Bizarre Books

What'cha reading?
by Russell Ash, Brian Lake | Nonfiction |
ISBN: 0965887642 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 11/11/2012
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, January 31, 2013
I came across this fair-condition softcover at Better World books during a recent sale, and couldn't resist it. It's a collection of offbeat book titles, grouped by subject - Fresh Air and How To Use It, The Sunny Side of Bereavement, Fashion is Spinach, to name a few... It's grouped by rather random categories, but there is an index so you can look for favorite weird titles, or just check to see if you spot any favorite authors or subjects there.

Most of the entries are simply listed, with title, author, and publication information; some have additional lines of explanation, and a few include the cover pictures. Among my favorites:

Whippings and Lashings, by the Girl Guide Association. [My time in Camp Fire Girls didn't seem nearly as interesting as this sounds!

In the "Right Person for the Job" section, there's Common Truths from Queer Texts, by the Rev. Joseph Gay; in 1908, presumably this did not strike anyone as amusing, but it does rather stand out today.

Double entendres are popular here, whether in book titles or in song titles (from the "Musical Interlude" section. Examples: "It's Really Quite Hard," a song from 1899 which begins "It's apt to be embarrassing..."

In the how-to book section, titles include Truncheons: Their Romance and Reality; I admit I wanted to hunt up a copy of that one, if only to find out just what the "romance" of truncheons could possibly be!

There's also the New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English in Two Parts, a language guide written by someone who used French-English and French-Portuguese dictionaries to come up with the Portuguese-English translations, letting in some amazingly off-base constructions. "Do you speak french?" "Some times; though I flay it yet." Flay it, indeed!

The "Dirty Books" section is about books on manure (and worse), and features more quotes than some of the other sections; quite a lot of fun.

Not all of the books are old ones, either; I was often surprised to see modern publication dates next to offbeat titles, such as this one from the "Against All Odds" chapter (about books that sound simply horrible from the titles alone: Flooty Hobbs and the Jiggling, Jolly Gollywobber - sounds like it would be from the 1800's, right? Nope: 1991!

There's a "Peculiarities of the Press" section in which the entries have unusual bindings or other formatting; this one mentions the narrative of the life of James Allen, a book about a highwayman, of which a copy bound in the criminal's own skin resides in the Boston Atheneum. I'll have to pay it a visit one of these days.

And the section on "Strange Dedications" has charms of its own, such as the one on venereal disease that's dedicated - affectionately - to the author's wife.

And the "Last Writes" section includes the tantalizing The Sunny Side of Bereavement. Really?

[Other books of this type that I've enjoyed include the delightfully-titled Scouts in Bondage, an actual book that is mentioned in this book as well.]

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Released 11 yrs ago (3/27/2013 UTC) at Nashua, New Hampshire USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I'm putting this book in the Books about books bookbox, which will be on its way to its next stop today. Hope someone enjoys it!

Journal Entry 3 by debnance at Alvin, Texas USA on Saturday, April 5, 2014
There is almost nothing I love more than offbeat books. In fact, my blog post next week is on the most offbeat books I've read. (http://www.readerbuzz.blogspot.com)

I'll be reading this one next week at the library conference in San Antonio and then releasing it to a new reader. Thanks for sharing it.

Journal Entry 4 by debnance at Alvin, Texas USA on Sunday, May 11, 2014
I'm adding this wacky book to the ABC VBB. Hope it finds a new home!

Released 9 yrs ago (7/2/2014 UTC) at Controlled Release (Details In Notes) in -- Mail, by hand, rings, RABCks etc, Texas USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Off to a new reader!

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