Trouble with titles

Perhaps because it’s raining, I thought this morning of a book called Knee Deep In Thunder, which was one my sister’s favorites when we were kids. Isn’t that a cool title?

I struggle with titles. Well, that’s not true. I have some really great titles in my head with no book concept attached to them. But I struggle with titles for the books I’ve actually written. In fact, Identity was a working title that I always intended to change. I just never thought of anything I liked better.

Here’s a random list of books titles I think are great.

We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime, by Mark Haddon

Started Early, Took My Dog, by Kate Atkinson (This is actually a line from an Emily Dickenson poem)

Jitter Joint, by Howard Swindle (Jitter joint, Howard explained to me once, was slang for rehab)

Last Night At The Lobster, by Stewart O’Nan

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain

Do you have a great title to add to the list? Tell me about it in comments.