Monday, May 19, 2008

Horse race

Trivia
In honor of Big Brown's victory at the Preakness, here's a horse race-themed literature trivia question:
What author was the narrator in the film Seabiscuit? What are his best-known books? Bonus: What does he have in common with the last three presidents?

If the purpose of a title is to lure you into reading, no one writes a better title than P.J. O'Rourke. His books include "Parliament of Whores" and "Give War a Chance." Chapter titles in the latter include "The Birth, and Some of the Afterbirth, of Freedom," "The Piece of Ireland That Passeth All Understanding," "Return of the Death of Communism," "A Call for a New McCarthysim," "Studying for Our Drug Test" and "Sex With Dr. Ruth." With titles like that, it's hard NOT to pick up the book. (And it doesn't disappoint.)

Got a favorite book title? (or film or album title?)

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

David McCullough narrated "Seabiscuit." The author, historian is best known for his biography of Harry S. Truman. But I think his "The Path Between the Seas" and "John Adams" are better. Unfortunately, HBO trashed McCullough's work on Adams with its recent mini-series. The love hate aspect for me is that I loved the mini-series but hated how Tom Hanks and HBO veered from McCullough's book with a number of historical inaccuracies.

I am not sure what his relationship is to Bush 41-43 and Clinton. It can't be biographies. Is that the two families have been tied to the White House for the past 28 years?

refugeroad said...

Douglas Adams definitely had a way with titles. A few of my favorites: "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish", "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul", and "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency."