Creative autobiography title ideas
When we at Why Not Bookswere considering titles for the memoirs of the late Carolyn Goodman, mother of slain civil rights worker Andrew Goodman and a civil rights icon herself, we harkened back to a particular story she told:
When my youngest son David was seven years old, he came running home from school one day, breathless with excitement.
In his hands he held a large piece of construction paper smothered in assorted colors, lines, shapes, and squiggles. In the eyes of a seven-year-old, it was a creation of unmatched brilliance, Monet and Degas and OKeeffe all rolled into one. In fact, thats quite literally what it looked like. With the flamboyance only a true artist can exude, David boomed into our Upper West Side apartment, raised his magnum opus, and proudly declared, Mom, come here!
Look at my mantelpiece!
A masterpiece is essentially the product of anothers estimation. Someone else reviews your lifes work and pronounces judgment.
But a mantelpiece is a personal statement of values and choices, your lifes work presented as a museum of the self My life has been a work of arta wondrous, colorful, tragic, flawed, intimate and epic work of art. This is my story. This is my mantelpiece.
So thats what it becameMY MANTELPIECE: A Memoir of Survival and Social Justice.
Selecting a title for a well-known persons autobiography or memoir can be a challenge.
For some reason, iIf youre an unknown with a remarkable story, it seems easier to choose evocative titles like Girl, Interrupted(Susanna Kaysen), The Color of Water(James McBride), or Reading Lolita in Tehran(Azar Nafisi). But when youre a celebrity of some sort, it can be a bit trickier.
Example of funny autobiography titles When it comes to writing a funny autobiography, the title is the first thing that will make potential readers stop and take notice. A humorous title can pique the interest of readers and entice them to pick up the book and start flipping through the pages. However, coming up with the perfect title for your funny autobiography can be a daunting.And not always successful.
We at the Why Not have ranked 69 of the more interesting choices through the years. Those at the top of the list are wonderful. Those at the bottom are wince-inducing. You be the judge where the line is drawn.
(Katherine Hepburn)
Memoirs of an Amnesiac (Oscar Levant)
Walk to Freedom (Nelson Mandela)
4.I Cant Wait Until Tomorrow, Cause I Get Better Looking Every Day (Joe Namath)
and Make-Up (Gene Simmons)
Words (George Carlin)
From Slavery (Booker T.
Washington)
Unseemly Man (Larry Flynt)
Standing Up (Steve Martin)
Im Still Hungry (Carnie Wilson)
Wishful Drinking (Carrie Fisher)
The Bedwetter (Sarah Silverman)
Leading With My Chin (Jay Leno)
Getting It Through My Thick Skull (Mary Jo Buttafuoco)
Things I Did and Things I Think I Did (filmmaker Jean Negulesco)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou)
It Would Be So Nice If You Werent Here (Charles Grodin)
Open (Andre Agassi)
My Wicked Wicked Ways (Errol Flynn)
Living History (Hillary Clinton)
Then Again (Diane Keaton)
The Moons a Balloon (David Niven)
Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion (David Brinkley)
They Made a Monkee Out of Me (Davy Jones)
Flashing Before My Eyes (Dick Schaap)
Speak, Memory (Vladimir Nabokov)
Please Dont Shoot My Dog, Mister (Jackie Cooper)
Out of Sync (Lance Bass)
Hitting Back (Wimbledon champ Andy Murray)
Me Moir (British comic Vic Reeves, aka Jim Moir)
The Measure of a Man (Sidney Poitier)
Happy Accidents (Jane Lynch)
Does the Noise in My Head Bother You (Steven Tyler)
The Kid Stays in the Picture (Robert Evans)
I Am Not Spock (Leonard Nimoy)
Most Talkative (Andy Cohen)
Dreams from My Father (Barack Obama)
This Time Together (Carol Burnett)
Dispatches from the Edge (Anderson Cooper)
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things Ive Learned (Alan Alda)
Dirty Blonde (Courtney Love)
I, Shithead (punk rocker Joey Keithley)
Lous on First (Lou Costello)
Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me?
(Mindy Kaling)
Bossypants (Tina Fey)
Landing on My Feet (Kerri Strug)
Surprised by Joy (C.S. Lewis)
A Book (Desi Arnaz)
Anorther Book (Desi Arnaz)
Belly Laughs (pregnant Jenny McCarthy)
Larger Than Life (Eddie Large)
Its All About a Ball (Alan Ball)
Lets Talk About Pep (Sandy Pepa Denton)
The Stone Cold Truth (Stone Cold Steve Austin)
All You Need is Ears (Beatles producer George Martin)
Its Not About the Bike (Lance Armstrong)
Winking at Life (Wink Martindale)
Lettin It All Hang Out (RuPaul)
Losing My Virginity (Richard Branson)
Back Stage With the Original Hollywood Square (Peter Marshall)
Nerd Do Well (Simon Pegg)
Hitch (Christopher Hitchens)
My Booky Wook (Russell Brand)
sTORI Telling (Tori Spelling)
The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz (Ron Jeremy)
Are You There, Vodka?
Its Me, Chelsea (Chelsea Handler)
Just Farr Fun (Jamie Farr)
Mountain, Get Out of My Way (Montel Williams)
Dont Hassel the Hoff (David Hasselhoff)