Oct. 29--"Purity" author Jonathan Franzen read Stephen Colbert a "scary" bedtime story about online retail tactics Wednesday on "The Late Show."
In the tale of "Little Red Reading Hood," a girl goes to a local, independent bookstore, only to find that her grandmother has been replaced with a wolf. She tells the wolf, "What big eyes you have."
"The better to see your consumer preferences and target you with advertising," the wolf replied.
The wolf's big hands were "the better to give you free overnight shipping" and its big teeth were "to gobble up every retailer in the world."
Franzen, who was born in Western Springs and grew up in the St. Louis area, did not mention any retailer by name in his story. Colbert, who was dressed in pajamas as he snuggled with a teddy bear, ended the segment plugging Franzen's "Purity" by pulling it out of an overnight shipping box.
"The Late Show" airs on CBS at 10:35 p.m.
