Saturday, August 09, 2008

Voting opens in search for oddest book title
Alison Flood writing in The Guardian, Friday August 08 2008 13

Forget the Booker of Bookers. The quest to find the oddest book title of the past 30 years has begun today, with Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice the early frontrunner.

Launched by the Bookseller magazine to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year, the Diagram of Diagrams will be decided by a public vote. It pits Versailles: The View From Sweden against Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers, Reusing Old Graves and Last Chance at Love: Terminal Romances.
Dreamed up in 1978 by the Diagram Group founder Bruce Robertson as a way to pass the time at a dreary Frankfurt Book Fair, the prize goes from strength to strength. Last year's prize – awarded to If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs – received more votes than the Best of the Booker Prize, won for a second time last month by Salman Rushdie for Midnight's Children.
"My personal favourite is Bombproof Your Horse," said the charts editor of the Bookseller, Philip Stone. "But I think the public is fascinated by the more lewd titles, so The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories has a good chance."
Read the full story at the Guardian online.

No comments: