Last Call at the 7-eleven: Fine Dining at 2 A.m., the Search for Spandex People, and Other Reasons to Go on Living

The country might be going to hell in a hand-basket, but don't close the garage doors and sit there with the engine running until you read this collection of sardonic, off-the-wall pieces on modern life by one of America's best humorists. Described as "another Dave Barry, only with a lot less going for him," Baltimore Sun columnist Kevin Cowherd sizzles as he tackles such loopy subjects as Larry King's interview with God ("El Paso, Texas, you're on the air with the Almighty ?"); fine dining at a 7-Eleven at 2 a.m. ("Moving briskly past the Test-Your-Blood-Pressure machine and the Hormel chili section, we arrive at the rack of Slim Jims"); the joys of backyard wiffleball ("Wiffleball is for anyone willing to shrug off a full speed collision with a tool shed and six months of subsequent blackouts just to snare a grounder up the middle"); and modest people looking for love in the personals ("5-foot-9 guy with spare tire, bags under his eyes, not much of a chin, looks like your grocer, seeks woman.").