{{Pun Based Title}}s in {{Literature}}.
----
* ''Literature/OneQEightyFour'': The title is a play on 1984: in Japanese, the number nine (九) is often pronounced the same as the the English letter "Q" (kyuu). It also doubles as a reference to ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' by Creator/GeorgeOrwell which gets direct shout outs several times throughout ''1Q84''.
* Every book in Creator/RobertAsprin's ''Literature/MythAdventures'' series. He was going to call the first book ''Another Fine Mess''; the editor's wife came up with the pun. Little did she know what she started.
* Every title in ''Literature/TheClique'' series of books (except for the first one) is a pun or punny [[LiteraryAllusionTitle reference]] to something else: "Bratfest at Tiffany's", "Dial L for Loser", "Invasion of the Boy Snatchers".
* The book/TV series ''Time Warp Trio'' does this for the book/episode titles. Examples: Me Oh Maya; My Big Fat Greek Olympics; You Can't, But Genghis Khan.
* Many if not most Literature/{{Discworld}} novels, including ''Literature/EqualRites'', ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'', ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'' and ''Literature/TheFifthElephant''.
** The French translation of ''Maskerade'' has an interesting aversion of the usual CompletelyDifferentTitle: The French for "mask" is "masque" and the French for "masquerade" is "mascarade". So the French for ''Maskerade'' is ... ''Masquarade''.
** ''Literature/MenAtArms'' is about the city guards, who are "men at arms," but the BigBad is a gun, so "at arms" could also be interpreted as "against weapons". It's also a joke on the 'men' part, since a main plot of the novel is how the City Watch is, for the first time, admitting a dwarf, a troll and a w[[spoiler:oman who's a werewolf]], meaning they're not actually men at all.
** Details for non-native speakers: (The) ''Light Fantastic'': English idiom referring to a dance ("trip the light fantastic")[[note]]Originally attributed to the Creator/JohnMilton's poem ''Allegro''[[/note]] but here alluding to magical light. ''Mort'': the name of the human character, who goes to work for Death (''mort''). ''Wyrd Sisters'' - an obvious spelling pun on ''weird'', with ''wyrd'' also being an Anglo-Saxon term for fate or (personal) destiny. Also, [[GeniusBonus the three witches are referred]] to as ''weird sisters'' in Theatre/{{Macbeth}}. ''Soul Music'': the book is really about, er, Music With Rocks In, but the soul is obviously involved. ''Feet of Clay'': cliché "The idol has feet of clay";[[note]]Ultimately [[LiteraryAllusionTitle derived from]] [[Literature/BookOfDaniel Daniel 2:33]][[/note]] the book's central character is a golem, with feet (and all other body parts) of clay. ''Interesting Times'': possibly apocryphal Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times"; the story is set in the Discworld's analogue to East Asia. ''Going Postal'': English expression "go postal" = go crazy; story is about the postal system. ''Monstrous Regiment'': famed quotation "this monstrous regiment of women"; at the time (16th century) the meaning was closer to modern "regimen" (i.e. government), but [[spoiler: the book spins it literally]].
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novels tend to this when they're not {{Double Meaning Title}}s (and sometimes when they are). Most obvious is the second book, ''Fool Moon''.
* All of the titles of ''Literature/TheSavannahReidMysteries'' are puns relating to food. For example... ''Just Desserts'', ''Killer Calories'', ''Cooked Goose'', ''Corpse Suzette'', ''Death by Chocolate'', ''Cereal Killer''....
* [[WordOfGod According to]] Creator/OrsonScottCard, ''Literature/EndersGame'' has one of these--in the original short story, the character was named "Ender" solely so he could use that title, a pun on "endgame".
* The even numbered ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' books are a pun on Honor.
* Many of the books in the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' series are like this. Currant Events, Faun and Games, Cube Route (Book 27, the end of the first 'trilogy'), Crewel Lye, Swell Foop, Two to the Fifth (Book 32)...
* In-universe in ''Literature/TheNightMayor'', one of the protagonists is the author of a series of thrillers about a detective named Richard Quick, with titles like ''Get Richie Quick'' and ''The Quick and the Dead''.
* ''WesternAnimation/OliveTheOtherReindeer'' and the AnimatedAdaptation of it is a pun based on the line "All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names" from ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer''.
* The first book of a certain fantasy trilogy by Creator/EstherFriesner was called ''Gnome Man's Land''.
* The title of every single book in Jill Churchill's Jane Jeffry series is a pun on a much better-known literary work, such as ''Mulch Ado About Nothing,'' ''Silence of the Hams'' or ''A Farewell to Yarns''.
* ''Literature/HeartInHand'':
** The title refers to the climax, where [[spoiler:Darryl approaches Alex with the Hart trophy in hand]]. It represents his apology and his "heart" (or love) for him.
