Anagrams. Atonement. Beloved. Bilgewater. Blindness. Bookworm. Candide. Chalk. Chemistry. Circe. Civility. Clown. Coraline. Corduroy. Cranford. Disgrace. Divergent. Dreamers. Dubliners. Dumplin'. Dune. Emma. Eragon. Evicted. Extinct. Fingersmith. Firegirl. Flow. Foundation. Frankenstein. Justice. Ghost. Gilead. Grimpow. Gulf. Happenstance. Hatchet. Hawaii. Heidi. Holes. Home. Homegoing. Housekeeping. Hug. Imagine. Inkheart. Jump. L'Assommoir. Lila. Madeline. Maigret. March. Matilda. Maus. Moby-Dick. Moonshot. Mythology. Nanaville. Night. Nothing. Pachinko. Persepolis. Persuasion. Pinocchio. Plainsong. Poldark. Pollyanna. Poser. Possession. Rapunzel. Rebecca. Redwall. Redwoods. Refuge. Rewilding. Ribsy. Rhoda. Rooftoppers. Room. Rumpelstiltskin. Saturday. Seabiscuit. Silk. Skellig. Sounder. Speak. Stargirl. Stoned. Tightrope. Troy. Uglies. Unbroken. Unsheltered. Waiting. Walden. Warcross. We. Wicked. Wife. Wild. Window. Woman. Working. Zeitoun.
Nevertheless, it's a nice sampling of some of my favorites with one-word titles.
I found that one-word titles often fall into three groups.
One-word titles are the name (or nickname) of the title character(s): Beloved, Bilgewater, Bookworm, Candide, Circe, Clown, Coraline, Corduroy, Dubliners, Dumplin', Emma, Eragon, Fingersmith, Firegirl, Frankenstein, Ghost, Grimpow, Heidi, Lila, Madeline, Maigret, Matilda, Moby-Dick, Pinnochio, Rapunzel, Rebecca, Rhoda, Ribsy, Rooftoppers, Rumpelstiltskin, Seabiscuit, Skellig, Sounder, Stargirl, We, Zeitoun.
One-word titles are the name of the setting of the story: Cranford, Dune, Foundation, Gilead, Gulf, Hawaii, Home, Redwood, Refuge, Troy, Walden.
One-word titles are the theme of the book: Anagrams, Atonement, Blindness, Chalk, Chemistry, Civility, Disgrace, Divergent, Dreamers, Evicted, Extinct, Flow, Justice, Happenstance, Hatchet, Holes, Homegoing, Housekeeping, Hug, Imagine, Jump, L'Assommoir, March, Moonshot, Mythology, Nanaville, Night, Nothing, Pachinko, Persuasion, Plainsong, Poser, Rewilding, Room, Silk, Speak, Stoned, Tightrope, Uglies, Unbroken, Unsheltered, Waiting, Wicked, Wife, Wild, Woman, Working.
What are your favorite books with single-word titles?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.
The cover of Room jumped out at me. That was such a good and disturbing book.
ReplyDeleteIf you choose to give your book a one-word title, you better deliver. One-word sounds definitive.
DeleteLoved this list!
ReplyDeletePachinko was a favorite one-word title that I read last year.
I enjoyed Pachinko, too.
DeleteSo interesting to think of book titles like this..
ReplyDeleteWe readers love a challenge.
DeleteGreat list! Love how you’ve grouped them! 😊
ReplyDeleteI'll have to think about this!
ReplyDeleteLove this list, Deb! So creative. Have one book for you to add to the list: Chalk by Bill Thompson.
ReplyDeleteYes, I love that book. And not only is "chalk" the only word in the title, it's the only word in the book!
DeleteHave you seen the film version of Room? It was just as good as the book in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT .
It took everything I had in me to read Room.
DeleteI remember reading Holes many years ago. And Room was on my TBR for ages before I admitted that I was never going to get to it and finally removed it.
ReplyDeleteRoom was very difficult to read.
DeleteI have one on my blog today. lol Reaper. And wow, it was good.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty definitive list. I can add Weather by Jenny Offill which I recently read and loved.
ReplyDeletegreat list. i think it's hard to come up with a one word title that says it all
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
Yes, I think choosing a one-word that expresses the theme is very difficult.
DeleteWow, this is quite the list! I've read several of them, and others are on my TBR, but I didn't think about breaking them out based on what the single word is. Nice touch.
ReplyDeleteLoved this post Deb. Thanks for this list.......Lol one of my reading 'challenges' for this year is single word titles :).
ReplyDeleteIn January I read Alice (Christina Henry) an 'alternative' version of........yes Alice in Wonderland. A very weird version!
Another 'challenge' is titles with 'The' followed by one word. I've just finished The Wonder (Emma Donoghue) author of Room which is also on my list for this year
You should have a lot to choose from!
DeleteI would suggest one more category: Made up words like MIDDLESEX
ReplyDeleteGreat idea.
DeleteInnovative and great list!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a list! I like the way you organized them, too. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a good list! I've been thinking of lots of new titles I could have used all day.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, Deb! I'm sure there are many more great books with one word titles that I've read, but the list would be sure to include Breath by Tim Winton, Sweetland by Michael Crummey, and Harvest by Jim Crace.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your categories of one-word trends!
ReplyDeleteI spy several that are on my list of favorites. Some I don't see are Unsheltered (Kingsolver), Becoming (Obama), and Morningstar (Hood).
ReplyDeleteI've went around bloggers' lists and I've seen Persuasion in different editions and it always, ALWAYS, has a pretty cover - no matter what edition it is. That cover of Heidi is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteOoh - nice take on the prompt. I really like the way you explained the things that one word titles are often about. (Also, how did I miss Frankenstein off mine??)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I forgot Holes from my list!!
ReplyDelete