ODD TITLES

They are not the kind of titles that are likely to top the books bestseller charts. But half a dozen bizarre tomes including a guide to stray shopping trolleys and a history of a Coventry ice-cream business may win their 15 minutes of fame as contenders for the Oddest Book Title of the Year.

The competition, which has been run by The Bookseller magazine since 1978, invites publishers, booksellers and libraries to submit their choices of the strange and odd.

Last year's winner was People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It by Gary Leon Hill.

And the shortlist for the prize in 2006 provides an equally curious insight into the publishing world. The candidates start with How Green Were the Nazis, edited by Franz-Josef Bruggemeier, Mark Cioc and Thomas Zeller, which claims to be the first study of the Third Reich's environmental policies. It offers "an in-depth exploration of the intersections between brown ideologies and green practices".

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