Curious:

[framlingem]

Why do some people title their books "Such-and-Such: A Novel"?

Seriously. If you have to tell me it's a novel, and I won't be able to figure out on my own that it is a fairly lengthy work of fiction, odds are it's either not very good, written for people who don't understand what a novel is, or really, really pretentious. In all cases, I admit that the 'A Novel' part is useful, as it warns me off. (I did actually buy a 'A Novel' book the other day, out of sheer curiosity and because I was desperate and it was a hardcover going for three bucks. It fell into the 'really, really pretentious' category. I plan to take it to the second-hand store and seeing if I can trade it in for some credit towards a beat-up paperback copy of a book that knows it's a novel without having to check its nametag.)

Is it so people can call themselves 'novelists' rather than 'authors'? Is it so I don't start reading it and write angry letters about how I was sucked into reading a five-pound book, thinking it was going to be a short story and would only take me ten minutes, and now I'm suing for the time I lost? Whoops! I mean, anyone could make that mistake, if not warned appropriately. If it's 'A Novel OF' something, that's at least useful. 'A Novel of Discworld', for instance - it lets me know it's a Discworld book, but probably won't deal too much with Ankh-Morpork or any of the main Disc characters.

*Has visions of boxes with 'Cheerios: A Cereal' written on them.*

I may have to put this up on my Life's Greatest Questions list, along with 'who on Earth thought 'Trojan' was a good name for a brand of condoms?' and 'why do my ten identical pairs of socks invariably become twenty odd socks in a matter of weeks?'

Comments

[tckma.livejournal.com]

A lawsuit for lost time would be a novel idea. ;)

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

*groans*

*sues for time spent groaning!*

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

*dies* You are so funny. :)

And there are definitely books I have read and wanted to sue for lost time for.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

*rescuscitates*

I think I've lost more time listening to recommendations for bad books than actually reading bad books.

"Oh! You really should read The Da Vinci Code!"

Sigh.

(There's a thought. I bet Dan Brown can afford it, he's got legions of fans who love to keep reading the same book with different titles to see if he gets it right this time!)

[avalonmissy.livejournal.com]

I've got a feeling it's probably an editor or publisher decision rather than the author. That being said, not sure why they do it. I have more than a few books that have "a novel" or "a novel by..." on the covers and are really quite good. Life of Pi, a couple Wayne Johnston books, and a John LeCarre for starters.

[aras-55555.livejournal.com]

I've wondered this myself. I suppose it comes from titles that might be misunderstood as something else, like 'The History of the World: A Novel' or 'Birds of North America: A Novel', and then it moved on to more ambiguous titles? It helps warn away people who aren't looking for fiction, but these days I think it's really mostly a stylistic affectation than anything else.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

Generally, when I'm not looking for fiction, I stay away from the sections with big 'FICTION' signs all over them ;)

[mopeydick.livejournal.com]

It's good to know that "blahblah: a novel" is a pet peeve for someone else. And I actually have seen a few things here in the states that are labeled "Raisin D'Etre: A Cereal" or some such. What kills me is when it's something like "Vampire Mafiosi Bikini Sluts of Mars: A Novel." As though that would be a field guide.

Trojan as a brand name - I don't think it's the classical reference so much as it is the fact that a guy buying a box will automatically associate the word "horse."

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

Tell you one thing - no guy is ever coming near me with a Trojan. (No pun intended) You let the horse in, it opens up, and suddenly there are millions of Greeks running around. Uh-uh. No way. ;)

Raisin D'etre. *snicker*

[your-lifeis-now.livejournal.com]

I am glad that someone else has gazed at the Trojan box and pondered: Um.... Yeah. Okay, it's not like I when I am looking down at someone's *cough* manhood that I am thinking- *hands to face* "Oh dear, I didn't expect THAT I wonder what he is HIDING under there. Oh MY!"

Um.... Damn.

No.

[quiva.livejournal.com]

And not to mention the fact that what the Trojan Horse is famous for is breaching seemingly impenetrable defenses.

Well, okay, that could be taken a couple different ways. One REALLY good one and one REALLY bad.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY!

*uses own 'oops' icon*

[coreyfoster-esq.livejournal.com]

If they had Oscars for LJ entries, this one would be called Braveheart. Just warn me before you feel the need to fall headfirst into a liqour lunge and the anti-Semitic remarks start flying, hm?

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

Why thank you.

(Although this is not nearly long enough to be 'Braveheart')