Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.
October 21: Do book titles matter?
(Hannah @ Hannah’s Library)
Prompts: How much do book titles matter? Have you ever read or not read a book based on the title alone? Do you like long or short book titles better? Do you think the title has to connect to the story in some way? What are some of your favorite book titles?
I think book titles really do matter – they can help a book completely stand out, they can give a solid indication of the genre it belongs to, they can draw the reader in. I have picked up books based on the title, and when I’m scanning the lists on my laptop, deciding what the read next, it’s usually dependent on what title I’m actually drawn to that decides what I read next. Both long and short can be equally effective, I think, depending what they say. Just a few titles from my TBR that I think really stand out – No Gods, No Monsters, Reluctant Immortals, A Dowry of Blood. I think the title should connect – using these, for example, I wouldn’t expect a fluffy, contemporary romance based on those titles, and if that was what the story turned out to be, I’d be really annoyed!
Examples of really good titles from books I’ve read more recently –
- Becoming Crone
- A Blade So Black
- The Death of Jane Lawrence
- Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
- Her Majesty’s Royal Coven
All of these are effective titles because from the title alone you get just an inkling of what the book is, and they really help the book itself stand out in the reader’s mind.
So what do you think – how important are book titles to you?
Unwrapping Words 