Nude mice book leads pack in oddest title competition

Bookseller magazine has launched a campaign to name the oddest book title of the past 30 years, with Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice emerging as an early favourite.

The magazine, which caters to book shops and librarians all over the world, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year.

The award was created in 1978 by Diagram Group publisher Bruce Robertson as a way to pass the time at the massive annual Frankfurt Book Fair.

In the running are the 29 book titles that have captured the prize in previous years, including:

• 2007 winner, If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs.
• Highlights in the History of Concrete.
• Weeds in a Changing World.
• Living with Crazy Buttocks.
• Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers.
• Reusing Old Graves.
• Last Chance at Love: Terminal Romances.

"I think the public [might be] fascinated by the more lewd titles, so The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories has a good chance," noted Philip Stone, editor of charts at the Bookseller.

The public is being asked to vote on the Bookseller's website, with the winner announced on Sept. 5.

Stone says the author of the anniversary award will receive the traditional case of "passable claret" wine.