"Scoop" by Evelyn Waugh: William Boot doesn't want, or expect, much from life. The innocent 23-year-old lad would just like to live amongst nature, chronicling its wondrous beauty for the local newspaper, The Beast. His column, entitled "Lush Places," is read and enjoyed by thousands of Londoners each and every week. Would you believe it? Thousands! Oh, you find that hard to believe? Would you believe hundreds? Well, how about two shut-ins and a really smart pigeon?

At the other end of the social spectrum from poor William is John Courtney Boot, a rising young literary star whose novels are all the rage with mindless, illiterate stooges. One day while visiting one of his more influential friends, a Mrs. Algernon Stitch, John Courtney Boot is bemoaning his dull life and notices a banner headline proclaiming a revolution in the East African country of Ishmaelia. He feels his immense talents should be employed in something of importance, like war correspondence. Mrs. Stitch is quick to grant his wish, promising to secure the desired post with her good friend Lord Copper, The Beast's publisher.

It doesn't take much to convince the dim Lord Copper, and he immediately agrees to hire this Boot fellow, ordering his underling and Foreign Editor, Mr. Salter, to do just that. Unfortunately, Lord Copper neglects to supply Mr. Salter with a first name, only telling him to make Boot the new man in Ishmaelia. Mr. Salter consults the employee records and assumes the intended Boot is William, the author of "Lush Places." Aw, comedy is silly like that sometimes. Mistaken identity is a proven seed. Don't be scared to plant it.

Of course, William wants nothing to do with the Ishmaelia assignment, turning down one ridiculously extravagant salary after another. It isn't until Mr. Salter threatens to no longer allow William to pen "Lush Places" that the young man relents and accepts his new position as war correspondent.

What follows is a rather amusing, and particularly scathing, satire of the newspaper business circa 1937. When William finally does arrive in Ishmaelia, he discovers no revolution at all, just a media-created story meant to sell papers and a rabid pool of reporters all vying to scoop their rivals. There is some genuinely funny stuff here, the majority of it at the expense of the media. One's head spins when considering what Mr. Waugh would have had to say about the current state of journalism. William eventually discovers that there's more to the situation in Ishmaelia than a trumped-up story, allowing Mr. Waugh to set his satirical sights on corrupt politics and the devious nature of government.

Mr. Waugh also takes a mighty swing at love. William falls for a seemingly abandoned German girl named Katchen who isn't shy about testing the limits of his expense account. Equal parts hilarious and depressing, William and Katchen's relationship strikes a chord; it's as true to life as any affair ever put to paper.

There are a few drawbacks to the book. First, it really is just entertainment, nothing life- altering, so don't stack it next to Dostoevsky and Camus. A lot of the impact it carried in 1937, when it exposed the absurdity of the press, has dissipated over time. And seeing how it deals with an African nation in the 1930s, there are a few racially-insensitive comments, no matter how innocuous their intention, that will make any right-thinking person flinch.

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