SWEET AND SOUR

America's most popular grump returns with another collection of newspaper columns that find fault with everything from the human ear to whistling to mattresses to postal abbreviations. True, as the title says, there's a bit of sweet here—tributes to Frank Sinatra, to William Paley, to a particularly handsome brick wall- -but, overall, these 130 pieces show Rooney at his most typically sour, generally amusing but with a shtick that's predictable and not always charming (``We're lucky the Japanese don't speak English''; ``I'm ambivalent about letting women reporters in men's locker rooms. I admit it would be unfair to let male reporters in and keep females out. Life and locker rooms are unfair''). Still, Rooney's barbs and musings often hit the bull's-eye (``Manufacturers of all products insist on making them smell like something they aren't''; ``The most annoying sounds on earth are often the small ones. A dripping faucet in the middle of the night....''), and his many fans will be glad to learn that his world is just as annoying and perplexing—and funny—as ever.