Shopping in My Own Bookcase

I write nonfiction, but I read mysteries. I've gone through every author of mysteries, police procedurals, and legal thrillers I can think of. But the unthinkable happened recently: I didn't have a book to read. I was near panic. Too late to go to Borders; library closed; nothing interesting on Kindle. That left only my own, overloaded bookshelves. I must own close to 500 books (well, 487; I just counted them), of which I have read an embarrassingly small number. I decided to go shopping.

One whole shelf is devoted to biographies, autobiographies, and memoir. Since I had just written my own memoir, I decided to see what I did wrong. I noticed I had a large number of books by and about journalists. What a surprise. I picked at random. My choice was a brilliant accident: "And So It Goes" Adventures in Television by Linda Ellerbee.

The quite yellowed dust jacket said: "In a world of blow-dried anchors, Linda Ellerbee is that rare creature—a literate, sophisticated, breezily irreverent journalist who treats the viewer as if he were not an idiot ... she offers not only a truly hilarious and telling memoir but the strongest, most candid book on television and television news ever written."

I wish I'd written that. In fact, I wish I'd written the book. It is so funny, I laughed out loud, but so disturbing, I'll never watch network news again. Actually, I don't watch network news. There is no way to do her writing justice. Linda Ellerbee is a true master of the craft. I want to hang out with her and just listen to her talk.

Here is her description of a senior producer at NBC. "Then there is Cheryl Gould. She is younger, smarter, skinnier, prettier, nicer and probably a better writer than I am. I like her anyway. She is a teacher in the best sense, a woman so sure of her skills and talents she never minds sharing them with those of us less skilled, less talented." (I put a bookmark there, I loved that paragraph so much.)

I could quote the whole book if I had room. Linda Ellerbee's writing is savvy, acerbic, moving—everything I would like my writing to be. She wrote this book in 1985. On the back cover are endorsements from Ted Koppel, Leslie Stahl, Mike Wallace, Sam Donaldson, and Connie Chung. Need I say more?

What to read next? It's a choice between Making Waves: The 50 Greatest Women in Radio and Television and Reporting Live by Leslie Stahl. I have lots of books and lots of time; it's only June.

Getting Into Health

It started with a project on the subject of obesity and one book the client lent me on healthy eating. It was pretty scientific and not something one would curl up with unless falling asleep was the goal. Still it was informative and thought provoking. I read more of Raising Healthy Eaters by Ellyn Satter than I would have predicted and found a description of my own attitudes toward food within its pages. Not good.

I expressed my gratitude, and my client immediately gave me another book—this one on omega 3 fatty acids. I never even heard of omega 3 fatty acids (good fats) or omega 6s (not so good fats), but I sure know a lot about them now. Along with the book came a bottle of omega 3 supplements, which I have been dutifully taking along with my increased ration of fish. Omega 3s are very good for reducing the inflammation of arthritis. How could I go wrong?

Then books started coming in the mail. The first was SPARK by John J. Ratey MD with Eric Hagerman on the positive effects of regular, aerobic exercise on every cell, system, organ, neurotransmitter, and square inch of the brain, from infants to those of us in our more mature years. I was impressed with the writing, the research, and the relevance, just as my neurosurgeon gave me some good news-bad news. The good news was I didn’t need back surgery; the bad news was I would have to exercise an hour a day for the rest of my life. When he told me, I was immersed in SPARK and pretty psyched, so I regarded the doctor’s prescription as more good news. My enthusiasm is flagging a bit by now, but I’m still pretty sold on the concept.

SPARK was followed by The Power Of Play by David Elkind, PhD, just plain Play by Stuart Brown, MD, and The Exuberant Animal by Frank Forencich. I got through the first two but balked at the last one. I have to say, I really enjoyed Play, which convinced me I should do more of that. When, exactly, I don’t know

In the meantime, I kept hearing from so many people that THE book to read right now is Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, so I downloaded it to my Kindle. This is one powerful book and not one that is likely to put me to sleep. There is so much to say about it I don’t know where to begin. I can’t imagine that I will ever think about food in quite the way. Now that I know about growing, killing, processing, and transporting animals; the roles of the the diet and fitness businesses and the military industrial complex; insidious marketing practices; and other eye-opening epiphanies, I can almost see the appeal of becoming a vegan (almost).

So, what kind of a new food fad have I hitched my wagon to this time? Is it any different from an Atkins high-protein, high-fat diet or the Sugar Busters diet or the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet or the Pritikin diet, or even Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers or ….You get the idea, there are too many to count or read or try. They all made sense at the time. Several of them started fads of their own. I lost weight; I gained weight; but I never really thought about eating healthy. It wasn’t on my radar. Now, it’s all I can see.

My daughter just called me from the grocery store as she was buying sugar-free coffee creamer. I told her to read the label and, sure enough, it listed high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). That’s worse than sugar, I said. She tried fat free, then fat-free half and half (which also has HFCS in it!); then two or three more things to make her coffee drinkable in the morning. She finally bought something called Silk-something or other and informed me I had ruined her life. Actually, I ruined mine, too. What am I gong to put in my coffee, now?