/ 8 September 2008

Greek postmen beat zombies to win oddest book title

Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers benefitted from a late surge in public support to win the title on Friday of oddest book title of the past 30 years, the Bookseller magazine said.

The book — a comprehensive record of Greek postal routes by Derek Willan — grabbed 13% of the 1 000 international public votes cast to chose the oddest title from the winners of the annual competition that began in 1978.

It beat People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead and How To Avoid Huge Ships into second and third places with 11% and 10% respectively.

”The posties pulled off a real shock here. The pre-tournament favourite was the prize’s first ever recipient — Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice, said Horace Bent, custodian of the annual Diagram Prize.

”Right from the off, it was Gary Leon Hill’s People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead that set the pace. It topped the polls for over three weeks,” he added. – Reuters