What's in a name?

Very observant readers may have noticed the addition of a new category here at Restricted View: "titles as titles." I often find myself discussing, deconstructing, admiring or deploring the titles of things, and although some people don't appreciate that particular critical exercise, I figure there may be others who do. And this seemed like the week to introduce the idea, since we're all getting such enjoyment out of recontextualizing book titles.

I'd like to mark the occasion by sharing two titles that made me laugh recently. The first is the title of Stephen Colbert's forthcoming book:

I Am America (and So Can You!)

I've been giggling over that one for a couple weeks now. I feel like I should preorder the book (or better yet, the audio book!) just to pay for all the enjoyment I've gotten out of it already.

The other is from a recent issue of the usually very serious-minded Commonweal magazine. I don't know why we keep encouraging Christopher Hitchens by taking him seriously, but I got a good laugh out of Eugene McCarraher's review of Hitchens's latest book, God Is Not Great, which is titled:

"This Book Is Not Good"

Hee. (The review is available online, if you're curious; I haven't finished it yet.) As for the blog categories, I am open to suggestions, so let me know if there are new ones you'd like to see or current ones for which you have no use. I am here to serve.