18 June 2010

BOMBPROOF YOUR HORSE

(Welcome back to the weird books room).

Probably one of the most intriguing and excellent titles of the past few years has to be “Bombproof Your Horse”.  The author is this case, (Rick Pelicano) meaning ‘bombproof’ in a rather different sense than covering your horse in iron clad steel and using him for disposal and other associated explosion related duties. No, the author simply details how to stop your horse bolting, baulking or bulking. The aim is for the reader to have a more confident horse, and the author also runs horse confidence clinics. So overall, not as weird as first expected. Almost just a normal horse training manual with a slightly misinterpreted name, and according to the guardian, this is a "solid" title selling about 400 copies a month, (J. Ezard, Guardian, 2004).

Another insane title, which is truly crazy in content, as well as title, is “HAUNTED VAGINA” by Carlton Mellick III. This time, the book is about a vagina…….which is haunted…. This is part of a genre called ‘bizarro’ or the genre of the weird. According to Mellick’s website Bizzaro is “Like cult movies, Bizarro is sometimes surreal, sometimes avant-garde, sometimes goofy, sometimes bloody, sometimes borderline pornographic, and almost always completely out there.” Overall Bizzaro is supposed to be fun to read. Whether it is: “The Faggiest Vampire” or “Baby Jesus Buttplug”, Bizarro will always keep you entertained, if not enthralled.

 The one thing that is slightly frustrating about weird books websites for me personally is that generally they seem to focus on weird titles, or non-fiction. Like “Bombproof Your Horse”, they evoke some strange images, but in reality the book is very standard. The real weird books are the ones with standard titles, based in fiction. “Through the Looking Glass”, by Lewis Carroll, by example, is overtly strange, involving time distortion, abstract imagery (as shown in the picture above, The Jabberwocky, by English illustrator Sir John Tenniel), chess and a giant cow.

11 June 2010

One of the oddest books we've come across in recent years has to be 'Cat Massage' by Mary Jean Ballner (pictured below). Containing FIFTY massage techniques.

There is even a review on Amazon.co.uk (that 16 out of 17 people found useful): "This author captures the essence of bonding with your cat through affectionate touch. Feline photographs are great and layout imaginative. Cat Massage is a book you will keep and refer to for years."

Bizarre.

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