Robert Juppe brought the novel Gadsby to my attention. Can't imagine how I missed it, loving odd literary things as much as I do. Turns out that Ernest Vincent Wright published this novel in 1939. It's over 50,000 words and it never — repeat, never — uses the letter "e."

Why? Wright says he did it because everyone said it was impossible. He even went so far as to ban Mrs. and Mr. because when spelled out, an evil "e" would appear in the reader's mind.

Try reading one of the Gadsby chapters. It's tough to get through. Shows you how much work our little friend "e" actually does.