SFist Reads

While the San Francisco Public Library site is up, their search is not! Far be it from us to criticize anyone for the occasional technical bobble. Get well soon, SFPL search!

SFist Rita just finished Fantasyland by Sam Walker, a book about how the author (a sportswriter for the Wall Street Journal) did in the most competitive fantasy baseball league in the country, in 2004. It's pretty hilarious even (or especially) if you don't know jack about stats. Also -- did you know that fantasy baseball was started by Daniel Okrent, the former ombudsman for the New York Times?? We had no idea! In tribute to that, we're going to read his new book, Public Editor #1, next!

SFist Derrick is taking a break from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma to read the latest issue of The Art of Eating. The main feature, by Derrick's food writing idol Ed Behr, covers the unusual vin jaune wines of France's Jura region; other features in the issue cover umami or Mexican vanilla. Smaller pieces cover dried morels, filet green beans, and garlic (the last written by Derrick, so he doesn't need to read it).

SFist Jer just finished Gasping For Airtime, by comedian Jay Mohr, which chronicles the two years he served as a featured player on Saturday Night Live. As you can imagine, it was difficult to get screen time during the era of Adam Sandler and Chris Farley, and more often than not it seemed Mohr was squeezed out by the likes of Rob Schneider, David Spade, and the apparently somewhat bitchy Ellen Cleghorne. Mohr's writing style, while not even close to as funny as his comedy, is still pretty entertaining and worth a chuckle at times, as he documents such events as being forced to use an abandoned elevator entryway as his dressing room, his susceptibility to panic attacks, and the time Chris Farley took a crap out the window. All in all, a very quick, large typeface read that Jer would recommend to Mohr fans, or folks interested in the goings-on at SNL in the early 1990s.