Six beach novels for your summer reading pleasure

From World Wide Words:

As it's February, it must be time for Horace Bent to announce the shortlist for Bookseller magazine's Diagram prize. It rewards the oddest book title of the year. 

The six finalists, with Mr Bent's comments, are:

 THE CHANGING WORLD OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE  

 ("It has yet to sell a single copy on UK shores, no doubt because our enviable diet (curry, etc) bequeaths us with immaculate intestines"), 

AFTERTHOUGHTS OF A WORM HUNTER  

 ("All proceeds from the sales of helminthologist (look it up) Crompton's notes on his worm-hunting travels go to the Glasgow Centre for International Development's scholarship fund"), 

CROCHETING ADVENTURES WITH HYPERBOLIC PLANES  

 ("The gripping yarn will keep you hooked to the final chapter: 'Who is Interested in Hyperbolic Geometry Now and How Can it be Used?'"), 

GOVERNING LETHAL BEHAVIOR IN AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS  

 ("Where else can one find an exploration of a new breed of robots, illustrating 'the first steps toward creating robots that not only conform to international law but outperform human soldiers in their ethical capacity'?"), 

WHAT KIND OF BEAN IS THIS CHIHUAHUA?  

 ("Rumours of a follow-up, What Kind of Asparagus is this Shetland Pony?, are disappointingly still just rumours") 

and  ... 

COLLECTIBLE SPOONS OF THE 3RD REICH  

 ("Yours for just £13(ish), no longer will you have to ponder: 'What did the dessert spoons used on the Kriegsmarine's U-47 look like?'").

 
 

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