I'm adding Michael Chabon's name to my list of reasons to be proud of my Jewish heritage. I just finished reading his The Yiddish Policeman's Union, a truly wonderful literary novel. The book is one part thriller, one part ironic love story and two parts Yiddish lesson. The book is Jewish, however, in the same way that Joyce's books are Irish - you don't have to be "in" to get it but some of the meaning (and especially the humor) is deeply cultural.
I heard yesterday that my other favorite Jewish novelist, Philip Roth, has published a new book. Between reading that and catching up with some of Chabon's earlier work, I'm going to be one busy man.
