Another Venue in Which Colson Whitehead
Could Smack Down Richard Ford

If you live in England, listen up: producers for BBC4's Battle of the Books are looking for folks to sit in the studio audience and listen to panelists argue over which of two books they'd rather read. Next week's taping: Valis vs. Brave New World. Future shows pit A Clockwork Orange against The Magus and Anne Rice against Bram Stoker. The Significant Other comments, "These are contests?" I tend to agree; I'd much rather see them duke it out over, say, Catcher in the Rye and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea. Or The Illuminatus Trilogy versus His Dark Materials. Or...well, you tell me. But stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I'll sock you in your goddamn face.