Better Book Titles

About

Better Book Titles is a single-topic blog that renames well-known books ranging from classic literature to current publications with alternative titles critiquing the plot.

Origin

Better Book Titles^[1] was created by New York-based writer/comedian Dan Wilbur.^[2] According to Wilbur’s own description, the blog was created in order to provide succinct summaries of the book plots that “will cut through all the cryptic crap, and give you the meat of the story in one condensed image.”^[1] The first post was made on July 1st, 2010^[3], renaming Caleb Carr’s The Alienist^[15] “Teddy Roosevelt Solves Tranny Murders.”

Spread

A month after its inception, internet culture site Urlesque^[4] as well as mainstream media outlets like the Chicago Tribune^[5], Entertainment Weekly^[6], Glamour Magazine^[7] and the New Yorker^[8] featured the blog. Over the rest of 2010, Better Book Titles was covered by Paste Magazine^[9], the Boston Globe^[10] and the Tosh.0 blog.^[11]

In April 2011, highlights from the blog were featured on Buzzfeed.^[12] That month, it was also named TIME NewsFeed’s Tumblr of the Week^[13], who declared it their “favorite Tumblr of the Week of all time.” In May 2011, NPR^[14] featured the blog on their site, encouraging readers to submit titles to Wilbur’s blog.

Notable Examples

Ulysses[16]	The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo[17]	Decision Points[18]
The Little Prince[19]	The Devil Wears Prada[20]	The Game Of Thrones[21]

Search Interest

Search began in August 2010, when the blog started seeing media attention, but peaked in May 2011 after being detailed on TIME and NPR.

External References