Literary Pet Rock

Shame on you for wasting valuable space on a pompous fledgling like Robert Grayson. (“The Price of His Thoughts: Just $5,000 a Book” by Jeannine Stein, Dec. 5).

He has created the literary equivalent of the pet rock. If he had ever read a few masters of the aphorism (Mark Twain, H. L. Mencken and S. J. Perelman come to mind), he’d have realized this and not mistaken his marketing gimmick for literary genius.

If, alas, his product doesn’t sell as he’d hoped and he must teach a course, try “Delusions of Grandeur, Advanced,” or perhaps “Humility: Is It Necessary If One Is Truly Mediocre?”

WILLIAM LA HAY

Azusa