Howdy, kids! Akatzen here with another Book Report.

Topping the nonfiction bestsellers for the past three weeks has been Sarah Palin’s (the failed Republican vice-presidential candidate) personal memoirs: “Going Rogue: An American Life”. Selling 700,000 copies in the first week, this walking catastrophe of a politician the woman continues to grab a portion of the American spotlight for herself, whether it’s promoting her book or the speculation that she may run for president in 2012 or for Alaskan senate in 2010 by her ardent followers.
Co-written by evangelical Christian writer Lynn Vincent (not that you’d know it. Her name doesn’t appear on the cover and in the acknowledgments her name doesn’t appear for three paragraphs. In fact, the first person Palin thanks in the acknowledgments is herself. The co-writer gets a nod after Palin’s lawyer and the executives at HarperCollins, but before flight attendants) Palin’s novel gets its title from one of the McCain/Palin campaign strategist’s criticisms about her inability to stick to script.

Go Rogue: 1. To cease to follow orders; to act on one’s own, usually against expectation or instruction. To pursue one’s own interests. 2. To pretend to be something you’re not, lying or acting in order to deceive others. (Urban Dictionary)

Interestingly enough, “Going Rogue” hit the shelves on November 17th, exactly one day after O/R Books released their novel “Going Rouge: An American Nightmare”.  A compilation of articles and essays by more than 40 journalists, activists, professors, writers, and feminists, the book is a scathing critique of Palin’s rise from complete obscurity to political stardom.

Now, despite all the criticism of this woman, there is one thing I can’t help admiring her for. Despite the fact that I disagree with very nearly everything she stands for and believes in, she is not afraid to let people know she believes it. When every politician you hear speaks out of both sides of their mouth, afraid to take a hard stand on any issue, Palin loudly and firmly took her stand on many issues, consequences be damned. And while her stance caused me to shake my head in disbelief quite often, I still couldn’t help but respect a politician unafraid to take a stand like that. I wish we had more politicians willing to do the same.

Be that as it may, I have no intention of buying her book, much less of reading it. The quicker that woman fades back into obscurity and is forgotten about in the political arena the more relieved I’ll be.

Now, some of you might say, “Wait a minute. If you are so eager for Sarah Palin to become nothing but the tiniest of inkblots on the pages of history, then why are you blogging about her?”

Well, let’s be fair, I’m not blogging about her, I’m mentioning two books that happen to be about her. I thought it might be in the interests of fair reporting to let people know that there even is a second book about her, and one that looks quite disparagingly on her political career.
In the interests of totally biased reporting, I think you should read that one instead.