Currently Reading: Portnoy’s Complaint

   Recently I’ve been trying to make it through the complete catalogue of Philip Roth.  Over the years, I’ve read American Pastoral, The Plot Against America, and Everyman.  In the past month, I’ve read The Human Stain, When She was Good, and am now reading Portnoy’s Complaint.

    I am thoroughly convinced that there is no writer still writing today with the talent of Philip Roth.   His style is so detailed and stark at the same time, and I can tell that my style has been greatly influenced by his.  I just love reading his works and devouring them.

Michael Chabon

I met a woman whose short stories have broken my heart over and over again for the last 15 years and saw only the withered neck and hollow stare of a woman who had wasted her life. I shook hands with colleagues in the department whom I had good reasons to admire and like, and heard their false laughter, and felt their discomfort with their bodies and their status and their clothes, and smelled the stink of sweet beer and whiskey on their breath.