Each week, members of the WFPL News team spotlight interesting stories we've read and enjoyed, for your weekend reading pleasure:
Gabe Bullard:I had a birthday recently. I didn't feel very old. I did, however, feel old after reading this essay. I was never a fan of Death Cab for Cutie, but I was in college right after Transatlanticism and Give Up hit. And it seemed like anyone who was anyone was listening to (or tolerating) Ben Gibbard's voice, though nobody would call it the voice of a generation. It was just the voice of a certain selfish, emotional feeling at a very specific time. Listening back, it's a bit irritating, and, as this Awl piece points out, a little embarrassing. Read Death Cab for Youth: Getting Old With Former Sadsack Ben Gibbard.Devin Katayama: "Hey! Bright boy! Did I tell you talk?" This week I revisited my favorite fiction short stories, Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolff. It's the story of Andres, a professor who laughs in the face of bank robbers and is then shot in the head. In the moments that follow the reader is taken on a path of Andres life, and Wolff describes potential last memories that could run through the mind of a man whose been shot. But none of the memories are Andres' last. His isn't apparent or even that interesting. Read Bullet to the Brain.Joseph Lord:Years ago, my wife and I had newspaper jobs (were exiled?) in Anniston, Ala. I was homesick for Kentucky and started reading books about one of our signature industries, thoroughbred racing. One of those books, Ann Hagedorn Auerbach's Wild Ride, covered the great rise and fall of Calumet Farm. Go read that, but also check out Courier-Journal writer Greg Hall's story on Calumet's very recent return to centerstage. Read Calumet Farm's New Owner Bringing Thoroughbred Farm Back to Limelight.Bonus: In this personal essay on Gawker, a man gives a heartbreaking account of a car crash caused by a drunk driver—one that left his paralyzed from the neck down. But it's even worse than that. Read My Wife Looks Nervous.
