"Pastoral" by disc

UB graduate and hard-working stage, screen and TV actor Ron Silver "reads" the audio version of "American Pastoral" (Phoenix Audio, $44.95) and is he ever good.

It takes 14 discs and 16 hours to tell the story of Swede Levov and his family, life and times. But Silver puts an intensity into Philip Roth's writing that makes it time well spent.

Silver's reading of the dialogue is amazing. The way he handles the long, long passages of literary naval-gazing is admirable. I never would have guessed that Roth's words could come so alive.