The Boys' Book Club!

When the boys aren't out drinking, they are invariably reading (while they drink). Long-time fans may recall Chip's series regarding the classics, but viewers have rarely heard the boys' opinions on contemporary literature. Today they consider three current literary phenomenons: the Christian novel The Shack, currently number one on the NYTimes paperback list; the hugely popular debut boy-and-his-dogs novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, currently number two on the NYTimes hardcover list; and, of course, the Twilight series of vampire novels that are currently thrilling young ladies and young women across the world.

Chip: "The Shack is so popular that the Forttt Scottt library has two copies of it. They're passed from house to house. It's about a man who goes to a shack and meets God, who is an old black woman named Papa. The problem I have with this is that we all know God is a white man."

Richard: "I'm waiting for the film, which I suspect will star Kirk Cameron. However, I have read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which is surprisingly excellent. It's an old-fashioned yarn about a boy on the run with his dogs and it uses the basic framework of Hamlet to set the tale in motion."

Chip: "You lost me at Hamlet. See, this is just the kind of pretentiousness we don't need. Why is it not enough to just tell a ripping good yarn about a boy and his dog without using some literary device that might make the average Joe feel dumb if he doesn't 'get' it? I'd rather reread Where the Red Fern Grows."

Richard: "So let's consider the Twilight vampire series, which is probably the most fascinating literary phenomenon since the Harry Potter books. As I gather, it's about a young girl who falls in love with a dashing vampire and they spend three books looking longingly at each other and finally have sex so intense in the fourth book that the vampire has to chew up the pillows so as not to kill her, I guess."

Chip: "I think chewing a pillow is normal. You don't have to be a vampire to do that. Anyway, these sound like excellent books for young girls which teach them that falling in love with dangerous men is not necessarily a bad thing and that true love will last forever. I understand that a lot of young women find these books 'hot' and write their own erotic fan fiction about them. I used to do that with the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. And my Hardy Brothers were uncovering more than just the Secret of the Island Treasure, let me assure you!"