Winner of 2016’s “Oddest Book Title of the Year” Announced—How Does it Stack Up Against the Greats?
Each year, The Bookseller announces the winner of its “Diagram prize,” awarded to the strangest book title of the year. Content doesn’t matter, nor does quality—it’s all about the title, baby!
This year’s winner was Alan Stafford’s Too Naked For the Nazis, which is a terrific title that edged out Reading From Behind: A Cultural History of the Anus. Too Naked is the nonfiction tale of a music hall musical trio called Wilson, Keppel, and Betty that performed in revealing Egyptian costumes in the ‘30s and pissed off the Nazis. Stafford submitted the book for consideration himself, and is reportedly delighted that he’ll win the “passable bottle of claret” given to the winning author.
“Mr Stafford’s Twitter electioneering for his book bordered on an Ahabian monomania,” said Bookseller’s editor Tom Tivnan. And why not? I think writers have recognised that winning the Diagram could mean a boost in sale of tens, maybe even as much as a hundred copies. High stakes indeed. More likely, they are probably after the free bottle of plonk we give to the nominator.”