Each week, members of the WFPL news team will spotlight interesting stories we've read over the past week for your weekend reading pleasure:Gabe Bullard:In the run up to Election Day, I tend to bookmark tons of non-political items during the day, then get to them when I need a break from election tracking. I finally got around to reading this Slate piece: "I Ate Every Variety of Pepperidge Farm Cookie." The title says it all, really. And speaking of food, this is the time for magazines to put out their annual food issues. The New York Times Magazine recently profiled Christopher Kimball from America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Illustrated in their food issue. It's a fascinating look at a TV cook with a starkly different philosophy from most TV cooks. (Shameless plug: You can hear Kimball on WFPL every Sunday at noon.) Read "I Ate Every Variety of Pepperidge Farm Cook"and "Cooking Isn't Creative, and It Isn't Easy."Erin Keane: I am well acquainted with Nord’s Bakery, the first stop on this New York Times food/travel writer’s doughnut trail, but what of the rest of Kentucky’s donut riches? Now, with "Twists and Turns Along Kentucky's Doughnut Trail," if I find myself in Berea and in need of a doughnut, I know where to turn. But why is Red’s in Paducah not included? Read Twists and Turns Along Kentucky's Doughnut Trail here.Laura Ellis: "Silos Loom as Death Traps on American Farms" is an eye-opening article about the safety of teenagers working on farms. The number of farm injuries and deaths has dropped in recent years, but the number of deaths by entrapment in grain silos has not—despite the fact that these deaths are largely preventable. Apparently the safety regulations are weak, and those that exist are poorly enforced. Read "Silos Loom as Death Traps on American Farms" here.Joseph Lord:"Meet the Most Indebted Man in the World" in The Atlantic will make you feel better about opening bills. It regards Jérôme Kerviel, the former rogue trader for Société Générale who now owes $6.3 billion -- with a "B." And that's only after he serves three years in prison. The Atlantic story looks at how Kerviel pulled off the fraud and how, exactly, he's supposed to pay back $6.3 billion. With a "B." Read "Meet the Most Indebted Man in the World."Devin Katayama:I’m well into "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen. It’s fitting that while I read the book my own mother has been pestering me about my Christmas plans (Last night I told her I was, in fact, coming home). "The Corrections" reminds me of "Bonfire of the Vanities" by Tom Wolfe in its darkness and the disturbance of its characters. Both novels make me feel better about me own life, but it also makes me think I could use a little more drama. I feel fortunate that my family isn’t like the Lamberts, but I also know the “Lamberts” exist in many of my own friend’s lives. I wonder while I read the book about nature versus nurture and if some of us are destined to just be Lamberts. I’m a Katayama. If I didn’t want to be, could I make that work?
