Friday 9 January 2009

Crazy Name, Crazy...

This morning, on the train, I was sitting opposite a woman who was reading a book called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Dear God, I thought vaguely, is there no end to these whimsically titled middle-brow novels? And is there anything much more to them than their whimsical titles? Alexander McCall Smith has a lot to answer for - not to mention Louis de freakin' Berniere (Captain Corelli's Mandolin was a double whammy of surefire title and surefire author name - how could it fail?)...
I thought no more of the Guernsey L&PPPS. Until, just now, I discover that it is soon to be Radio 4's Book At Bedtime. This is, of course, absolutely no recommendation - most B At Bs are clunkers, and even the rare excursions into the past can't be trusted to deliver the goods (a dreadful John Galsworthy is under way at the moment). Anyway, I had a look on Amazon to find out more - though I'm not quite sure what I've found out. See for yourself here. What is one to make of a book likened by one admirer to Wodehouse, Helene Hanff, Sebastian Faulks and Mary Wesley. Not a lot, I suspect. I don't see the Guernsey L&PPPS elbowing its way onto my reading list any time soon. Meanwhile, work continues on my eagerly awaited novel, The Carshalton Cravat Tying and Owl Handling Society.

8 comments:

  1. I finally stopped buying the deceased arboreal version of The Scotsman when they serialised an A McCall Smith novella / crime story. A person has to draw the line somewhere.
    As for Capt Correli, the movie was eminently missable.

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  2. So was most of the novel Malty.

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  3. Surely you mean "The Carshalton Gentlemen's Cravat Tying and Owl Handling Club". I suspect "Society" is just too ordinary and so will sink this one. I enjoyed Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Ramotse novels. Light as a feather, but as with Blandings they seemed about a place where the sun always shone and people were friendly. Except of course for whoever was playing the Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe role.

    Now it's all been hoplessly commercialized with adverts on TV for bush tea et al. I suppose the trick is to come up with something readers will warm to while calling it such a tongue-twister that sellers of teabags and package holidays will leave you alone. Or put pigs in it, sure to confuse the men from Saatchi.

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  4. Given the continuing success of long and silly titles, one might consider rebranding literary classics with suitably whimsical names.
    'Tommy Gradgrind and the Coketown Blues';'The Man Who Woke To Find Himself Transformed Into An Insect'; 'Morality and the St.Petersburg Axe-Wielding Society', 'Six Characters in Search of a...' (Wait, no, I think that is the original title)

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  5. Never having read AMS's books (though I have a couple lying around, I've never been in a suitably twee mood) I think your idea an excellent one, Nige. Owl handing and cravat tying are popular at the moment and you'd be writing for the market.

    However, addressing Mark's point, I want to know what's wrong with 'Society'. There's nothing ordinary about my appreciation society.

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  6. Mark, you've put your finger on the weak point of my title - thanks, that should be worth another 100,000 sales...
    Georgy (newcomer? Welcome aboard) - that is a most excellent idea - I'm sure there are many more that cld be retitled to make them more reader-friendly...
    And Dick, thanks for your encouraging words - sometimes we cravat-and-owl men can begin to wonder if it's all worthwhile. It is of course!

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  7. Re AM Smiff, In oor hoose the benchmark for detective novels is Simenon, so there. Maigret Meets a Milord, the definitive 'tec story.

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  8. I agree with Mark. McCall Smith's Botswana novels are rather sweet. I hate the ones set in Scotland, though I love Edinburgh.

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