Now All We Need Is a Title: Famous Book Titles and How They Got That Way

by André Bernard

An anecdotal account of how some of the most well-known book and play titles come to be. It is not meant to be a comprehensive compendium of every catchy title, but rather a lighthearted look at a struggle that has bedeviled writers for centuries."

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Writing, Reference, Trivia, Literature

127 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1994

Reviews

[Charity]

Trimalchio in West Egg. That's the title F. Scott Fitzgerald had in mind for the novel we know as The Great Gatsby.

When it comes to titles, it seems even the great authors have a tin ear. In this funny, informative literary romp, André Bernard ferrets out the strange origins of some titles (Edward Albee found the line, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" scrawled on the mirror in a bar) and spills the beans about authorial suggestions that must have given editors nightmares. For instance, when he was told to dream up a Shakespearean title, Raymond Chandler suggested Zounds, He Dies. Doesn't quite have the same ring as Farewell, My Lovely, does it?

And who knows what Deliverance and The Grapes of Wrath would have been called if author James Boyd had snatched those titles up first?

A very quick, fun read and a great addition to any book lover's reference shelf. I read this in one morning and laughed out loud several times. One great example of the hilarity is:

"Elaine Steinbeck, John Steinbeck's widow, remembers asking in a Yokohama bookstore whether they carried her husband's novel The Grapes of Wrath. After checking, the clerk replied that they indeed did carry the book Angry Raisins."

[Cat.]

This is a quick read, only about 126 pages long, but lots of fun. It covers authors from Emily Bronte to Raymond Chandler to Peter Benchley to Ernest Hemingway.

Though it's hard to think of a 'classic' title as anything but perfect, there are a few here that would have been better with the original idea: "The Village Virus" instead of "Main Street" (Sinclair Lewis) and "The Man That Was a Thing" instead of "Life Among the Lowly" (subtitle for "Uncle Tom's Cabin") and "The File on India Bridge" instead of "Mrs. Bridge" (Evan Connell).

On the other hand, the clunkers are far outweighed by the good decisions: Would you rather read "Martin Chuzzlewit" or "Martin Sweetlewag"? "Trimalchio in West Egg" or "The Great Gatsby"? "Pumphrey" or "Babbit"?

It's just kind of interesting to know the thought process and discussions that occur between author and editor on the subject of titles. It's also fun to know where some of the more obscure titles came from.

[Benjamin Thomas]

This is a fun little book that's filled with interesting factoids and tidbits about some famous books and how their titles came to be. It's written by an executive editor (at least at the time of publication in 1994) of the Book-of-the-Month Club and he seems to know what he is talking about. The book blurbs are all short, mostly one or two paragraph descriptions about the various book titles, often describing the working titles as well as the long string about what might have been. For example we get to see how Gone with the Wind started out as "Patsy" who was the original name Margaret Mitchell had for Scarlet. I've actually heard that before but I hadn't realized how at the last moment Mitchell changed the title to "Tote the Weary Load" and then to "Tomorrow is Another Day" before settling on the final choice. Books of all types are mentioned, from classics like Treasure Island and For Whom the Bell Tolls to The Hobbit to modern day thrillers like Nelson DeMille's The Gold Coast and on and on.

I did notice a recurring trend in that almost every author quoted here describes how difficult it is to come up with a good title, and how they agonize for days or weeks over it. Of course sometimes the final decision belongs to the publisher's marketing department and thus, fortunately we have The Great Gatsby instead of Fitzgerald's preference (that he really really fought for): "Trimalchio in West Egg"

And sometimes it's just a last second change. Catch-22, up until the last minute was going to be "Catch-18" except that a rival publisher was about to publish Mila 18 by the well-known Leon Uris and Heller's publisher didn't want to compete with such a name brand author with their new, unknown author.

And lots more like that. As a book nerd I quite enjoyed discovering so many anecdotes about so many books. At work yesterday in a meeting I actually said "That's a real Catch-18" and of course I had to explain the whole story. They already think I'm weird anyway.

[Ben]

Interesting small book on how numerous (mostly famous) books/novels/plays got their titles. Some of these are well known 'facts', some are just quirky anecdotes; there is also a few lists spread throughout as well as numerous old drawings/pictures.

I could have finished this "yesterday" (before Midnight, since it's now 1:33AM), but I had taken the dog for a walk and started doing other stuff, wasn't in a huge hurry to finish it.

[Martin]

Methinks a book like this is called a fun little romp, because that's exactly what this was. Filled with pithy anecdotes and literaturistic elan and flavor and nicely done research, it's a silly good time. Surprising, however, is that anyone can not have a title for something worked on for inordinate lengths of time. I don't think I've ever not had a title *first* before I put pen to paper, for any written thing, especially a book. Then again, I'm not a genius, yet.

