If you needed additional evidence that Ross "Chunky John Witherspoon" Douthat is a pompous smarmy git, behold:

Like most English-speaking scribes, I’ve spent the last few weeks dipping in and out of Christopher Hitchens’ memoir, “Hitch-22.”

Really, Ross? Most English-speaking scribes have spent the last few weeks dipping in and out of Hitch's book? A preponderance of Anglophonic scribes? You're "dipping in and out of" a book?

Try this: "I've been reading Christopher Hitchens' book ...." Your ideas are asinine enough; don't write like an ass too.