31 - A Book with a Title That Is a Complete Sentence

[Jackie]

Brandon wrote: "Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide works if you ignore the subtitle and can suspend a bit of disbelief."

What a call to action, haha. Murder your employer! Eat donuts! Live your best life!

[LeahS]

I read Sometimes People Die.

It's probably wrong to enjoy a book based around medical serial killings, but I did. A good thriller (though I guessed the baddie), some laugh out loud medical humour, a very realistic view of working in a run-down hospital, and poignancy as well. The narrative is interspersed with some real life killers in this field, which some might find annoying, but I didn't.

[Archie]

I'm gonna dive into "We Must Not Think of Ourselves: A Novel" for this one.

[Ron]

I think this will work:

Fire and Flood: A People's History of Climate Change, from 1979 to the Present

[Paula]

Alex Cross Must Die fits this.

[Tania]

Quick grammar check, I'm looking at one of these two, any opposition to these being a complete sentence?

Look Out For The Little Guy!
Get Shorty

[The Pampered Librarian]

Tania those are complete sentences, yes.

[Daniela]

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

I bought this on my kindle a while ago and now finally might get around to it!

[Jaimi]

Ron wrote: "I think this will work:

Fire and Flood: A People's History of Climate Change, from 1979 to the Present"

That's not a complete sentence -- there's no verb.

[Theresa]

Some of James Baldwin's works have full sentence titles - Go Tell It on the Mountain. Also fits Black History Month

[Ron]

Jaimi wrote: "Ron wrote: "I think this will work:

Fire and Flood: A People's History of Climate Change, from 1979 to the Present"

That's not a complete sentence -- there's no verb."

Oh, okay. Thank you.

[The Pampered Librarian]

Apparently YA novels tend to have complete sentences for titles (and for some reason "lying" is everywhere):

We Were Liars

One of Us Is Lying
One of Us Is Next
One of Us Is Back

Trust Me, I'm Lying

It's All Your Fault

[The Pampered Librarian]

Daniela wrote: "Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

I bought this on my kindle a while ago and now finally might get around to it!"

I read it last year and liked it a lot.

[The Pampered Librarian]

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

We Ate the Dark by Mallory Pearson with a whopping 2.83 rating....

[Christy]

I just ran across a bunch of options on another site, so here they are. I make no representations about how good or bad these books are, but their titles are definitely complete sentences!
I Miss You When I Blink: Essays
I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up
I Left My Homework in the Hamptons: What I Learned Teaching the Children of the One Percent
I Married a Birdman
I Never Had It Made (Jackie Robinson's autobiography)
I Must Betray You
I Shall Wear Midnight
I Spit on Your Graves
I Am a Cat
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
The Devil Takes You Home
All This Could Be Different
Now Is Not the Time to Panic
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A Grandmother Begins the Story: A Novel
White Is for Witching
At Night All Blood is Black
Take a Look at the Five and Ten
His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
Things Fall Apart
Mrs. McGinty's Dead

[Stina]

I'm going with I'm Just A Person for this, but I also read Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere in January.

Bury Your Gays is coming out later this year.

[krista | overbookt]

I chose EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD by Jenny Hollander! A dark academia thriller that I really enjoyed and highly recommend! It just released this week too!

[Kristy]

“The Salt Grows Heavy’ by Cassandra Khaw

[Diana]

I read Gwen & Art Are Not in Love. It's not quite a King Arthur retelling, but it's a cute, snarky, queer story definitely inspired by it.

[Aquaria]

Questions are sentences, so I chose Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews.

[Ron]

I've decided to go with Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America for this prompt.

[Robin H-R]

I read:
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? by Ed Gorman

[Linda]

Ron, that's not a sentence.

[Ron]

Linda wrote: "Ron, that's not a sentence."

Oh, thanks.

LOL this prompt is turning out to be harder than I thought for me. Especially since I'm looking for nonfiction books.

[Jennifer]

Would My Darling Girl count as a complete sentence?

[LeahS]

Jennifer wrote: "Would My Darling Girl count as a complete sentence?

"

No, it doesn't have a verb.

[Sherri]

I read Let Us Descend

[The Pampered Librarian]

Sherri wrote: "I read Let Us Descend"
How was it? I loved her Sing, Unburied, Sing

A new release that is a debut novel fitting this prompt:Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect

[Ron]

Grr, still struggling with this prompt.

[The Pampered Librarian]

Ron, you are a NF reader with interest in Native Americans history, right? Perhaps this could work? Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America

[Ron]

Laura wrote: "Ron, you are a NF reader with interest in Native Americans history, right? Perhaps this could work? Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America"

That's actually perfect. Thanks.

If I don't get that book, then at least I have a better idea on what the sentence is when it comes to book titles.

[Lilith]

Ron wrote: "Laura wrote: "Ron, you are a NF reader with interest in Native Americans history, right? Perhaps this could work? Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America"

That's actually perf..."

Oh no, I hate to say this but that's not a sentence either. Neither side of the colon is a sentence.

Native Roots is a complex noun, so you need a verb.
Native Roots made Me Strong. That's a sentence.

