The annual Diagram Prize for the year’s oddest book title has been awarded to Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop: And other practical advice in our campaign against the fairy kingdom, by Reginald Bakeley. Published by Conari Press and described as “the essential primer for banishing the dark fairy creatures that are lurking in the dark corners and crevices of your life.”

According to the publisher’s blurb, in Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop readers will discover:

Why a bustle in one's hedgerow may be cause for alarm

Why a garden fumigator may come in handy on evenings at the pub

Why a toy merchant, a butcher, and a Freemason are among your best allies in the fight against the fey

Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop is the only complete manual on how to identify, track, defend, and destroy those bothersome brownies, goblins, dwarves, scheming flower-fairies, and other nasty members of the fairy realm.

It’s available in paperback from Amazon for $11.21. I think I need a copy!

Previous award winners include:

Bombproof Your Horse

Living with Crazy Buttocks

Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way

I can just see it 100 years people will believe its fact.

I think I want a cope too.

River

An article in the Huffington Post this morning lists the runners-up for the 2013 Diagram Prize:

How Tea Cosies Changed the World

Was Hitler Ill?

God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis

Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts

How to Sharpen Pencils

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/2 ... more282487

The prize has been offered annually since 1978, with the first winner being “Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice.”

Wikipedia, of course, has a full list of prize winners:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookseller ... f_the_Year

My personal copy of God’s Doodle has just returned from loan to Paolo. It’s a collection of anecdotes from various sources. Good, but not great as an addition to my collection.

One title that probably should have been part of this year’s competition is Hung Jury: Testimonies of Genital Surgery by Transsexual Men. It’s a collection of very well-written and articulate accounts of surgery edited by Trystan Cotten, a professor of African American Studies at California State University, Stanislaus (a college locally known as “Turkey Tech” as it was built on land purchased from a large turkey ranch).

The cover is a large photo of the genitalia of Michelangelo’s David.

There are a few from that list that look inviting that is to read.

River