Possessed, The av Elif Batuman

<p><b>'The funniest book I've read in a long time: its deadpan, dry humour and its accumulation of absurdities will leave you rolling on your floor with laughter' <i>The Times</i> </b><br><br><b>She thought she was a lover of the great classics of Russian literature - until she met the superfans...</b><br><br>Roaming from Tashkent to San Francisco, this is the true story of one budding writer's strange encounters with the fanatics who are devoted - absurdly! melancholically! ecstatically! - to the Russian classics. Combining fresh readings of the great Russians from Tolstoy to Dostoevsky with the sad and funny stories of the lives they continue to influence, <i>The Possessed</i> is comic, humane, charming, poignant and full of an infectious love for literature. <br><br><b>'Dazzlingly good... Very bookish, very clever and very funny... A preposterously engaging volume' Jane Shilling, <i>Sunday Telegraph</i> </b><br><br><b>'The highest compliment you can pay such a book is that it sends you back to the original authors refreshed. I can go one higher - I found myself simply wanting to read more from Elif Batuman' <i>Evening Standard</i> </b><br><br><b>'An intoxicating mix of travel memoir, autobiography, literary criticism and philosophy... Charming and hilarious' <i>Daily Telegraph</i></b></p>