Okay, after all these years, maybe Alexander Payne is doing a little more than flirting with dysfunction.

He's brought to life the manic world of Tracy Flick, teenage sexuality, and cheating spouses with Election, aging pains and hot tub sauciness with About Schmidt, and wine snobbery at its finest with Sideways. He's the man who finds strange books and make them a usually irresistible cinematic experience. He's even gearing up to shoot a film that focuses on people who want to become little people to have a happier retirement. But before that can happen, Payne is going to follow The Descendents, according to Variety.

Based on Kau Hart Hemmings' novel, the film will focus on a dad needing to get himself and his family back on track. His wife is caught in a coma after a catamaran accident, his kids are rich pains in the butt, and his cousins want him to sell off his Hawaiian land. To make matters more complicated, he finds out that his wife was cheating on him, and for some reason, grabs his troubled kids to set off and confront the man. He plans to film the feature either at the end of the year, or early next.

So how could he possibly top shrinking people and a man who thinks he can bring his family together by confronting his wife's lover? I've got a few ideas ...

The Tetherballs of Bougainville -- One of my favorite books, Mark Leyner's satire follows his fictionalized 13-year-old self as he has one hell of a day. His prison-contained dad survived a lethal injection, so he's sentenced to NJSDE (meaning someone can kill him at any time, any day -- right now or decades from now), a warden shows him the ways of love, and he's got to write a screenplay about his experiences.

In Payne's hands, I think this could actually come to life -- and be more successful than the Leyner-influenced War Inc.

Girlfriend in a Coma -- One of Douglas Coupland's best novels, it explores the life of a girl who slips into a coma soon after losing her virginity, only to wake up almost 20 years later with a daughter and an entirely different world -- that's about to end.

There have been some cinematic forays into Coupland's world, but none that have lived up to the notoriety of his books. Payne could definitely change that.

Candide -- One of history's best satires, Voltaire's story took optimism to the extreme, with the thought that everything is for the best -- not matter how bad it gets.

Yes, this it out-there, but it can work in two ways. One, it could be neat to see Payne break out of modern storytelling. Two, he could stay in his comfort zone and make this modern, giving a nice opposite to his ultra-negative, wine-loving Miles.

Obviously, I'd like to see him take the quirk just a little farther. But what about you? What novels and stories would you like to see him turn to next?