What are some of yours?
Some of the things I look for in a "good" title:
- Intrigue. Does the title make me curious (about the characters, the setting, the crux)?
- Darkness. I love a good deep, dark, unsettling title.
- Poetic/Lyrical -ness. If the title just rolls off the tongue, or gets stuck in your head for sheer beauty, I'm about it.
- Humor. I love a good pun title, or something particularly oddball and quirky.
- Lists. IDKW, I just really like a good list.
What do YOU look for in a good book title? And what are some books you've bought, read, or added to your shelves based purely on title appeal?
Yes! I get this.
ReplyDeleteLong titles. Started as a tween for me with “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret?” In this century, “Very Nice Ways to Say Very Bad Things”, and of course “Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues” and “Rational Creatures: Stirrings of Feminism in the Hearts of Jane Austen's Fine Ladies”.
Dark titles? “The Lovely Bones”, “Sin Killer”, “Drowning Ruth” and “Gone Girl”.
And straight forward titles that I liked because I thought they were catchy:
“The Constant Princess”, “The Martian”, “Son of a Preacher Man” by Karen M Cox, “The Unthinkable Triangle”, and of course “The Darcy Monologues”.
I have said not just a few times in my review that the title snagged me long before I saw cover or blurb or author's name.
ReplyDeleteI never thought to categorize what pulled me in about them, but I did start to detect some rhyme and reason when I went back through my book journal. Play on words was definitely a big one, specific words (buzzwords), maybe something I'll call signature titles- those that seem to be specific to a certain author, series, or well-loved niche of stories in a genre and then there are the direct mentions of people places or things.
For example, I saw 'PS I Spook You' and chose it without further investigation.
Great discussion post, Misty!