I've never read any Philip Roth before, but I am listening to American Pastoral, read by Ron Silver.

The framing device employed in the book is a 45th high school reunion attended by the narrator, Nathan Zuckerman. There he meets former-classmate Jerry Levov (Seymour "Swede" Levov's younger brother) who describes to him the tragic course of Seymour's adult life. Called "the Swede" because of his anomalous blond hair, blue eyes and Nordic good looks, he is a star athlete in three sports and Zuckerman's idol and hero. "The Swede" eventually takes over his father's glove factory -"Newark Maid"- and marries Dawn Dwyer, an Irish-American Miss New Jersey 1949 winner.

Levov establishes what he believes to be a perfect American life with a beloved family, a satisfying business life, and a beautiful old home in rural, Republican New Jersey. Yet as the Vietnam War and racial unrest wrack the country and destroy inner-city Newark, Seymour's teenage daughter, whose only flaw has been a stutter, becomes angry and fat and increasingly radicalized joining the far left radical organisation 'The Weathermen'. Levov's "pastoral" life implodes in a devastating act of violence that changes everything.

This novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, and was included in the list of 100 Greatest Novels compiled by Time Magazine in 2005. How many have you read on the list? (I'm at about 26, but some I read so long ago, I barely remember them . . .).

Knitty has published its Spring 2007 issue, and this is the sweater I have my eye on for a spring/summer project . . . . Could it be any cuter with jeans?