Phil Roth Fills Phil with Wrath!

who's the guy in the white suit again that always lists him and Delillo and a couple others (Cormac McCarthy is another one I think.), as the only authors worth reading? The Right Stuff guy.
Anyways, Roth's got to be better than Delillo.

That's Tom Wolfe.

Roth is exactly 563% better than DeLillo. Trust me on that. If you want a damn good read, go for a Roth book. The Plot Against America, for instance.

Wolf! Duhhhhhhh!

Roth is the one that did all the "Rabbit" books, yes?

Nope, that would be Updike.

Roth did the Zuckerman books. I haven't read any Updike, sadly.

okay. Updike's the one that passed away just recently. He was another on that Wolf's list i think and that's what got me confuzzled.

Updike is apparently one of those high stylists with little substance. That doesn't mean he's not worth reading, clearly. Roth seems much more interesting. The self-hating Jewish pornographer, etc.

Sounds like Woody Allen. Hey-OH!

Baddabing!

Roth likes masturbation. "Portnoy's Complaint" is awesome.

Who doesn't like masturbation?

These gals...

TOPIC RELEVANCE: Putting some Roth on "thee list"

who's the guy in the white suit again that always lists him and Delillo and a couple others (Cormac McCarthy is another one I think.), as the only authors worth reading? The Right Stuff guy.
Anyways, Roth's got to be better than Delillo.

Harold Bloom also says that Delillo, Pynchon, Roth, and McCarthy are the only four living novelists worth reading. He doesn't wear white suits, but he is-and has- a giant ass.

I really like Roth. The last fifty pages of American Pastoral are some of the best that I've ever read. He does sometimes get carried away with describing every possible detail of a given thing. There's basically a textbook on glovemaking slip in the middle of American Pastoral.

I've also read Portnoy's Complaint and Goodbye, Columbus. Both great.

I think I had Tom Wolfe confused with Harold Bloom AND Phillip Roth confused with Updike...

Portnoy is hifuckinglarious.

I've read Portney's Complaint, The Dying Animal, and The Breast. Portney was great and Breast was a quick, fun read, but Animal was just boring.

Bought The Dying Animal today!

I think Phillip Roth is a pretty cool guy. eh writes Pulitzer prize winning novels and doesn't afraid of anything.

I loved The Dying Animal. I thought it was wonderfully ANGRY.

Thus far have I read:

Everyman
The Ghost Writer
Zuckerman Unbound
The Anatomy Lesson
The Prague Orgy
Exit Ghost
Patrimony
The Dying Animal
The Plot Against America
Indignation

There's plenty more to be read!

I've read Portnoy's Complaint and The Human Stain and as far as his writing goes I don't think these two could be any further apart. The former is enjoyable for what it is, but The Human Stain has some really moving passages and the prose is just fantastic.

Tom Wolf is incredible for 2 reasons: he can pull off a white suit, and at 70 yrs of age he taught me about college slang.

just dropping in to be slightly on-topic. also John Updike is not very good.

Updike is good. Right now I'm reading Rabbit, Run and his prose is almost on par with Roth's.

maybe i phrased it wrong.

i personally am not a fan of John Updike's stories or characters.

that seems more accurate, and fair.

When it comes it opinions, it's important to always be accurate and to rarely be fair.

you present yourself as a very ill-tempered young man.

that is a very accurate representation of my opinion.

I'm probably the least ill tempered person you'll ever meet. I also messed up what i said above. It was supposed to be, 'never accurate and rarely fair.' But i guess it works how it is, too.

oh i really don't think you're ill-tempered, i just think you post in ill-tempered ways sometimes.

and my post lost a lot of its zing when i decided on "young man" as opposed to "whipper snapper". it didn't come off as cane-shaking, more as finger-wagging. and cane-shaking was my intention.

How is that one? I picked it up cheap at a second hand book store a while back but I've yet to read it, or any of his stuff.

It's good. Not the best of his that I've read, but a good intro to his work in general, I think.

What would be the one you would suggest to read first?
Roth has always been one of those authors I hear is great, but has never really piqued my interest. But I really should give him a try.

he said it was not his best, i thought perhaps there was one he might recommend more than that! If I am going to do this thing, I would like to do it up right.

If you're into memoirs and like a heartbreaking story of loss and familial ties, read Patrimony.

If you want to get into one of the most famous trilogies of the last few decades, and want a short read, try The Ghost Writer.

And if you just want to start with the one I read first, and hoped that it catches you as unawares as it did me, then read Indignation, which, although not his best, was great enough to hook me.

Finally read it this week and just wanted to say it was hot, it was tragic, it was honest, it was self-resenting(That's a word today) and it was pretty. I got an eye on I Married a Communist or The Plot Against America next.