I enjoyed " A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers (Was not crazy about his book title but after reading the book I get his sense of humor).
John Irving has weird titles but "The World According to Garp" and " A Prayer for Owen Meany" were great!
"Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedarius was good and very funny.

I have wondered the same thing about missing out on good books because they have awful titles. "The Guernsey Literary..." is so precious I can hardly stand to say or type it.

I have not read "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" or "The Elegance of the Hedgehog," but I have heard that in spite of their titles they are quality reads. I have never got up enough nerve to read "Running with Scissors" either.

I cannot think of a book with a really silly title that I have actually read. At first "Like Water for Chocolate" bothered me until I found out what it meant and it made sense. The same with "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" until I realized that it referred to a Sherlock Holmes story.

lydia, A Short History . . . is indeed a most enjoyable book, as is Old Filth by Jane Gardam though not a very promising title.

The Guernsey Literary... is also explained most eloquently within the book, and no longer seems twee at all. Very poignant, actually.

Old Filth was delightful as well as Gardam's follow-up The Man in the Wooden Hat.

I second Veer's praise for "A Short History..." - great book! I think the title is what made me notice it in the first place.

It's funny, today I came across a book in the history section of my local bookstore with what I thought was an unfortunate title: "Napoleon's Privates". Or maybe I was just in a silly mood today. :-)

no, that is definitely an unfortunate title...or it will make the book a bestseller. One or the other.

stoneangel, thats hysterical!
I didn't like A Short History.... but all the others I skipped and will now go back and give them a second look.

right now anything with "snow" in the title would be VERY off-putting.

I'm usually put off by titles that are pun-ish. They seem to be trying too hard. For instance, From Here to Paternity or Grime and Punishment.

I thought "Edwin of the Iron Shoes" was a medieval mystery until I realised it was the first Sharon McCone story and stopped avoiding it on the library mystery shelf!
Speaking of avoiding things, the new village library volunteer has put out a book for residents to mark in which book they have taken out and returned. This has upset some people as the book can be viewed publicly and their choices have been vocally commented on. I ignore this book and go by the old 'honour system' when I borrow. What do RP'ers think about this lack of privacy?

I have to admit, I never thought of looking to see what other people take out. We write ours down at the Reading Room in Canada. I didn't really think anyone looked at it. Guess, becuase it doesn't interest me to know what others are reading, they didn't care what I was reading.
Call me naive.

Our books are all checked out electronically, so no more cardboard tickets; very speedy until the system jams then its back to pens and the backs of envelopes.
We have just learnt that our mobile library, on which I rely, will now only visit our village once a month . . . for 20 minutes (financial cuts). My goodness, I shall have to be well-organised and order many books from the central library. Luckily we 'far-out' readers do nor have to pay fines or anything when we place an order.

What an interesting topic as I deal with something similar with my Dad every day. We watch a lot of movies and he always wants to know the title. Not that he knows current movies at all but if the title is something like "Kremlin Conspiracy" he is really happy!

Tonight when he wanted to know the title, "Bright Star" he just grunted a bit. Then I told him it was an historical British film, he was disappointed but resigned.

Last week we watched a movie that I did not tell him the title until it came on the film : "The Tunnel".
He gasped "The Tunnel!" then it came on screen "Berlin, 1961", he said "OOOh!

I have learned so much from him on how not to judge a book by it's cover! He does the same thing with all the audio books too, if he doesn't like the title he won't listen to it.
And Bright Star about John Keats, was well worth watching.

Re: privacy.
We are at the opposite extreme. Everything is done on computer, and now, by law, we can not tell a parent what books a minor child has requested or checked out without the minor child's permission. We can not let a spouse pick up the other spouse's books unless we have previous permission from said spouse of the second part. We can not leave a message about reserved books that contains the title or other identifying information about the book. We may not comment on patron's books as we check them out (as in "Oh, I loved that book!") And if we go to the shelves with a patron we are to help them locate books but "respect their privacy and walk away" as they make their final choices.
All this on a volunteer's salary. ;-)

CC: I don't approve of parents not being allowed to know which books a minor child is reading. Parents are encouraged to monitor on-line chat rooms that their children access in case of predators. Wouldn't the child accessing a book unsuited to their age group be something else to watch out for? Not to be censored but perhaps discussed?

