The announcement of the shortlist for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title is a humorous reminder of just how inventive, not to mention downright bizarre, authors can be. While the first winner in 1978 – Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice – takes some beating, this year’s six nominees have certainly done their best to stay esoteric and baffling, with titles including God’s Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis and the wonderfully British How Tea Cosies Changed The World.
Previous winners such as Estonian Sock Patterns All Around the World by Aino Praakli and The Great Singapore Penis Panic and the Future of American Mass Hysteria by Scott D Mendelson show that we’re spoiled for choice when it comes to book titles that raise a snigger or a quizzical eyebrow. So here’s The Telegraph's rundown of the ten oddest book titles ever to grace a cover:
1) The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide To Field Identification – Julian Montague
2) An Arsonist’s Guide To Writers’ Homes In New England – Brock Clarke
3) What To Say When You Talk To Yourself – Shad Helmstetter
4) Truncheons: Their Romance and Reality – Erland Fenn
5) Fancy Coffins To Make Yourself – Dale L Power
6) The Art of Faking Exhibition Poultry – George Ryley Scott
7) Penetrating Wagner's Ring – John L DiGaetani (editor)
8) Reusing Old Graves – Douglas Davies and Alastair Shaw
9) The Joy of Uncircumcising – Jim Bigelow
10) Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read In School – Carl Japikse
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