotes are out, I think? (dated). Like "The agony and the ecstasy" or "To Love and Be Wise"

A title like "Crime and Punishment" is too big for the book, unless you are writing, well Crime and Punishment.

I rather like wordplay like Faiza Guene's "Just like tomorrow" (kifkif demain) in which the author is describing a way of life from which it is very hard to escape.

The sorrows of an american is a great title as well, because it's so memorable.

what are your favourite book titles?

Just read 'Don't point that thing at me' (Kyril Bonfiglioli - I think). Thought it a pretty good title. Don't like titles that are trying too hard.

'The' changes the meaning, doesn't it?

39 steps - to what?
The 39 steps - that's what the book is trying to find out, what are the 39 steps?

I have always loved "Out of the Silent Planet" too. Only read the book because the title was so fantastic! (though the book was good as well)

I agree, "a" or "the" sounds better. More specific, not so generalising.

Ive never heard of "Dont point that thing at me." Its good though, because it could mean lots of different things. I would definitely pick up a book with that title and browse through it in the bookshop.

Balloonslayer - I have quite a good list of 1 word titles actually. I am leaving chicklit/sex&shopping/celeb biography off, as they are a whole other genre of titles with different rules. Will copy it off my work computer later.

OK, here are some titles arranged by length:

1 WORD
Emma
1984
Middlemarch
Persuasion
Buddenbrooks
Atonement
Snow
Rebecca

2 WORDS
White Teeth
On Beauty
Adam Bede
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
Silas Marner
Brighton Rock
Oliver Twist
Bleak House
Little Dorrit
Nicholas Nickleby
Chesil Beach
Bonjour Tristesse
Kifkif Demain
Altered Carbon
Enduring Love

3 WORDS
Pride and Prejudice
Crime and Punishment
War and Peace
Sense and Sensiblity
Jude The Obscure
Death In Venice
A Pilgrim?s Progress
The Black Book
The White Castle
The Razor?s Edge
The Secret History
East Of Eden
Brave New World
The thirtynine Steps
The Tortilla Curtain

4 WORDS
My Name Is Red
Tess Of The D?Urbevilles
Keep The Aspidistra Flying
Our Man In Havana
I Capture the Castle
Plagued By The Nightingale
To Kill A Mockingbird
Of Mice And Men

5 WORDS
The Catcher In The Rye
Love In A Cold Climate
The Return Of The Native
The Sorrows Of An American
A Room With A View
The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall
The Mill On The Floss
The Confessions Of Felix Krull
The Sorrows Of An American
Far From the Madding Crowd
For Whom the Bell Tolls
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Remains of The Day
A Prayer For Owen Meany
The End of the Affair
Out of the Silent Planet

6 WORDS
One Flew Over The Cuckoo?s Nest
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things
Lilacs Out Of The Dead Land
Die verlorene Ehre der Katherine Blum
Don?t Point That Thing At Me

7 WORDS
Down And Out In Paris And London
A Short History of Tractors In Ukranian
The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

8 WORDS
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

9 Words
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept

Here they are again, arranged by type (I have probably made some mistakes classifying them, eg I am not sure about East of Eden ? haven?t read it yet).
NAME OF A MAIN CHARACTER
Emma
Adam Bede
Jane Eyre
Silas Marner
Oliver Twist
Little Dorrit
Nicholas Nickleby
Rebecca

IMPORTANT PLACE IN THE BOOK
Middlemarch
Wuthering Heights
Bleak House
Chesil Beach
The Mill On The Floss

DESCRIPTION OF MAIN CHARACTER
Jude the Obscure
Tess of the D?Urbevilles
Our Man In Havana
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

PLOT OUTLINE OR SHORT MANIFESTO OF WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT
1984
Buddenbrooks
Kifkif Demain
Enduring Love
War and Peace
Death In Venice
A Pilgrim?s Progress
I capture the Castle
Of Mice And Men
Love In A Cold Climate
The Return Of the Native
The Sorrows of an American
The Confessions of Felix Krull
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Remains of The Day
A Prayer For Owen Meany
The End of the Affair
Down And Out In Paris And London
Out of the Silent Planet

EMOTION OR ABSTRACT IDEA THAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT
Persuasion
Atonement
On Beauty
Enduring Love
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Keep the Aspidistra Flying
The Tortilla Curtain
Die verlorene Ehre der Katherine Blum

NON-ABSTRACT THING THAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT
The Black Book
The White Castle
The Secret History
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

NON-ABSTRACT THEME THAT RUNS THROUGH THE BOOK
Snow
White Teeth
Brighton Rock
My Name Is Red
A Room With A View

QUOTATION
Brave New World
To Kill A Mockingbird (?)
Far from the Madding Crowd
For whom the Bell tolls

ENIGMATIC / METAPHORIC / WEIRD
Bonjour Tristesse
Altered Carbon
The Razor?s Edge
East of Eden
Plagued By the Nightingale
The Catcher In the Rye
One Flew Over The Cuckoo?s Nest
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things
Lilacs Out Of The Dead Land
Don?t Point That Thing At Me
A Short History of Tractors In Ukranian
The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept

Some conclusions are obvious. Enigmatic titles tend to be longer, name titles tend to be shorter.