The worst titles I've ever read:

Scar Tissue a book of short stories by Gary Indiana.

Excrement a book of short stories by Crad Kilodney.

The Guernsey title put me off for the longest time. I relented over the weekend and am glad I did--what a wonderful story.

Annpan, what kind of lending policy does your library have? Privacy is a big concern at the library where I work, but parents can view their minor children's records since the parent is ultimately responsible for the materials' return to the library as well as for any fines accrued. We don't allow spousal access but since we do have computerized self-checkout stations and "help yourself" reserve shelves, we don't police who is picking up reserved books.

CC, all those rules! oh my.

cece, I can't believe you aren't allowed to comment favourably on a person's book selections - how silly! What about suggesting other similar authors, or more books by the same author, or asking if they know it isn't the first in the series - I would think these would all be sensible comments.
And I agree that parents have the right to know what their children are taking out of the library, for all of the reasons mentioned.

Bookmom: The library I referred to is a small one within my retirement village. It is stocked with books that have been donated and is rather limited in content to mainly novels and a few mystery books and an Agatha Christie collection! Recently a new and enthusiastic volunteer got some funding and put up smart modern metal shelving. This replaced the old wooden bookcases but the same old books went back! The dreaded book for residents to note their borrowings was also introduced, probably to ensure that the forgetful returned books!
I rarely find anything that I want to read so mostly use the excellent local libraries. They are computerised and one can check out one's own selection. They also do book deliveries so serious readers in the village seem to use these services. The village library, which is in the large social room, appears to be used on a casual basis. Naturally, as I don't peek into the borrowing book, I don't know for sure who uses it!

Annpan, thank you for the explanation. "a new and enthusiastic volunteer" made me chuckle--is there any other kind?

I recently read Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff. (Rosemary Mahoney)

It's a first person story of an adventure, which often results in an interesting story poorly written because the writer is an adventurer, not an author. Not so here, the author writes very well and has a strong vocabulary. Why did she pick such a unimaginative title for the book?

I completely agree about parents and children-and when patrons complain, we ask them to please let their legislators know. I have not read the legislation, but we have been told by the county library big big cheeses that to violate these laws has the potential to open a volunteer up to a lawsuit. But the one time I know that a volunteer attempted to disuade a child from taking out a book they thought was unsuitable, the parent landed on her with both feet for making decisions for a child that was not hers-it was none of the volunteer's business.

We can give information about books-not the first in a series, etc., but are supposed to keep our opinions to ourselves, especially with patrons we don't know, unless we are specifically asked. And of course never comment on nonfiction books about pregnancy, illness or legal matters. We are a small branch and some patrons come in the same time every week, and we get to know them-and our director is much more realistic than some of the big bosses.

I was in the library when a reader who normally reads cosy mysteries had chosen a non-fiction about a child who had murderered another child, from the returns trolley.
The librarian on check-out, who knew her tastes, tried to dissuade her but was told by the annoyed reader that she had read books by this author before. The librarian and I thought that she had confused her authors but would find out the mistake when she started to read it. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be helpful!

I never make negative comments about books, but if someone has chosen a book I have enjoyed and I say so, they are nearly always pleased to have their choice validated. And I agree about the pregnancy/law type book.
We have a wall bay in our shop called 'Our Staff Love' and we put books up there with a small blurb about it. The book choice is entirely up to the staff member (except I have ruled out classics and current favourites or books in our 'Top 101' as these sell anyway) and we have some rather odd books up there, but they sell like crazy. Lots of people like some guidance in what to buy but don't want to talk to anyone.