Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 11:50:39 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <wsfalist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title...
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

from The Bookseller <http://www.thebookseller.com/?pid=2&did=17957> (UK
version of Publishers Weekly):

Upstart literary prizes, such as the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs
Prize, often plough cash into promotion and publicity. But with
absolutely no leverage at all so far this year, the Diagram Prize for
the Oddest Title has nevertheless gathered a steady stream of entries.
It is too early for themes to be emerging, but I'm glad to see
submissions are moving away from the equine trend that saw The Big Book
of Lesbian Horse Stories win in 2003, followed by Bombproof Your Horse
in 2004. Here are some of this year's oddest contenders so far:

People Who Don't Know They're Dead by Gary Leon Hill (Red
Wheel/Weiser). Submitted by Grame Henderson of Ottakar's in Cameron
Toll. The subtitle explains the book's practical approach: How They
Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It.
Henderson adds: "I concluded that there was no point ordering this book
as, if they don't know they're dead, they seem unlikely to have a firm
grasp of their fiscal matters."

Introduction to Adult Swallowing by Michael DiCrary (Butterworth
Heinemann). Submitted by David Hicks of book trade charity BTBS.
"Presumably there is also an Advanced Guide," Hicks muses. "And the 999
in the middle of its ISBN must relate to the Heimlich Manoeuvre
chapter."

Urogenital Manipulation by Jean-Pierre Barral (Eastland). Submitted by
Ian Carlton of Gateshead Library, who tells me a library loan request
for this title has been circulated nationally.

The History of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie by Trevor Hickman (Sutton).
Submitted by Jon Woolcott of Ottakar's. "Apparently it is
'controversial'," Woolcott says. "Maybe there's something we're not
being told about the jelly content. Yum."

Queen Victoria and Ping-Pong ed Gwendolen Freeman (Brewin Books).
Submitted by Ben Stebbing of Manchester University Press. "As an
academic press I know we have a moral remit to publish books with
ridiculous titles, but alas I can think of none suitable for the
Diagram," Stebbing adds.

Designing Public Toilets by C del Valle Schuster (Edizioni Gribaudo).
Submitted by Howard Stanbury of IFIS Publishing, one of several who saw
it in a display case at Frankfurt.

Dining Posture in Ancient Rome by Matthew B Roller. This was submitted
by Caroline Priday of its publisher Princeton University Press. She
expands: "The book promises to be a fascinating treatise on the meaning
and importance of dining postures in the period 200BC-200AD."

There are some solid contenders here, but nothing to quite match past
champions such as Reusing Old Graves (1995) and Weeds in a Changing
World (1999). So use those quiet moments over Christmas to scour
catalogues and Amazon. Email me on the address below, and The Diagram
could be yours.

Also this ....
'(a) description of writing after a night on absinthe: "Like Helen
Keller trying to write War and Peace on an Enigma machine." '

mjw