Top Ten Tuesday – Books With Super Long Titles

1:49 pm | | Comments 10

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a new theme is suggested for bloggers to participate in.

This was pretty easy for me to pull together because Long Title was one of our bingo squares last year on fantasy.reddit.com so I read a fair few books that fit this prompt. Clicking the titles will take you to Goodreads, and I’ve included the blurbs too. I’ve read and recommend all of these.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

by Claire North

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Some stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. “I nearly missed you, Doctor August,” she says. “I need to send a message.” This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

Crux Skullcrusher and the Definitely Evil Sword

by Vichet Ou

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Crux Skullcrusher, Priya the Bard, and Gorlach Eaglefist are hot on the tail of Tyberion the Hoarder and his fabled thievings.

But when they sneak into his hideout, all they find is a sword named Malphior. And it’s definitely evil. And it talks a lot. And its resale value probably can’t cover their expenses.

Mild danger ensues.

The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday

by Saad Z. Hossain

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When the djinn king Melek Ahmar wakes up after millennia of imprisoned slumber, he finds a world vastly different from what he remembers. Arrogant and bombastic, he comes down the mountain expecting an easy conquest: the wealthy, spectacular city state of Kathmandu, ruled by the all-knowing, all-seeing tyrant AI Karma. To his surprise, he finds that Kathmandu is a cut-price paradise, where citizens want for nothing and even the dregs of society are distinctly unwilling to revolt.

Everyone seems happy, except for the old Gurkha soldier Bhan Gurung. Knife saint, recidivist, and mass murderer, he is an exile from Kathmandu, pursuing a forty-year-old vendetta that leads to the very heart of Karma. Pushed and prodded by Gurung, Melek Ahmer finds himself in ever deeper conflicts, until they finally face off against Karma and her forces. In the upheaval that follows, old crimes will come to light and the city itself will be forced to change.

The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles

by Kij Johnson

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The heroic quest of a single cat.

When a fire destroys her home and scatters her colony, Small Cat sets out to find the home of her ancestor, the Cat From the North, and to make her own name along the way.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

by Becky Chambers

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Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space-and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe-in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.

Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

This Is How You Lose the Time War

by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

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Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.

Swashbuckling Cats: Nine Lives on the Seven Seas

edited by Rhonda Parrish

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If you think cats and water don’t mix, think again.

Plunge into worlds of piratical cats: on ships, in space, and beyond the veil.

Fourteen “tails” of adventure-loving cats, puns, and fun, featuring: Beth Cato; Krista D. Ball; Rebecca Brae; Grace Bridges; Lizz Donnelly; Megan Fennell; Chadwick Ginther; Joseph Halden; Blake Liddell; Frances Pauli; JB Riley; Rose Strickman; Leslie Van Zwol; and SG Wong.

Those Brave, Foolish Souls from the City of Swords

by Benedict Patrick

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Don’t draw your blade in the City of Swords, unless you’re willing to kill… or ready to die.

Young and filled with idealistic fervor, Arturo packs his blade and travels to the fabled City of Swords in the hopes of joining the dashing Bravadori. Yet upon arriving he discovers these masked vigilantes have more in common with brutal thugs than noble monster slayers. Disillusioned and mocked, he stubbornly refuses to give up his dreams.

When an impending bandit attack threatens untold depravities upon a distant village, and no others will heed the call for help, Arturo joins forces with a worthless outcast and a walking legend to attempt the impossible, to traverse the demon-haunted wilderness and prove that in the City of Swords, true heroes can rise from the unlikeliest of places.

Those Brave, Foolish Souls from the City of Swords is a gritty, action-packed standalone novel set in Benedict Patrick’s Yarnsworld, a land where folktales and fantasy mix, where the monsters from stories are real.

Start reading today to discover this epic tale of broken heroes and inspiring hope!

Sir Thomas the Hesitant and the Table of Less Valued Knights

by Liam Perrin

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Whimsical and poignant, Sir Thomas the Hesitant and the Table of Less Valued Knights tells the story of Thomas Farmer who dreams of becoming a knight, sets out to save his brother from the hands of an evil Baron, and uncovers a plot that threatens Camelot itself. Along the way, he befriends a series of misfits including an allegedly reformed evil wizard, a shrinking giantess with a latent gift, a veteran knight with a dark secret, and his best friend Philip the Exceptionally Unlucky.

In the end, his friends must all join forces and Thomas must come to grips with what it means to be a true hero if they are to outwit the evil Baron. At its heart, Sir Thomas’s tale is the story of a young man growing up and learning what it means to be a hero in a world that doesn’t always make sense.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

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‘Armageddon only happens once, you know. They don’t let you go around again until you get it right.’

People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. But what if, for once, the predictions are right, and the apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea?

You could spend the time left drowning your sorrows, giving away all your possessions in preparation for the rapture, or laughing it off as (hopefully) just another hoax. Or you could just try to do something about it.

It’s a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon now finds themselves in. They’ve been living amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse.

And then there’s the small matter that someone appears to have misplaced the Antichrist…

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant

by Drew Hayes

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Some people are born boring. Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort.

One fateful night – different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful – Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting him right into the chaos that is the parahuman world, a world with chipper zombies, truck driver wereponies, maniacal necromancers, ancient dragons, and now one undead accountant trying his best to “survive.” Because even after it’s over, life can still be a downright bloody mess.

So, how’s that for long titles? The longest I was able to come up with was 11 words, if you know any longer ones I’m really curious

 

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay 

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Comments

  1. Tammy says:

    Its amazing how long some titles are, lol. You found some books I’ve never heard of! I think my favorite is the last one.

    1. Dianthaa says:

      That one’s a really quick read, and the adventures are more interesting than the protagonist would wish

  2. lydiaschoch says:

    I’ve heard good things about The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.

    FYI, your link to this post is broken on Jana’s site.

    My post.

    1. Dianthaa says:

      Oh thanks for letting me know! Looks like I accidently pasted an entire tweet instead of the link.
      My review of Harry August should be going up Friday, but in a nutshell it’s really fun and clever and I really rec it.

  3. Amazing list! The longest book I’ve read is probably only Eleanor oliphant – I like your choices haha, I honestly hadn’t realised how long some of them get 😁 I tried this prompt but I eventually tried ‘ranking the Simons of literature’. Of which I thought there was a lot but turns out there isn’t really lol. I guess it’s also to do with names? It tenuous I know, but check it out if you want to see how Simon cowell ranks against Simon spier! https://hundredsandthousandsofbooks.blog/2020/10/13/ttt-ranking-fictional-simons-and-real-ones-i-ran-out/

    1. Dianthaa says:

      Thanks for dropping by! I loved your post too.
      I only know so many books with long titles because of a reading challenge

  4. Great list! The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles sounds so sweet, and I love the title of The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant.

    1. Dianthaa says:

      The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles is very sweet, and I think it’s only a novella, so really quick to read.

  5. Gayathri Lakshminarayanan says:

    I loved Good Omens – both book and the series. Another book with a long title would be Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows – (misleading title but super funny tale of middle age aunts and a young lady)

    1. Dianthaa says:

      Haha! That title is misleading, but also make the book sound like a lot of fun!

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