Unlike Jake, one of the two main characters in this story, I’m incapable of growing a beard. A fu manchu may be possible, but even that is doubtful. Which is actually fine by me. I knew a guy in college who had a five o’clock shadow around one o’clock, every day. This particular feature of his body rarely brought him much joy.

The fourth episode of this podcast featured a jettisoned chapter from my first novel; this is its sibling, the second of two deleted chapters now resurrected. It’s a domestic tale, involving a chef who grew a beard while his wife was out of town. Hilarity does not ensue.

On the audiobook front, I’ve been on a Philip Roth kick, and the kicking continues! Portnoy's Complaint, read by Ron Silver.

I love that the cover says it’s directed by Philip Roth. What does that mean? I can only imagine Philip told Ron how to read the book, though I doubt Ron needed much help because he was such a great actor. It’s yet another fantastic reading by him. Be warned, this book is still quite raunchy even by today's standards, or maybe especially by today's standards. For me personally, it overstayed its welcome about 80% of the way through, but it ends strongly and I must say, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much listening to a book. No question it’ll offend many, many people, but I enjoyed it immensely.

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