The Sound and the Fury,
A Streetcar Named Desire,
The Remains of the Day - great titles are tricky things,
but when they're right, they can be perfect. Below, we've selected
some of our favourites from the past year, from the humorous to the
poetic to the downright wonderful.
The Summer Without Men
Siri Hustvedt
One wonders whether the Bechdel test – which requires that a film
should have at least two women in it talking about something other
than a man - should more regularly be applied to books. Granted,
there are men and talk of men Siri Hustvedt’s latest (and
brilliant) tragicomic novel about a woman who retreats to her
hometown after the breakdown of her marriage, but by golly there
are women too. Mothers, friends, widowers and daughters – talking,
angsting, thinking and reconciling under one telling title.
All That I Am
Anna Funder
Anna Funder’s first novel after the immense success of her debut,
Stasiland, in which two characters recall their lives and
the impact of one amazing woman during Nazi Germany. An evocative
title that artfully suggests the sediment of history, memory and
time on our psyches.
I Hate Martin Amis Et Al
Peter Barry
A perfectly loathing yet cuttingly comic title for Peter Barry’s
novel about an aspiring novelist who trades in his day job to
become a sniper in the Yugoslavian war, all in the hope of coming
up with enough horrific fodder to write a book that no publisher
can dismiss with the words, ‘I feel like I’ve seen this
before’.
The Art and Craft of Approaching Your Head of Department to Submit
a Request for a Raise
Georges Perec
This seemingly pontificating and somewhat bombastic title acts as a
something of a red herring for a novel that breaks with all the
rules. Georges Perec once famously wrote a whole novel without
using the letter ‘e’ and here, he’s scribed a bizarre farce about
the many different things that may or may not happen on the journey
to see said boss, no punctuation, no capitalisation and no full
stops. Gold.
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Aimee Bender
A young girl bites into a slice of her mother’s homemade lemon cake
and discovers that she has an uncanny gift – she can taste emotions
with every bite. A playful title about the sourness and sadness
that lies behind the layers of everyday life.
Apocalypse
for Beginners
Nicolas Dickner
Boy meets girl and falls hopelessly in love. Girl meets boy but is
convinced that there is no future at all, for them or for the
entire world. Set across Canada and Japan, both title and book are
sweet and surreal with just a hint of doomsday.
There Should Be More Dancing
Rosalie Ham
Indeed, there should. And so should there be more titles like
these, on Rosalie Ham’s novel about a woman waiting for the crowds
in the atrium of the 43rd floor of the Tropic Hotel to disperse so
that she can throw herself to death. Why? You’ll have to read the
book to find out.
When The Killing’s Done
T.C. Boyle
‘How can you talk about being civil when innocent animals are being
tortured to death? Civil? I'll be civil when the killing’s done.’
So it goes in the latest from T.C Boyle, which takes places on the
rat-infested island of Anacapa off the coast of California, among
those who have been entrusted with both saving, and exterminating
them.
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Jeanette Winterson
So says Jeanette Winterson's mother to her before throwing her out
of home at sixteen for falling in love with a girl. The story
behind the title is but one of many such startling and sad moments
in Winterson's memoir, which sits alongside her earlier bestseller
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.
Go the F**k to Sleep
Adam Mansbach & Ricardo Cortes
Truer words were never spoken, both by sleep-deprived parents and
by Noni Hazlehurst in this epic
read-along.
Other 'best of 2011' lists:
Best titles picked by:
Jo Case is
the editor of Readings Monthly and associate editor of
Kill Your Darlings journal. You can follow her on Twiiter
- @jocaseau.
Martin
Shaw, Readings’ Books Division Manager, is what they call a “career
bookseller”, which might be an interesting concept as the world
turns “E”. Formerly an avid fiction reader, now “Jolly Jumper”
supervisor to an adorable 7-month-old. Follow him on twitter -
@thebooksdesk
Andrew
McDonald is Readings' Online Manager by day, a children's author by
night and asleep the rest of the time. He is not the author of
The Great Gatsby despite what he may tell you. - @andrewmcdonald
Jessica Au is
from Readings St Kilda and is the author of
Cargo.
