He works collecting dicks in a bag for Louis CK.

Well quick, while the trial's still going on, download Whitey Bulger: America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice. The best gangster novel this side of The Godfather, but it's all horrifyingly true. If you've seen The Departed you'll be shocked just how close the movie actually hewed to…

Archy is supposed to be unknowable, especially to Archy. He ultimately functions less as a protagonist and more as a metaphor for Telegraph Avenue itself. And you've succintly encapsulated Gwen's - more than Aviva's - story arc. They will propel much of the book's second half. Oh and Julie ended up as one of my…

Goon Squad's great. The scene where he's dancing with his daughter literally makes me cry just thinking about it. Just beautifully written. If you're the father of a teenaged girl, beware!

You gotta finish Blood Meridian or The Judge will find you, just like he found the boy.

I know it's taken a pounding, but I fully enjoyed Telegraph Avenue. Not Chabon's best by any means but I thought it was well worth the time.

My pick for beach book of the summer is Philipp Meyer's The Son. Wonderfully written; equal parts Michener, McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy. On one level it's a lyrical study on the nature of evil, original sin and what it is that ties people to their land. On another it's a rip-roarin' pulper with a little sex, a whole…

Great, great book. Can't recommend it enough to anyone. That and Jaques Barzun's amazing magnum opus From Dawn to Decadence 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life are two recent that maybe the best books of history I've ever read.

McPherson is more definitive, But be prepared, you'll end up with a clear-eyed, nuanced view of the Civil War…something that many people apparently resist strongly.

I've been reading Cloud Atlas Shrugged try getting through the first chapter of that…but John Galt does turn out the be a prima ballerina in the year 2525.

"YES…OF ALL THE DANGERS YOU MIGHT FACE I AM THE MOST MANLY AND VIRILE!  ALMOST AS DANGEROUS AND VIRILE AS JAVIER BARDEM DANGER!"

Yeah, I meant that in the Linda Hunt way - not the Helen Hunt way.

cumming-in-rage

I think it's a reference to the very back seat in a station wagon. Old people like me who once (or a million times) fought over it remember.

"Head of the meat department." Heh heh. Good one.

Actually sounds like a good way to lose it.

"Out?" Uncovered maybe.

"Bong out with your schlong out (man)"

There's Something About Rover is the mastiff The Sweetest Thing

Yeah, but a lot of that shit goes over your head when you're eleven. One of the reasons being eleven rocks.