Tentatively I could suggest that the optimum length for a title is 3-5 words? If it?s going to be longer than that it had better have lots of short words, or be a work of genius.
It?s hard to get any word in which is more than 3 syllables, and the rhythm of the title is as important as the meter of a poem.

In fact, maybe the secret to thinking of a great title is for a novelist to think in terms of poetry, instead of novel-writing?

My favourite is The Bonfire of the Vanities. I love saying it. The book is one I read over and over again so I get to say it a lot

(5 words, emotion or abstract idea)
yes, I love that one too. I had heard of that title years before I read the book.
must go to bed now, am knackered.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a great title. Fits so much into 5 words.

I like "Brighton Rock" too - lots of things to think about in a couple of words.

But no one has mentioned "My Booky Wook" - it must be one of the worst titles ever!

I just looked on amazon, there is My Booky Wook 2 coming out as well! He obviously thinks its a winner.
I wont be buying either, I think.

I asked for it for Christmas when it first came out. After one chapter I'd had enough and have never had the urge to look at it again. Completely unfunny.

I initially saw the thread title and thought you were looking for funny titles, I was going to suggest these:

The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories

This is amusing

But in seriousness I liked the title The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (by J.T. LeRoy)

I like

"Dreams of Dead women's Handbags"

and

"Our spoons came from Woolworths"

just because they are so evocative

Playing the Muldovans at Tennis and Round Ireland with a Fridge, both Tony Hawks.

Tender is the Night - F Scott Fitzgerald

A Theory of Relativity - Jacquelyn Mitchard

Falconers Lure - Antonia Forest

Breathing Lessons- Anne Tyler

Where the Indus is Young: Dervla Murphy

The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway

I like Christopher Brookmyre's titles, as they make me smile (Quite Ugly One Morning, A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away etc).

The Heart Of Darkness

Another vote for The Bonfire of the Vanities.

The Age of Wire and String - Ben Marcus

Songs of the Doomed - Hunter Thompson

The Road to Wigan Pier - George Orwell

Count Zero - William Gibson

Is the ideal a wonderful title for a crappy book? Rather like a really good marketing plan for a film, which should result in a boffo box office opening weekend and a plunge to nothing in the second week.

on that principle, Tuesday Afternoons with Morrie (is that the one?) Truly awful book with a great title.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe (haven't read it, feel it can't beat the title)
Our Hearts were Young and Gay (one of my Mum's favourite books, I just can't read it but do like the title)
Esther Waters (memorable, but the woman sounds like a drip immediately)
Martha and the Eye of Love (rubbish but has a snap about it)

Favourite titles of good books:
A Suitable Boy
The Reason Why
The Future Homemakers of America
Religion and the Decline of Magic
When I Lived in Modern Times

Forgot all about -

The Way We Live Now

Plainly descriptive and yet inspiring.

Worst title ever:

Sense and Sensibility

Should have stuck to Elinor and Marianne.

I agree, Elinor and Marianne has a far better sound than S + S.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe is an interesting one. It's very long,a nd has 2 long words in it, yet it's not too clumpy. I think the word "whistlestop" helps, because you skate over it so quickly.

The Way We Live Now is a sort of manifesto of the book, and is very good, isn't it. I like the manifesto type titles.

Right, I am going to try and think of a one line poem, that's between 3 and 5 words, and sets out the manifesto of the book. Shouldn't be hard then

I like "100 years of Solitude" because when you finish it, you go "huh. Yes. I get it now" and it's like a puzzle being completed.

I find The Sea, The Sea (Iris Murdoch) very enigmatic.

Also second The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Miln Kundera).

Then I think His Dark Materials (Pullman) and Paradise Lost (Milton) are very leading, evocative titles...

Books with a person's name in the title can put me off, whereas an abstract or philosophical title will intrigue me.

Best title is for Robert Hughes' book on fishing, which he called A JERK ON ONE END.

To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men.
Makes you wonder if the title or the story came first.

'He died with a felafel in his hand' is a good book title, it always makes me laugh.