Sweet and Sour - Hardcover

Rooney, Andrew A.

3.68

44 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399137742 ISBN 13: 9780399137747

Publisher: Putnam Adult, 1992

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A selection of Rooney's newspaper essays from the last three years, 130 pieces in all, offers observations on such things as politicians, perfume, the post office, birthdays, doctors, and body-building. 75,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo.

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From Publishers Weekly:

Rooney's 10th book collects his syndicated columns--which many find to be better pointed than his contributions to 60 Minutes --from the last three years. It begins with a few pieces that present a kinder, gentler pop philosopher waxing sentimental about homes and families--unfortunately, a kinder, gentler Rooney is a duller, flatter Rooney as well. Happily, he soon hits his stride with typically trenchant columns about the ubiquity of advertising, lowering taxes on the rich now that he has discovered that government guidelines classify him as rich, motel rooms that cost $151 per night, "antiques" that are simply junk, his proclivity for losing things, the hypocrisy of political candidates' concession speeches and the illogic of the Postal Service's two-letter abbreviations of state names. Arranged according to subject, the eight sections range from "Home and Away" to "First Things, Last Things." Most of the selections are compelling, engrossing and gripping--those being the adjectives Rooney says he would like reviewers to use in assessing his books.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

This new collection of Rooney's newspaper essays from the last three years presents more of the 60 Minutes commentator's folksy humor found in earlier books ( Not That You Asked , LJ 5/1/89; Word for Word , LJ 2/1/87). In 130 pieces running one to two pages in length, Rooney, without his annoying TV whine, offers his personal and opinionated observations on a wide range of topics: weekend chores; wives who clean up their husbands' woodworking shops ("Now my scraps of wood are in neat piles. I can't find them, but they're neatly piled"); Las Vegas; New York City; help-wanted ads; Frank Sinatra; and congressmen ("Is a little graft, a few thousand corrupt bucks, too much for us to forgive these underpaid public servants?"). There's no great depth here, and, read collectively, Rooney's essays become monotonous and predictable. Still, his book is the perfect brain candy, easy to digest one piece at a time and quickly forgotten. For collections where Rooney is popular.
-Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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