I find book titles really important. A good number of my bookish pet peeves have to do with a book’s title. I’m ready to retire “The X’s Wife/Daughter” for good, and I get slightly annoyed at overtly long modern book titles. All that to say, titles are really important. They set the tone and feel for the story, but shouldn’t give away too much. Some of my favorite book titles are:

Any of the books in the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, but especially Monsters of Men

I haven’t read past The Knife of Never Letting Go yet, but the reason I picked up the book was because of the title. The titles for this trilogy are just really spectacular and fit with the plot of the book. It starts with the knife in the first book, and continues through the idea that war makes monsters of men, hence the title for the last book. Some of my favorite titles for books ever.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

This title establishes some of the spiritual questions that will be asked throughout the book, and also identifies Owen Meany as someone who will need prayer. It never lets you forget the importance of the title character.

The Fault in Our Stars, or any other book by John Green

I haven’t read a John Green book yet, but all of his books have the best titles. Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, and Abundance of Katherines, etc. I love them all. They all seemed perfectly titled.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Despite my normal aversion to long book titles, this is one of the few long book titles I actually like. I adored this book , and I can’t think what else this book could possibly be titled that would do it justice.

I’m curious to know what your favorite(and least favorite, if you’re so inclined!) book titles are. Titles are so important, but I see so few blog post discussing them compared to aspects of books like covers. One of the most annoying things in reading life is a book with a misleading title, in my opinion!

Normally, books that are based upon a love story are not really my thing. I enjoy aspects of romance in books, but not normally as its own genre. However, I had heard pretty decent things about One Day and I found it for $1.50 at a used book sale, so I figured it was worth a shot.

One Day

by David Nicholls

One Day

Summary from Goodreads:

It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.

My review:

This is a sweet, sometimes bittersweet at times, book. I like that this book is realistic about life and love at times. Dexter and Emma aren’t quite in love at first sight, though they both have a soft spot for the other. Over fifteen years, they have room to grow. They do different things, take wildly different career paths, and date other people. It’s not an instant love story, and I like that. Getting to see the two every day on different years is an unique way to experience an incredibly realistic love story.

My major disappointment with this book is the characterization. Both Em and Dex are three-dimensional characters, but they seem incredibly stereotypical to me. Emma is the sensible, practical, hardworking one who has to work for everything in her life. She takes whatever job she can while trying to reach her dream as a writer. Dexter is the rich boy who lives up the after college life for awhile before things force him to take a hard look at his life. At times, Emma and Dexter seem like every lead from a romantic comedy set in the past decade. This frustrated me because it’s obvious from the book that Nicholls is a great writer who was capable of more diverse characterization.

Other than that, I found this book quite enjoyable. It wasn’t quite a page-turner or a book I’ll fill the need to revisit often, but I think it’s a worthy read for a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Final Impression: Incredibly sweet at times, but fairly stereotypical romantic leads. Enjoyable, but not something I would want to pay full price for. 3/5 stars.

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