Zadie Smith, On Beauty (Hamish Hamilton, 2005)

A romp through the politics of race and academic life. Brilliant riffs on affirmative action, fundamentalist Christianity and English usage, through explorations of the increasingly intertwined lives of two families where the fathers, two professors who work in the same area, detest one another. A hilarious and sad confrontation scene in a faculty meeting. Shortlisted for the Booker, and winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction.