I blame way too many years of bookselling, and failing to move endless variations on Blah Blah Pretentious Literarycakes: A Novel.

See, this I can live with if and only if the title confuses the issue without the "A Novel" bit. Like, if my WIP was called The Autobiography of Napoleon Bonaparte (which it is not, and Napoleon is not my personal Dead Guy, either--that would be Wellington), maybe I'd need the "A Novel" so no one would think it was N's actual memoir. But otherwise? So pretentious that it's almost enough to make me not buy the book all by itself.

In my defense, I used "A Case Study," because I don't want anyone to think that I've used 50 narrators or something. This is a VERY beginning study of one person...well, actually, one story from one person.

FWIW, vw, I wasn't knocking any of your titles, just tangentially riffing on the Blah Blah Pretentious Literarycakes: A Novel phenomenon. I do think the "Case Study" title was a bit too long, but not pretentious.

No defense needed, vw! It's a habitual tic in the book world, which makes reactions like mine something to be aware of -- but there are both legit cases for it, and plenty of opportunity for you to make your methodology clear within the thesis. You don't have to explain it all in the title in this case.

Oh, sorry. That was awfully touchy. Didn't mean for it to be...just explaining my reasoning, which clearly wasn't necessary.

Poptarts:

Mom, this picture is neither an attractive picture of me NOR the bride. Do you really have to post it? [link]

I love The Inheritance of Stories, with Narrative Inheritance coming in second. For the sub title Oral History as Literature gets my vote. It will be clear that it's a case study within a few sentences of the introduction or abstract or whatever you thesis writers start off with, right?

On the other hand, this picture is almost too sweet for words: [link]

Question for people who've been on the Pill: how long is it supposed to take before you start bleeding once you get to the white pill part of the cycle? I've been on the white pills for two days now, and I've got cramps, but no blood.

Hil, you're right on schedule. I usually get my period about 2-3 days after starting the placeboes.