Super Sad True Love Story, By Gary Shteyngart

An unlikely romance between a balding nerd, Lenny, and a slinky Korean American student, Eunice, begins as a one-night stand and unfolds in epistolatory form: Lenny's diary entries and Eunice's manic social messaging, as well as eccentric letters from her Korean mother.

Set in a near-future New York teetering on dystopia, this satire turns into the eponymous "true love story" which, together with the immigrant stories around it, carry a surprising emotional depth.

The writing may initially appear mannered but becomes brilliantly inventive, with a semi-invented social messaging vocabulary, following in the abbreviated tradition of Twitter or Facebook, mixed with shallow girl talk and male angst.