Melville House Books

There’s been a brief respite in book prize announcements on this side; long enough for everyone to send their party clothes to the dry cleaners and do a little detoxing before the next round. These things never last long, however. On Friday, the Bookseller published the shortlist for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. Arbiter-in-chief Horace Bent said that in this, the 31st year of the award, narrowing down the entries had been more difficult than ever before. Titles that weren’t quite wacky enough included Excrement in the Late Middle Ages and All Dogs Have ADHD. Indeed they do. But I wonder who reads about it.

The six weirdest titles of 2008 are as follows:

• Baboon Metaphysics by Dorothy L. Cheney (no relation to Dick) and Robert M. Seyfarth
• Curbside Consultation of the Colon by Brooks D. Cash
• The Large Sieve and its Applications by Emmanuel Kowalski
• Strip and Knit With Style by Mark Hordyszynski
• Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring by Leitai Yang
• The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais by Professor Philip M Parker

This is a democratic prize, decided by the public: go to the Bookseller to cast your vote. I’m torn between number two and the last title. Luckily, we have until the 27th of March…