INTRIGUING NOVEL TITLES

I spent an hour or so on Friday afternoon in one of my favourite bookstores , The Village Bookshop at Matakana,  and as always I was impressed with the range and depth of contemporary fiction on display. In this tiny rural village an hour or so north of Auckland Tracy Lawton, who will celebrate her store's fourth anniversary later this year, provides her  customers, many like me on a weekend escape , with a range of titles that is as good if not better than most of her fellow,usually much larger,  bookstores in the city.

Happily browsing I was struck by the number of unusual and intriguing titles given to many of the novels on display. 

The Weed that Strings the Handman's Bag - Lana Bradley - Bloomsbury
36 Arguements for the Existence of God - Rebecca Goldstein - Atlantic Books
The Forty Rules of Love - Elif Shafak - Penguin/Viking
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell - Sceptre
The Lonely Polygamist - Brady Udall - Jonathan Cape
The Strange Case of the Composer & his Judge -Patricia Duncker - Bloomsbury
The Book of Human Skin - Micherlle Lovric - Bloomsbury
The Breaking of Eggs - Jim Powell - Weidenfeld & Nicolson
The Life & Opinions of Maf the Dog & of his friend Marilyn Monroe - Andrew O'Hagan - Faber
Book of Lost Threads - Tess Evans - Allen & Unwin
Sex & Stravinsky - Barbara Trapido - Bloomsbury
A Watermelon, a Fish & a Bible - Christy Lefteri - Quercus

There were others but the above twelve will serve to illustrate my point. Do let me know of any strange or unusual fiction titles you have come across recently.

And if you are anywhere near Matakana don't miss the wonderful Village Bookshop.