Read Portnoy's Complaint

Swede Levov, the perfect Newark athlete, and the daughter who bombs a post office; Roth's Pulitzer.

A Minnesota physics professor's life unravels while three rabbis explain nothing.

A 999-line poem and the mad commentary of the man who stole it; Nabokov's puzzle novel.

A professor of Hitler studies, an airborne toxic event and the fear of death; DeLillo's comedy.

A tennis academy, a halfway house and a film so entertaining it kills; 1,079 pages and 388 endnotes.

Oedipa Maas and a secret postal system; Pynchon in 150 pages.

A 36-year-old who is only normal behind a till; Murata's deadpan bestseller.

A Bangalore driver murders his master and explains why in letters to the Chinese premier; Adiga's Booker.