For the past few years, the university has been doing a “common reads” program wherein a committee picks out a Serious Book for everyone to read and discuss, and possibly for faculty to squeeze into their courses somehow. Usually I score a free copy of these books, but this year I missed out — a rare thing where me and freebies are concerned. Being a Team Player, I went to Amazon to see if I could buy a cheap Kindle edition. As best I could remember, this year’s book was called “Submission” or “The Submission” or “The Submissive.” Let me tell you, when it comes to novel titles, a definite article or a couple letters at the end of a noun make a big difference! For a few minutes, as I read the reviews of two novels called “Submission” and a trilogy called “The Submissive,” I was thinking, hot damn, we’re getting somewhere now. They weren’t the kind of books I normally read, mind you, but like I said, I’m a Team Player.

Well, it turns out the real common reads book is “The Submission,” which appears appropriately Serious and not the least bit pornographic.

I plan to get to it right after I finish the trilogy.