NEW YORK - That Stephen Colbert sure is funny, and he sure has some funny ideas about books.
Just ask "The Kite Runner" author Khaled Hosseini.
Hosting a Saturday breakfast at BookExpo America, Colbert tangled good-naturedly with Hosseini, whose novels include "The Kite Runner" and a new best seller, "A Thousand Splendid Suns."
Colbert introduced Hosseini by stating that he had not read "The Kite Runner," a million-selling novel about two Afghani boys and the tragic recent history of their country, and assumed it was a book about a boy who loves kites.
"I loved yo-yos, so I can relate," Colbert said, who then referred to "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by groaning, "Great, another book about global warming."
Hosseini, meanwhile, declined to play the straight man. Before discussing his work, he turned to Colbert and announced that he would like "to address our emcee."
"You trashed `The Kite Runner,'" Hosseini accused his host, alleging such mistreatment on "The Colbert Report," Colbert's Comedy Central satire of television punditry. "It is un-American to diss `The Kite Runner.'"
"I was a little mad at you at the time; I don't remember why," Colbert responded, saying that after making fun of the book his yard was "filled with women's book clubs."
Colbert also plugged his own book, "I Am America (And So Can You)," through a pre-taped infomercial, supposedly filmed in his "underground studio bunker." He trashed Oprah Winfrey's latest book pick, Cormac McCarthy's apocalyptic "The Road" ("Where are the robots and the large-breasted aliens," he sneered) and praised his own book as a tribute to heroes.
"And who are the heroes?" he asked. "The people who buy my book."
BookExpo America, held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, ended Sunday.
