Books on hold

After slogging through two ambitious but uninspiring Katrina books--Douglas Brinkley's The Great Deluge and Jed Horne's Breach of Faith (and realizing the real history of the hurricane is probably a couple of years away), I've decided it's time for some lighter non-fiction.

There are some interesting titles out there this fall. I'm waiting on:

The United States of Arugula, by David Kamp: "One day we woke up and realized that our "macaroni" had become "pasta," that our Wonder Bread had been replaced by organic whole wheat, that sushi was fast food, and that our tomatoes were heirlooms. How did all this happen, and who made it happen?"

The Worst Person in the World, by Keith Olbermann: "A collection of top-ranked stinkers, rascals, and reprobates, plus a few just-plain-dumb folks, as seen and shared on MSNBC' s Countdown with Keith Olbermann."

Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy!, by Bob Harris: A memoir by a five-time Jeopardy! champion. I wouldn't think that could fill out a whole book (it sounds more like a magazine article), but, c'mon...that title alone.

None of these sound like books I'd like to own, though. Thank God for good public libraries.

Comments

[nancy]

I love Olbermann. I remember, as you probably do, when he was a TV sportscaster in LA. I don't have much interest in sports coverage, but he made it great. So smart, so funny. Pretty good hair, too.

[Kevin]

He really introduced a new form of sports journalism, one that was (badly) aped by a lot of other, lesser talents. They got the attitude right, but they couldn't copy the writing.

Unfortunately, he didn't make many friends in L.A., either at KCBS or KTLA. I still remember Hal Fishman giving him the Look of Death after some of his sportscasts.