Let’s Talk Bookish – Book Titles

Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

November 10: Book Titles (Davida Chazan @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog)

Prompts: Do you ever get a book with a title that sounds great but the book isn’t? Maybe you’ve read a book that was great, but the title didn’t really fit the book. Sometimes US and UK titles are different – does that bother you? Which ones do you mostly prefer?

Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH, everyone! Today’s topic is about book titles, and I think it’s an underrated topic of discussion, so I’m excited that it’s here for us to discuss. I’m sure everyone has experience with mismatched titles, or good titles, though not that many people seem to talk about it. Cover art tends to get the limelight more often. Let’s bring it back to titles for one day, shall we?

I think there are plenty of books with titles that sound great but the book isn’t. Speaking frankly, I do tend to gravitate towards books with good titles and/or good cover art—judging by its cover, yes. Although it has to be coupled with an interesting synopsis, of course, before I actually pick it up if it’s a random book. There aren’t too many terrible titles, but I have definitely been burned by some good titles. But I’ve also found some great books by their great titles! So it’s really quite the toss up.

On the other hand, if the synopsis is great, I don’t really care about what the title is. After all it’s just (maybe) one word out of the whole book. I think a great title can really add a lot to a book, and I always admire a well-chosen title. However, I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker at all, if the story is good, it’s good no matter what the title is. A good title is just the cherry on top. It does help to have a catchy title when it’s time to recall what the excellent book was called though!

I don’t know that many differing titles between the US and UK. I believe the first Harry Potter book is the only one I know? That one does bother me slightly, and I definitely prefer the US title. However, that might be because I saw the US one first and that’s forming my opinion. I don’t notice a difference between the titles too often though, so it doesn’t bother me all too much.

I really love a well-titled book, and I think a descriptive title is really the bare minimum. Titles can give a real sense of the book, and you can usually tell its genre just by the way the title is written. And beyond that, I think it can also really set the tone and give an extra sense of meaning when the title fits perfectly with the book.

What do you all think about titles? Any good ones recently that you’ve seen? Or what are your favourite titles like? Let me know in the comments below!