Don benched at the office: Portnoy's Complaint
Don Draper (Jon Hamm) · Don's office
Back at work on probation, Don is banned from new business and from drinking at the office. Tablet catches him killing time with naps and solitaire, and with Philip Roth. The partners took his scotch and left him a book about a man telling his analyst everything, so the therapy was technically on the table.
Paused Tuesdays
One still, one stack, every Tuesday morning.
The book
Portnoy's Complaint
Roth's 1969 novel is one long confession from Alexander Portnoy to his psychiatrist, Dr. Spielvogel, who gets the last line. Tablet calls it the smash bestseller of that year, and Australia tried to ban it. Don spent seven seasons dodging therapy and ended up reading someone else's session.
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Sleuthed by @shelfsleuth · 2026-10-22
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Paused Tuesdays
One still, one stack, every Tuesday morning.
Also in Mad Men
All 26 books
Joan returns the office copy: Lady Chatterley's LoverS1 E3
Don's bedtime research: The Best of EverythingS1 E6
Don's Israel homework: ExodusS1 E6
Bert's recommendation: Atlas ShruggedS1 E8
Don's bar find: Meditations in an EmergencyS2 E1
Peggy's mother and the library copy: The Agony and the EcstasyS2 E2
Betty and the Fitzgerald stories: Babylon Revisited and Other StoriesS2 E4
Joy's morning after: The Sound and the FuryS2 E11
Sally reads to Grandpa Gene: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman EmpireS3 E3
Lane at the hospital: The Adventures of Tom SawyerS3 E6
Roger on Ogilvy: Confessions of an Advertising ManS3 E7
Betty in the bath: The GroupS3 E10