Planning a Funeral?

Being Dead is no Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral

"Folks in the Delta have a strong sense of community, and being dead is no impedimpent to belonging to it. Down south, they don't forget you when you've up and died--in fact they visit you more often. But there are quintessential rules and rituals for kicking the bucket tastefully, and having a flawless funeral is one of them." (from inside book cover)

Need to know if "you can be properly buried without tomato aspic? Who prepares tastier funeral fare, the Episcopal ladies or the Methodist ladies? And what does one do when a family gets three sheets to the wind and eats the entire feast the night before a funeral?" (from insed book cover)

If you find yourself in the unexpected situation of planning your funeral don't be caught dead without this book!!

(special thanks to DM for the find!)

Interesting relationships...

When standing in line at the bookstore yesterday I noticed an unusual take on the regular relationship books.

The title?: How to tell if your boyfriend is the Antichrist (and if he is, should you break up with him?) by Patricia Carlin.

According to www.quirkbooks.com, "there’s a fine line between endearing quirks and severe personality disorders. Is he a pedophile or is he simply good with kids?"
This guide will help you decide.

Don't leave home without it!

Perhaps this isn't a bizarre title, but it is very useful for expanding your vocabulary -- especially on a road trip! The dictionary is CB-English and English-CB. It is my personal goal to be able to incorporate CB slang in my every-day conversations once I commit this dictionary to memory. ("Put an eyeball to the quasar driving the Pregnant Roller Skate!")

Strange book titles, new stories

Unusual book titles were used for a contest at the BBC site. Listeners wrote in a few paragraphs for a book using a real (odd) book title. Results were judged by Alexander McCall Smith.

Check it out at BBC Radio Today Reports.

For the Nature Lover:

The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: a Guide to Field Identification by Julian Montague.

If you are interested, the WI State Historical Society owns a copy.

If you can't get enough oddities

http://oddbooks.co.uk/

Includes some book covers and REALLY bad poetry.

I found the section on Webster Edgerly the most interesting - http://oddbooks.co.uk/edgerly/. His magnatism theory bring to mind the latest new-age craze covered in The Secret!

Oddest book titles

Odd titles and topics are interesting--
last year's winner of the Oddest Book Title of the Year was _People who don't know they're dead: How they attach themselves to unsuspecting bystanders and what to do about it_.

Some create an alarming mental picture: _Carnivorous Butterflies_ for example. Who knew that they should worry about that beautiful butterfly taking a chunk out of their arm? And we thought we only had to worry about mosquitos...

Strange titles and topics

I love to find old books that have bizarre topics or dated points of view. I would love to hear other people's favorites too.

One of my all time favorites is _Jogging: the Dance of Death_ by Robert Gene Fineberg.

This book exposes the "dark side" of running. Published in 1980 it clearly is a response to the new fitness craze that was hitting the nation. I have had a difficult time tracking down the authors credentials... This is the only book I have identified by him.