** The ShowWithinAShow's title styles the two protagonists' names into gun models: "AK-47 ['''A'''leksey '''K'''uznetzov] & Colt 45 [Darryl '''Colt'''on]".
* The name "Finnegan" in Joyce's ''Literature/FinnegansWake'' is a play on the words "fin," meaning ''end'', and "again," a reflection of the book's highly cyclical nature.
* Collection of humorous mathematical stories written by Ian Stewart for the French edition of ''Scientific American'':
** ''Game, Set, & Math''. The jacket copy points out to anyone who misread the title, "Well, there ''is'' a chapter on the ''mathematics'' of tennis..."
** ''Math Hysteria''
** ''Another Fine Math You've Got Me Into...''
* Creator/RobertRankin's books are frequently examples, such as ''Raiders of the Lost Car Park'' and ''The Brentford Chainstore Massacre''.
* ''Literature/FancyApartments'' is a pun, although it's a bit hard to notice; and is only alluded to in the story itself. [[spoiler:(Try pronouncing it with a 't' between the 'Fan' and 'cy'.]]
* ''Literature/{{Frostbite}}'' is about a bunch of vampires going to a ski resort.
* ''Literature/TheSquaresOfTheCity'' is full of chess motifs, and uses the metaphor of the city being an enormous chess board with the citizens as pieces, but the title also refers to city squares as in public gathering places.
* Marc Almond's autobiography is titled "Tainted Life", a play on [[Music/SoftCell Soft Cell's]] breakthrough hit "Tainted Love".
* One of Creator/LawrenceBlock's Evan Tanner novels is called ''The Canceled Czech''.
* The world of ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' [[InUniverse contains]] a talk show called "Mornings with O, J and Koffi".
* ''Ella Minnow Pea'' is [[ProtagonistTitle named for its protagonist]], whose PunnyName sounds like the sequence of letters L-M-N-O-P.
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' UniverseConcordance ''Ahistory'' kind of has the same meaning twice - it is ''a'' (rather than "the") history, but it's also a play on "ahistorical". Either way, the message is "There Is No Canon, but here's one way it ''could'' all fit together".
* ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'': The ''Moose County Something''. When Qwill purchases the local paper after its previous owner's death, he and the staff give it this placeholder title and hold a county-wide vote for a new name. But it turns out that the majority of the residents actually like calling it the ''Something'', and it sticks.
* While published scientific papers usually just have titles [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin describing their content]], at least one has managed to slip in a pun: [[https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.7985 "Traversable Achronal Retrograde Domains in Spacetime"]], the initials of which spell out [[Series/DoctorWho TARDIS]].
* The title of ''Literature/HeroinStory'' is supposed to look like "hero in story".
* ''Literature/{{Threadbare}}'': IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming that uses as the pattern, for all three of its books: ''Stuff and Nonsense'', ''Sew You Want to be a Hero'', ''The Right to Arm Bears''.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/LightVerse": Lardner's [[FictionalPainting light-sculptures]] are called "poetry in light", which she denies, [[TitleDrop calling them]] merely a "light verse". The pun is based on the idea that a short, simple [[{{Poetry}} poem]] is often called by the same name and her sculptures are made from [[{{Hologram}} projecting light]].
* ''Literature/OneCoolFriend'': There's more than one way to interpret the cool "Cool" in the title when describing a penguin friend.
* ''Literature/{{Nerdycorn}}'': Nerd + Unicorn = Unicorn.
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': ''Dog Days'' refers to the [[TimeTitle summer setting]], but also the Heffley's adopting a dog.
* The horror novel ''Literature/{{Hex}}'' features an organisation called HEX, which keeps watch on a witch that has been haunting a village for a couple of centuries. The name of the organisation is explained to be an acronym, however, it's pronouced exactly the same as the Dutch word for "witch", which is "heks". It also works in English, since in English, a hex is a from of curse.
* ''Literature/WitchBank'', by Australian author Catherine Jinks, is about a bank clerk who learns that several of her colleagues are witches -- and a pun on "Which bank?", the advertising catchphrase of one of Australia's leading banks.
* ''Literature/AngelaNicely'': One story called “Puppy Love!” is about Angela wanting a puppy.
* ''Literature/ChicksInChainmail'': Some of the sequel books (''Chicks 'n Chained Males'', ''The Chick Is in the Mail'', ''Turn the Other Chick'', ''Chicks and Balances'') have punny titles.
* The original Hebrew title of ''Literature/OnceUponAPotty'', ''Sir [=HaSirim=]'',[[note]]"Pot of Pots"[[/note]] is a pun on the Literature/SongOfSongs, ''Shir [=HaShirim=]''.
----