Best Titles of Best Books

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The Nutmeg of Consolation. Is that not the best title ever? All by itself it’s enough reason to read Patrick O’Brian‘s magnificent – yes, MAGNIFICENT – Master and Commander books. If his books had no covers at all, they’d still be the very best evocation of male friendship I’ve ever read.

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Patrick Ness does a great line in titling, too. The Knife of Never Letting Go is every bit as good as its stay-in-your-head title, and is followed by the brilliant (both title and substance) The Ask and the Answer. War, gender politics, power, friendship, language, colonisation, giant cows: what more could you want in young adult fiction?

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My husband nominates Douglas Adams’ So Long and Thanks for All the Fish for this list of brilliant books with titles to match. What about you? Superb titles slapped on superb books? Recommendations?

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0 comments on “Best Titles of Best Books”

  2. Larraine Reply

    Nutmeg sounds like something our Russ should have put in his hot chocolate after his non-masterful adventure the other day. Had to chuckle at his protestations of “I’m not lost, I just ran out of time” in the Herald this morning – been there done that on the Puhoi river of all places. I bet that was the last time the Puhoi kayak people told anyone to “take their time, explore all the side creeks, we’ll see you at the rivermouth”, rather, changing it to a crisp “you have 2 1/2 hrs before the tide is so low that you’ll be grounded a km from the end and have to climb up a farmer’s paddocks”. I really should read that series, it looks like a rollicking good yarn.
    I really enjoyed book of lost threads. It was anything but – I thought it was coherent and well told & a first novel too.
    Also, love the titles and concept of Jasper Fforde’s earlier novels. I’ve found some the later ones a bit less readable though. The Well of Lost Plots is a good example, and I love that the heroine of the series is called Thursday Next. I think the author might be a little anxious though that people may mistake Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron for another more recent and rather contrasting read.

  3. Alex Reply

    I’m not claiming it as the greatest book of all time, but my favourite pun of all time is the title to a travel book: Jeremy Seal’s “A Fez of the Heart – Travels around Turkey in search of a hat”

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