Ruth Reichl Memoir Title Changed From 'Not Becoming My Mother' To 'For You, Mom. Finally' (COVER PHOTOS)

The paperback edition of Ruth Reichl's 2009 memoir, "Not Becoming My Mother," has been adjusted to "more effectively reach the intended audience of mothers and daughters." It will now be called, "For You, Mom. Finally."

The reason for the change? With Mother's Day around the corner, "For You, Mom. Finally" makes a much more palatable -- warm, even! -- gift selection, but Joe Yonan at the Washington Post has the scoop from Reich herself:

She never liked the first title, thinking it didn't represent the tone of the book, but the sales and marketing people had insisted on it. She got her way with the paperback edition. The new title captures her feeling that after what she had written about her mother in previous books, she owed her this one: a truer exploration of a brilliant-but-bored woman who felt trapped by family life at the expense of career and personal fulfillment and who was determined that her daughter have anything but that life.

We humbly think Penguin should have have printed one "reversible" cover version for each book owner and gift-giver to dictate their own tone, but "For You, Mom. Finally" certainly works, too. To that end, the new cover does have some wee text at the bottom reading, "Previously published as "Not Becoming My Mother." Which is close enough. Photos of both versions, below.

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Comments

[raker]

06:22 PM on 04/21/2010

Keep that woman and her mountain of frizzy hair away from my food!

[JaundicedEye]

01:39 PM on 04/21/2010

Here's a tip for you, Colin Sterling. When a person is directly addressed by name, that person's name (in this case, Mom) is set off ON BOTH SIDES with a comma. If 'Mom' comes in the middle of the sentence, there is a comma in front of 'Mom', and there is a comma after 'Mom'. If 'Mom' comes at the beginning of a sentence, there is a comma after 'Mom". If 'Mom' comes at the end of the sentence, there is a comma before 'Mom'. Whoever designed the book cover got it right.

[hayness]

01:34 PM on 04/21/2010

I'd read another of Ruth Reichl's memoirs regardless of what she called it. They were all delightful.

[lalilyman]

01:31 PM on 04/21/2010

I read the book. I like the first title much better. The "and other things she taught me along the way" part of the title makes for an intriguing and not hostile impression. I would never pick up something that said "For You Mom, Finally." There are a lot of Hallmark cards by that name. Bad move, Rachel.