Title deeds

How do you choose the title of a book? Often it's hard to think that books could have had any other title than the one they do, but choosing a good title is often a challenge for authors and publishers. In Title deeds: the hidden stories behind 50 books Gary Dexter shows that there is often a deeper story behind the choice.

For instance the title 'Curse God Farm' was changed when the author heard of a real place called 'Cold Comfort Farm', which sounded much better. 'St Trinians' was also named after a real school. 'The Name of the Rose' seemingly should have been called 'The Name of Rome'. We find out who was teased as being 'the real Peter Pan' and discover that the Alice of 'Through the looking glass' may not have been Alice Liddell. We also hear why the plot of the film 'Blade runner' is very different to the original book.

There are lots of fascinating stories, perhaps not a book to try to read at one sitting, but ideal to dip into now and again. Your guaranteed to find something entertaining and may learn something of the history of literature at the same time.