Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye faces school board censorship in Ohio. School administrators fear not so much the sexual description, but the sudden spike in jokes involving “one-eyed trouser snake.” Students responded by saying they were inspired more from Eric Idle’s “Penis Song” than from the book title. In one student’s words, “they had seen it all before.” The review committee, however, fears that referring to the penis in an educational setting is “dangerous for the mind.”

The Kenyon Review is sponsoring a Poetry Prize for Young Writers. Dirty limericks will not be accepted.

Germany is such a big-time lit importer that they’re determined to get it to you online. Loads of wurst, thankfully, are not involved. (via At Large)

It’s bad enough that Courtney Love is offering a tell-all memoir to the world. But apparently her proposal letter claims that her book “rivals David Foster Wallace at his best.” Love’s literary agent, David Vigilano, hoping to make this claim stick, has encouraged Ms. Love to include more footnotes and “maybe a chapter or two on game theory.”

In a recent survey by Harlequin Enterprises, Australian men were found to be low-rated lovers. It didn’t help that the men selected McDonald’s as their number one romantic restaurant. Sarah, for one, is not surprised. I’m not either, given Max Barry’s troubling photo.

Apparently, there’s a doc covering the infamous Norman Mailer-Germaine Greer debate. Laura Miller weighed in on the subject in less bitter days.

The Guardian has put up excerpts from Francis Wheen’s How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World.

And for those interested, my hope is to conclude my “The State of Books & the NYTBR” series tomorrow. Michael, in the meantime, has posted a followup.