Titles that sing

Most of us love lists, especially lists that represent someone's opinions when we have opinions of our own on the same subject. And so I stopped for a moment at, and then later returned to, Michael Dirda's list in Browsings of some of his favorite book titles.

He lists Jane Austen's Persuasion as No. 1 on his list, and I agree it is a terrific title, or at least it is once you have read the novel. Until you do it is no more than a single word, hardly the equal of Pride and Prejudice.

Several of the titles Dirda lists leave me baffled, perhaps because I haven't read the books. They include Pavane and, most curious of all, A History of English Prose Rhythm. More to my liking are The Man Who Was Thursday, The Well at the World's End, Trent's Last Case and The Door Into Summer.

Just a few days ago I noticed the brilliance of some of Ray Bradbury's titles: I Sing the Body Electric!, The Golden Apples of the Sun and Something Wicked This Way Comes, for example. Fahrenheit 451 is pretty good, too.

Other writers also have a knack for terrific titles. Among the best is Alexander McCall Smith, whose novels have titles like Tears of the Giraffe, Morality for Beautiful Girls, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, A Promise of Ankles, The Right Attitude to Rain, The Geometry of Holding Hands and so many more.

Mystery writer Donna Leon has some excellent titles, many of which employ familiar phrases: Suffer the Little Children, Earthly Remains, Friends in High Places and Through a Glass, Darkly, for example.

Then there is Francine Prose, who has given us Bigfoot Dreams, Household Saints and Guided Tours of Hell.

If Dirda likes one-word titles, I tend to favor wordy ones. I have yet to read The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, but I may have purchased it just for the title. The same goes for Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford and The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas. And Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates. And Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessi. And how could I resist The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, a novel by Eva Jurczyk?

Don't judge a book by its cover? You had me at the title.