How the Indians Enriched America. It's a clause. How the Indians Enriched America was very interesting. That's a sentence. The clause functions as a noun ( the way we enriched America).

I'll look through my titles. Other than God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, I can't think of anything else.

God is red. That's a sentence.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. That's a sentence.

[The Pampered Librarian]

Lilith wrote: "Ron wrote: "Laura wrote: "Ron, you are a NF reader with interest in Native Americans history, right? Perhaps this could work? Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America"

That's a..."

I realize that, however, Ron posted more than once that he is struggling with this prompt, and that's the best I could come up with while browsing my library's card catalog last night.
The titles you suggest fit the prompt much much better, of course.

[Brandon]

Here are some that I own or like that would qualify:

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 4: I Kissed a Squirrel and I Liked It
I Wish I Had a Wookiee: And Other Poems for Our Galaxy (works for 24 poem prompt, too)
William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back
Live by the Code
Five Survive
Leviathan Wakes
One of Us Is Dead
Poirot Loses a Client
Return of the Jedi - Beware the Power of the Dark Side!
Lord Edgware Dies
A Murder Is Announced
They Do It With Mirrors
Rise Like Lions
X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills
The Sky's the Limit
Who Knew?: Answers to Questions about Classical Music you Never Thought to Ask
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

[Nadine in NY]

omg I always read the phrase "Leviathan Wakes" as meaning the wake of a ship, like it was some sort of celestial metaphor or something, akin to "ship's currents." It never occurred to me that it was the verb "wake up"!!! (I, uhhh, hated the book anyway ... you know how I can get ranty about some books)

[Brandon]

You could well be right, Nadine, but since the last book is Leviathan Falls, it seemed to be bookends of actions to me.

[Nadine in NY]

Brandon wrote: "You could well be right, Nadine, but since the last book is Leviathan Falls, it seemed to be bookends of actions to me."


no no your definition makes more sense! My brain just never "clicked" on that

[Lilith]

Laura wrote: "Lilith wrote: "Ron wrote: "Laura wrote: "Ron, you are a NF reader with interest in Native Americans history, right? Perhaps this could work? [book:Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America|832..."

I understand. He had just asked if the title was a sentence, so, as an English teacher, I responded. It is very tough double-dipping some of these prompts!

There are some terrific NF books about and by Indigenous people, and some great books with titles that are a complete sentence. It is hard finding the overlap.

[Lilith]

Laura wrote: "Ron, you are a NF reader with interest in Native Americans history, right? Perhaps this could work? Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America"

Ron wrote: "Laura wrote: "Ron, you are a NF reader with interest in Native Americans history, right? Perhaps this could work? Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America"

That's actually perf..."

Hi Ron, here are a few more NF books about Indigenous people that are also complete sentences:

We Had a Little Real Estate Problem
Salmon and Acorns Feed Our People: Colonialism, Nature, and Social Action
Do Not Enter My Soul in Your Shoes
I am Uluru .... Indigenous people in what is now Australia

[Ron]

Lilith wrote:

Hi Ron, here are a few more NF books about Indigenous people that are also complete sentences:

We Had a Little Real Estate Problem

This is excellent thank you! I have a copy of this one already so I might start there. Still, I will look for some that are actually on my TBR carts because I want to knock off some of those. I will certainly keep that one in mind though :)

[Ron]

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with this prompt. You'd think as someone with an English degree I wouldn't have a problem.

Maybe I'm just overthinking too hard. LOL!

Would this work?

Everything I Learned About Racism I Learned in School

[LeahS]

Yes!

[Ron]

LeahS wrote: "Yes!"

Yae, thank you!

LOL yeah I overthink things despite my knowledge in English. At least I finally found something.

[LeahS]

Like you I studied English at college but often find it hard to think about grammatical construction. If I'm just writing without thinking it's fine!

[Ron]

LeahS wrote: "Like you I studied English at college but often find it hard to think about grammatical construction. If I'm just writing without thinking it's fine!"

Exactly! I'm the same. When it comes to the grammatical stuff I get stuck. It makes it harder when you're thinking about it. We deal with sentences everyday, we write them, but when it comes to defining them that's where I get tripped up.

[Meghana]

Does My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout work for this prompt ?

[LeahS]

Yes.

[Meghana]

LeahS wrote: "Yes."

Thanks Leah!

[The Pampered Librarian]

Laura wrote:
A new release that is a debut novel fitting this prompt:Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect

I am reading this book right now and I'm here to say it can fit three prompts this year (and at least one from previous challenges, if you go back to 2022 "A book set on a plane, train, or cruise ship"): Book with a title that is a complete sentence; book about a writer (it's a mystery writers' convention!) and book set in a travel destination on your bucket list, if you dream of visiting Australia! It almost hit four prompts mark with one of the character's being 41 years old.

[Lilith]

Ron wrote: "Lilith wrote:

Hi Ron, here are a few more NF books about Indigenous people that are also complete sentences:

We Had a Little Real Estate Problem

This is excellent thank you! I have a copy of th..."

Yay! I can't wait to hear how the book is. I haven't read it, but I was looking through my titles, too.