[Abyss]

I always thought AMERICAN GODS was a clever title.

Also, once upon a time, i read a fantasy story, titled A BRIEF REIGN OF DRAGONS, which was clever because, to my uncertain recollection, the story was about a village overrun by very small dragons.

- Abyss, notes you can't judge a book by its title except for when you can.

[stone monkey]

Science-Fiction/Fantasy/Horror wise some of my favourite titles are:

Random Acts of Senseless Violence
The Word for World is Forest
The Suburban Book of the Dead
In the Ocean of the Night
The Hellbound Heart

Short story wise (which may be cheating, but I don't care) some of my fave titles (if not unfortunately the stories they belong to) are:

Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones
The Abominations of Yondo
Eneter a Soldier. Later, Enter Another.
On Exactitude In Science
Portrait of the Young Artist as Foaming Deathmonger

Non fiction wise some of my fave titles are:

Coming of Age in the Milky Way
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat


As you can see I'm a bit of a sucker for the longer, polysyllabic or more Baroque sounding title. It's a weakness

[paladin]

he mistook his wife for a hat? is it a serial killer novel or a novel about a woman with a huge vagina?

[Mentalist]

Its a collection of stories from a psychologist.....

[Shryval]

A Dark and Hungry God Arises by Stephen Donaldson always did it for me. Shame about the series in general.

I'd also nominate Edgar Allen Poe's poem titled "The Conqueror Worm" - not fantasy but permissable if we're talking about titles of work that impact on your attention.

For the sake of contrast, anything with the word "dragon" or "mage" or "cystal" or "wizard" or "elf" in the title I go out of my way to avoid.

[The Tyrant Lizard]

The Redemption of Althalus by Eddings was a pretty good title I thought. What a shame the book itself was exactly the same as Belgerath but with different names.

[stone monkey]

paladin;217075 said:

he mistook his wife for a hat? is it a serial killer novel or a novel about a woman with a huge vagina?

He had a brain injury.

Everyone should read this book. It's just one astonishment after another. It fills you with wonder about the things that human beings can learn to live with.

Also, the edition I have has a cover that's a great play on Magritte's Trechery of Images

[Werthead]

I Have No Mouth and Must Scream - Harlan Ellison
The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
Startide Rising and Infinity's Shore - David Brin
The Shadow of the Torturer - Gene Wolfe
At the Mountains of Madness - HP Lovecraft

I think the guy with the most evocative titles is definitely Arthur C. Clarke:

Childhood's End, Against the Fall of Night, The City and the Stars, A Fall of Moondust, Rendezvous with Rama, The Ghost from the Grand Banks, The Hammer of God, The Fountains of Paradise, The Songs of Distant Earth, The Nine Billion Names of God and of course 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[Veilside]

The Healthy Dead

[Sir Thursday]

The Thousandfold Thought
Red Seas Under Red Skies
Shriek: An Afterword
Pashazade
Heart of Darkness
Of Fire and Night

[Dancer+]

Memories of Ice - very intriguing title, there's something contradictory and unexplainable in the title, I love it.
A Game of Thrones - It trivalises Kingship, and it's so true but at the same time it would usually be left unsaid.

There are others, but these two stand very highly on my list without thinking too far.

[Pallol One Eye]

Here's an obvious one:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Dick)

Couple of Others are:

The Left Hand of Darkness (Leguin)
The Doors of His face, The Lamps of His Mouth (Zelazny)

Pallol, starting to show his age

[Vocaltic]

Non-Fantasy:

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire by Charles Bukowski

Fantasy:

House of Chains