[Lisa]

A fun little volume about how some books got their titles. Some were pondered over or endlessly tinkered with; others came before the book was even written. It is 20-ish years old -- the classics aren't out of date, of course, but some of the references are a little dated. Good to dip into or while away a lazy afternoon.

[Theresa F.]

Did I like it? Yes.
Would I reread it? Possibly.
Would I recommend it? Most likely.

[Nancy Mumpton]

So interesting! I love this little book!

[Al]

There are probably web sites which collect the stories behind famous book titles, but it’s hard to imagine them being as entertaining as André Bernard’s clever, short “Now All We Need Is a Title.” Book lovers will enjoy these short entries, expertly told often with humor, mostly centering on the struggle to come up with a catchy title with horrible suggestions provided by publishers and even the writers themselves. For example, Sinclair Lewis’ iconically named “Babbit” was at one time known as “Pumphrey.” A frustrated Raymond Chandler suggested that what would eventually be titled “Farewell, My Lovely” go by “Zounds, He Dies.” I especially liked the explanation an editor gave for suggesting to Eudora Welty that her first collection of short stories be titled “A Curtain of Green.”: ‘If we call it “A Curtain of Green,” you’ll never need another title. Your second book could be “A Curtain of Black” and the one after that “A Curtain of Blue.” Your final book could just be called “Curtains.”’ Recommended.

[Marissa]

Did you know that John Steinbeck originally wanted to give Of Mice and Men the laughably bad title Something That Happened? Or that both Dorothy Parker and Dashiell Hammett's publisher thought that The Maltese Falcon was a terrible title? Those pieces of title-related trivia, and many more, can be found in this little compendium. One can see how this kind of book would be more useful before the Internet existed (nowadays this would be a Buzzfeed list, not a book), and it feels like the publisher had to pad it out to even get it to be over 100 pages, but it's nice to be reminded that while certain famous book titles may sound inevitable to us now, some of them were anything but.

[Kathy McC]

How many times does a reader pick up a book simply because of the title? It may be quirky, or creative, or intriguing. This is a work about title selections by a variety of authors. It begs the question, "Does the title really matter"?
This book provides information on a plethora of authors and book titles. I must admit that I skipped some of the pages because they were discussions of authors or novels that I was unfamiliar with. But there were so many interesting pieces of trivia about initial titles that were changed, how various writers came to choose certain titles, where authors looked for title inspiration, etc.
It was a fun and interesting read.

[Lisa Houlihan]

Some I already knew, like Catch-22 being renumbered after Leon Uris's Mila 18. Some are obvious, like Pale Fire and Sun Also Rises. Some are funny if true, like Dashiell Hammett's publisher reluctant about a hard-to-pronounce title like Maltese Falcon -- and the publisher was Knopf. But then, on page 40, though the author correctly ascribes For Whom the Bell Tolls to Donne, he describes the book as Robert Jordan's passionate but hopeless love for Pilar. I think the author hasn't read How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read.

[March]

It was a good summer read because it is separated in small portions - a paragraph or two about famous book titles (e.g. For Whom the Bell Tolls, East of Eden, Catch 22, etc.). I shall also be using it as a reference for future reading as it describes some well-known and well-liked books that I haven't yet read. This book was a gift from prof. Frusetta. Thanks!

[Jon]

Fun for book lovers, but includes some errors. (Nelson Algren could not have considered SOMEBODY IN BOOTS as a title for the book he ended up calling A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, since SOMEBODY IN BOOTS had already been the title of his first novel.) As with most books of this type, check other sources if you're unsure, and want to make sure, of anything the author says.

[Nan]

A entertaining collection of very brief stories of how certain books got their titles. Includes commentaries on Sonnets from the Portuguese (always wondered about that one), The Postman Always Rings Twice, and A Clockwork Orange. Great stories for amusing/annoying your friends.

[Heather]

A short, enjoyable book about how some books got their titles.

[Bill Peschel]

Brevity can also be witty. This book tops out at 127 pages, but this is distilled fun, so it can last longer.

[Teri-K]

Some of the short entries were interesting, but others were nothing more than quoting a particular poem or other writing that the title came from.

[Lynn]

A bit dry, but there was some interesting info. It's just facts about some popular titles & how they came to be.

[Annabelle]

One a half stars, actually. For this was a book that's merely worth reading when you have nothing else to read.

[Sana Nasib]

3.5 It was entertaining, but nothing that particularly stuck with me