The House of Sleep (Vintage Contemporaries) by Jonathan Coe, a review from Powells.com by Georgie Lewis.
"'And so have you read anything by Jonathan Coe?' I asked Julian Barnes, at the close of our interview last week, after the microphone was off and he faced a mountain of books to sign. 'I haven't,' he replied and looked at me and said, 'But I did notice a particular gleam in your eyes every time you mentioned him.' And I blushed and I stammered that I'd really only mentioned him in passing. Twice." Read the entire Powells.com review.