Ron Charles, senior editor of Washington Post’s Book World, reviews the latest in pork-related literature. First course, Roger Rosenblatt’s academic satire Beet:

Rosenblatt starts off by noting with mock solemnity that for 250 years Beet has been one of America’s most prestigious colleges. It began with the beneficence of Nathaniel Beet, “the wealthiest pig farmer in the New England colonies,” which accounts for the college’s porcine traditions, including its motto: ”Deus Libri Porci” (God, Books, Pigs). But recently the college has been wallowing in despair; its gigantic endowment has somehow withered away. As the novel opens, the craven chairman announces that he’s decided to postpone closing the college to give the faculty time to come up with a new curriculum that will “attract more paying undergraduates, more grants, more alumni gifts.”

Joseph Caldwell’s The Pig Did It serves the second, Irish breakfast-style.

The macabre comedy plays out in sparkling dialogue, including some hilarious speeches that are both incantations of Irish mythology and masterful bits of parody. Caldwell is a successful playwright, too, and his perfect ear for the non sequiturs of real conversation is a constant delight.

If you love the Irish, if you’ve ever fallen in love or been spurned in love—heck, if you love bacon—you must read this irresistible novel.

In February, Rosenblatt will be hosting and roasting with an academic roundtable in a square hole that includes Frank McCourt, Patty Marx and David Rakoff to discuss the new sage advice, “Don’t Go to College.” First, he takes his usual charming role as moderator of the Afternoon Night Table Series, featuring National Book Award winner Alice McDermott on Jan 30.

Joseph Caldwell is also a writing instructor at the Y (previously acknowledged by the author of The Manny) and his next class, The Novel: A Working Group, begins Feb 6. Plenty more literary seminars are still available for registration, whether you’re looking to develop a one-person show, discuss The American Epic poem or Victorian Novels of Desire and Ulysses (advanced too) or Dante’s Purgatory. 

Browse the full list here.