Audiobook Commentary: What About the Title?

by DorothyD on May 4, 2010

Yesterday I confessed to judging books by their covers. Yes, it may be shallow and superficial, but it felt good to finally own up to it.

As I was thinking about things further, it occurred to me that titles can be equally as polarizing when choosing an audio book.

I have been known to avoid books with titles that just don’t appeal to me. Does this make me more shallow or less? Let’s see…

Some Bestseller Titles!

Why don’t I take a peek at some recent bestsellers? As with the covers, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest all appeal to me as titles.

They are unusual and interesting. However, I just got a newsletter from my local library with a new title: The Girl Who Fell from the Sky and I refuse to read it because it is so clearly trying to capitalize on Larsson’s work. I admit, it makes little sense, but that was my gut reaction.

Some More Good and Not So Good

The Walk by Richard Paul Evans is another that I simply won’t be picking up. Paired with my knowledge of his work and the snooze-inducing cover, I’m already bored. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is not on my list, however Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is… I don’t claim that any of this makes sense…

The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker is one that I absolutely will read. I’ve never read any of his books, but the title holds a lot of promise. It makes me want to know more. I am also intrigued by the title Angelology by Danielle Trussoni.

Christopher Moore’s titles are hilarious. Bite Me: A Love Story; The Stupidest Angel; Island of the Sequined Love Nun; Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. I fell in love with Moore’s writing when I picked up The Stupidest Angel, based only my instant love of the title.

The same can be said for An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England and Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Both have wonderfully quirky titles and the books were amazing.

Undecided

Some titles aren’t clear winners or losers in my book (pun intended). Deliver Us from Evil by David Baldacci might be good, but the title is a little uninspired. Caught by Harlan Coben and Annie Lamott’s Imperfect Birds leave me similarly ambivalent. I’ll have to take a closer look at their covers before I decide. If I still can’t make up my mind I might just resort to reading the book jackets.

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Written by :

DorothyD

AudioforBooks.com Author

Reading and writing are my passions. I read a lot of paper books as well as listen to audiobooks utilizing playaways from the local library. I listen to most of my audiobooks on my iPod. I read about one book/week and am rarely seen without one in hand. Come along and discuss this article in our friendly community forum.