“Books are, let's face it, better than everything else. If we played cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go 15 rounds in the ring against the best that any other art form had to offer, then books would win pretty much every time. Go on, try it. 鈥淭he Magic Flute鈥 v. Middlemarch? Middlemarch in six. 鈥淭he Last Supper鈥 v. Crime and Punishment? Fyodor on points. See? I mean, I don鈥檛 know how scientific this is, but it feels like the novels are walking it. You might get the occasional exception -鈥 鈥淏londe on Blonde鈥 might mash up The Old Curiosity Shop, say, and I wouldn鈥檛 give much for Pale Fire鈥檚 chance against Citizen Kane. And every now and again you'd get a shock, because that happens in sport, so Back to the Future III might land a lucky punch on Rabbit, Run; but I'm still backing literature 29 times out of 30.”
―
Nick Hornby,
The Polysyllabic Spree