public static Comparator sortByTitle = (Book book1, Book book2) -> { String bookTitle1 = book1.getTitle().toLowerCase(); if (bookTitle1.substring(0, 4).equals("the ")) { bookTitle1 = bookTitle1.substring(4, bookTitle1.length()); } String bookTitle2 = book2.getTitle().toLowerCase(); if (bookTitle2.substring(0, 4).equals("the ")) { bookTitle2 = bookTitle2.substring(4, bookTitle2.length()); } return bookTitle1.compareTo(bookTitle2); };