and just shook my head.

Powers is always compared to Pynchon, but I've never been able to crack a Pynchon novel.

I think that's a great choice for Roth. That's definitely my favorite of his, and it's part of a trilogy, each book of which relates to a decade, and each of which is narrated by Zuckerman. American Pastoral is the 60s and liberal activism.... I Married A Communist is the 50s and McCarthyism. The Human Stain is the 90s and this neo-puritanism exemplified by the Clinton impeachment.

And you've probably seen me say on here that I'm one of those who doesn't love Confederacy of Dunces. I understand that it's genius, I know that people think it's hysterically funny, and I just found it vulgar and grim. But that's not to say that you shouldn't read it. You should. Everyone should at least try it, because the people who love it LOVE it. And it would be a shame not to have read it if it were to turn out that you were one of the people who love it.