Quote of the Day- Gunter Grass

Perhaps those of you visiting our blog from Boulder, Colo., can find a Gunter Grass novel, like his most famous work "The Tin Drum" (the novel came out in 1959, an award-winning film version came out in 1979), at the Boulder Bookstore.

But, for the rest of us who aren't living in such a hip happening place, well we can always quote Mr. Grass.

The German author, who was born in 1927, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1999. The film version of "The Tin Drum" was actually banned in Oklahoma City in 1997 after a Christian fundamentalist group saw some controversial sexual scenes from the movie out of context.

The evangelical group did not even watch the film in its entirety! But, the ban was removed in 2001 though we aren't sure if a resident of Tulsa can put the controversial late '60s Swedish film "I Am Curious Yellow" on his Netflix que!

We are quoting Mr. Grass because he is from one of the 32 countries in the upcoming World Cup in South Africa.

Although I haven't been there in a long time, we expect that partisan fans will be rooting for Germany from the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown, W.Va., which is actually only an hour outside Washington, DC, where one might be able to find "Cat and Mouse" (a 1961 novel by Grass) at Politics and Prose.

Here is the quip from the great writer who also penned "The Dog Years" in 1963:

"Everything bigger than life attracts a crowd."