Families are psychotic

Philip Roth is a skilled author and Tokyo is a big city in Japan. I remember reading Roth a long time ago (Goodbye Columbus), but its his recent books (American Pastoral, I Married a Communist) that I found really captivating. Incidentally (1) there are several works by the title "I Married a Communist": a 1949 film and an excellent comic book J'ai épousé une communiste by Swiss cartoon artists D. Willemin and Pet (2) I had an impression that Roth had 5 candidates shortlisted among 10 for the best U.S. book. But as usual I did not bookmark the list nor the organisation.

In addition to Roth, there must be many authors who write great books about U.S. middle class families. Everyone knows John Irving and E.L. Doctorow but my recent favourite has been Jhumpa Lahiri's Namesake. Her short stories in The Interpreter of Maladies were brilliant, too.

And in the realm of not-so middle class stories, Tony Morrison's Jazz, Paradise and Love are stunningly good.

In a complete different category, Douglas Coupland's "All Families are Psychotic" is amusing and has lots of good ideas.