Book on awkward dating problem gets odd book award

[March 21, 2014]  LONDON (Reuters) — A tongue-in-cheek book that purports to deal with an awkward but critical issue, "How to Poo on a Date", scooped an award for the Oddest Book Title of the Year on Friday.

The winner of the Diagram Prize, awarded annually since 1978 and based on a public vote since 2000, beat out other titles including "Are Trout South African?" and "Working-Class Cats: The Bodega Cats of New York City".

The prize, which carries no cash award, is run by The Bookseller, a British-based business magazine and website for the book industry.

"The public have chosen wisely. Not only have they picked a title that truly captures the spirit of the prize, they have selected a manual that can help one through life's more challenging and delicate moments," Horace Bent, described as "custodian of the prize", said in a press release.

The Diagram Award was founded in 1978 at the annual Frankfurt Book Fair and was first awarded to "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice".

Previous winners include "Cooking with Poo", a Thai cookbook by Bangkok resident Saiyuud Diwong, whose nickname is Poo, and last year's winner "Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop".

(Reporting by Michael Roddy; editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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