Saturday, October 10, 2009

Page 854: An American Life

As you may have heard, Sarah Palin's autobiography is due to be released by HarperCollins on November 17. (Earlier reports that there will be a separate "Christian edition," however, have turned out not to be true; Christians will just have to read the same edition as everybody else.)

The title of Palin's book is Going Rogue, an obvious reference to the "maverick" image the ex-Governor has tried to maintain since she appeared on the national scene a year ago. However, as Thom Geier points out in the blog, Shelf-Life, the book's subtitle -- An American Life -- conveys a different image. Indeed, far from being "mavericky," it's one of the most common subtitles out there, gracing the front covers of a wide range of biographies and autobiographies. Palin might be pleased to know that others who have led "An American Life" include Ronald Reagan, Condoleeza Rice and Oral Roberts. But would she be happy to discover that her book also shares a subtitle with ones concerning Burt Lancaster, Ben Hogan, Dr. Benjamin Spock and Jerry Garcia? And then, of course, there's the program on evil, socialist public radio called, "This American Life," which I'm guessing is not at the top of Ms Palin's "must listen to" list.

So if you come into Accent on Books looking for Sarah Palin's book, please don't ask for it by subtitle. You'll throw us into a state of total confusion.

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