Thief Steals Franzen's Glasses, Demands Ransom

Perhaps he confused Freedom with free? At a London party in honor of Jonathan Franzen’s new book, a man snatched the glasses off the author’s face and left behind a £100,000 ransom note before fleeing. A police helicopter was enlisted to search for the man after he jumped into the lake near the party site, the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park. Police eventually pulled the man from the water and arrested him. Many party attendees tweeted the bizarre incident, with Graeme Neill, an editor at The Bookseller, tweeting, "Someone gatecrashed the party for Franzen, stole his glasses and left a ransom note. I am not kidding." Blogger Sarah Drinkwater, referencing reports that the first U.K. edition of Franzen’s book had to be pulped because a draft was published by mistake, tweeted, "The US puts Franzen on the cover of Time; the UK misplaces his commas and steals his glasses. Bet Amis does a piece on how we 'hate success'." Witness keelinmc tweeted, “#Glassesgate might be the best thing to happen to Franzen's career since #oprahgate.”