The shortlist of contenders competing for this year's Diagram Prize for the oddest book title has been revealed.

The Diagram Prize is handed over each year to the author who has the year's oddest book title. Last year the prize was won by Saiyuud Dwong for his cookbook titled "Cooking With Poo." This year, the shortlist of all contenders competing for the prize has been revealed.

Loani Prior's "How Tea Cosies Changed the World," which is a follow-up of her previous book "Really Wild Tea Cosies" . Loani Prior's tea cosy book, containing "24 vibrant new designs that transform the conventional tea cosy into a knitted piece of art" was the first of the other six books that made it to the shortlist.

The next book to have made it to the shortlist of contenders was David Rees' "How to Sharpen Pencils." The Guardian describes the book as a "manifesto and a fully illustrated walk-through of the many, many, many ways to sharpen a pencil." Next up is Tom Hickman's "God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis" which talks about a man's relationship with his penis.

The other three books to make it to the 6-books shortlist include Jerry Gagne's "Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts", Reginald Bakeley's "Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop" and WHans-Joachim Neumann and Henrik Eberle's "Was Hitler Ill?: A Final Diagnosis.

Philip Stone, the Diagram Prize coordinator said he was particularly fond of "How To Sharpen Your Pencil" "not only because of its oddity, but because I find something beautiful in the fact a publisher has been brave enough to publish a book concerning a centuries-old implement in hardback in the digital age. Upon my next trip to my local independent bookshop, I hope to see it alongside all the pornographic literature that appears to be keeping the entire book industry in rude health."

The Diagram Prize has been given away for 35 years now to authors of books with titles like How to Avoid Huge Ships, Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers.