The Sunday Symposium: Chapter Titles

The Sunday Symposium is a new weekly feature in which I'll be discussing various bookish topics and asking for your commentary, as well.  This week's topic is chapter titles.

But first things first, the winner of the Amazon gift card from last week's Sunday Symposium is:  Heather C. (khal khaleesi).  Congrats, Heather!  You should be receiving an email from me shortly.  And thanks to everyone else who commented last week!

So, I read a book recently that had the most insane chapter titles...just random phrases pulled from the text of the chapters they headed.  It drove me bonkers.  I mean, why take the time to give chapters titles if they're going to be so nonsensical?

I'll be honest.  I don't need chapters.  The only purpose they serve for me is giving me a good stopping point so that I can take a break or go to bed.  I might actually stay up all night to finish a book if they didn't exist, regardless of the fact that I need to be up by 5am for work.  So numbered chapters is really all that I require.

There are some authors -- who shall remain nameless -- that spend exorbitant amounts of time creating and then explaining the reasoning behind the chapter titles in their books, sometimes along with a passage from another author's work that also needs explanation.  This is all well and good (and pretty and fanciful) but as an avid reader, I find it unnecessary.  It actually makes me feel inadequate as a reader that an author does this and then feels the need to explain.  If anything, let me ponder over it.  (I won't, but that's neither here nor there.)

So, my question to you, dear readers, is do numbered chapters suffice?  Do you love chapter titles because they give you a sense of what's coming?  Do you enjoy deciphering the meaning behind a chapter's title, well after you've finished the book?

As always, thanks for stopping by and happy reading!

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Labels: chapter titles, the sunday symposium