The Biographer's Tale by A. S. Byatt

This is definitely my favourite Byatt novel that I have read so far (actually, I need to reread Posession, because I don't remember it well enough), this is such a smart book. It's my favourite type of postmodern novel, supremely self-conscious, clever, funny and deep. I won't pretend to have fully understood it, but I loved it. I thought some of the extracts about various lives were a little long and dull, but I rather suspect that was the point. This story concerns a postgraduate student who suddenly decides that he must have things rather than post-post-(post-post-etc)modern theory and embarks on attempting to write a biography. Seeing as I'm about to become a postgraduate student myself next year and read this amid applications to various programmes, I found this book particularly funny and touching. Also a good reminder that literature is something of an addiction, while life can become somewhat fuzzy behind it. Such a spectacularly intelligent, playful, witty novel, that operates on multiple levels and is a true delight to read and really sink into and mull over. This was supremely satisfying and definitely a favourite.