Bill Clinton has short reply on length issue

In the paperback edition of “My Life,” former President Bill Clinton acknowledges that his memoir may have been too long, recounts some friendly faces from his book tour and some odder ones sighted under the influence of anesthesia as he underwent heart surgery last September.

“At first I saw a series of dark faces, like death masks, flying toward me and being crushed,” writes Clinton, whose book comes out May 31 in both trade and mass-market paperback. “Then I saw circles of light with the faces of Hillary, Chelsea, and others I cared about flying toward me, then away into a bright, sun-like source.”

When Clinton regained consciousness after surgery, he “waved to people, said I was all right, and laughed.” At least, that’s what his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), told him. The former president doesn’t remember.

“My Life” has sold just under 2.2 million copies in its 957-page hardcover edition.

The trade paperback, which has the same dimensions as the hardcover version, will have a first printing of 300,000 -- 50,000 copies more than originally announced.

The mass-market paperback, a cheaper, pocket-sized edition, will have two volumes, the first with a printing of 600,000, the second in late June at 575,000.

Much of the new material -- a 12-page afterword and a brief preface -- summarizes Clinton’s recent activities, from the building of his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., to raising money for tsunami victims. He also offers a quick analysis of last year’s presidential election, urging fellow Democrats not to move “hard to the left.”

Clinton acknowledges complaints about the book’s length and names a possible culprit -- his wife. He calls the senator’s memoirs, “Living History,” a “fine book” (he has called his own book “pretty good”) and says that her success “added to the pressure” for him to meet a June 2004 deadline.

“Most people thought it was too long -- a fair criticism. Thomas Jefferson once said that if he had had more time he could have written shorter letters,” writes Clinton, whose afterword helps make the trade paperback even longer, 969 pages.