{"title":"Books by Elif Batuman","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781529115932","title":"Either\/Or","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe new novel from the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Idiot\u003c\/i\u003e follows one young woman's quest for self-knowledge, as she travels abroad and tests the limits of her newfound adulthood. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Elif Batuman is the queen of the campus novel... Enchanting' \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSELIN IS THE LUCKIEST PERSON IN HER FAMILY:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe only one who was born in America and got to go to Harvard. Now it's her second year, and Selin knows she has to make it count. The first order of business: to figure out the meaning of everything that happened over the summer...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the plus side, her life feels like the plot of an exciting novel. On the other hand, why do so many novels have crazy, abandoned women in them? And how does one live a life as interesting as a novel - a life worthy of becoming a novel - without turning into a crazy, abandoned woman oneself?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Stupendous... Hilarious... Batuman is a genius' \u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'This novel wins you over in a million micro-observations' \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Searingly smart' \u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43128662360242,"sku":"9781529115932","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":57697037877621,"sku":"9781787333864","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529115932.jpg?v=1793083530"},{"product_id":"9780099583172","title":"The Idiot","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDiscover TikTok's new favourite book.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003cb\u003eI loved it and could have read a thousand more pages of it' Emma Cline, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Girls\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Selin, a tall, highly strung Turkish-American from New Jersey turns up at Harvard with no idea what to expect. What she \u003ci\u003edoesn't \u003c\/i\u003eexpect is:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e - How much time she will spend thinking about language and its limitations\u003cbr\u003e - An opinionated cosmopolitan Serb named Svetlana, who will become her confidante\u003cbr\u003e - A mathematician from Hungary called Ivan, whom she will obsess over when she is supposed to be studying\u003cbr\u003e - Feeling dangerously overwhelmed by the challenges and possibilities of adulthood\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But most of all, Selin does not expect to embark on a study of precisely how baffling love can be when you are trying to forge a self...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003ci\u003eTHE IDIOT\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e'A moving, continent-hopping coming-of-age story' \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Elif Batuman surely has one of the best senses of humour...refreshing and unique' Sheila Heti\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e'Full of zingy one-liners' \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Hilarious, brilliant observations about writing, life and crushes' Curtis Sittenfeld\u003cbr\u003e '\u003cb\u003eDelightful and slyly funny' \u003ci\u003eRed\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201404272818,"sku":"9780099583172","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099583172_493dbde8-75f8-4454-8d1f-ffed1a6e18c9.jpg?v=1786011363"},{"product_id":"9781783784516","title":"The Possessed","description":"\u003cp\u003e'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' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe thought she was a lover of the great classics of Russian literature - until she met the superfans...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRoaming 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, \u003ci\u003eThe Possessed\u003c\/i\u003e is comic, humane, charming, poignant and full of an infectious love for literature. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Dazzlingly good... Very bookish, very clever and very funny... A preposterously engaging volume' Jane Shilling, \u003ci\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'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' \u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'An intoxicating mix of travel memoir, autobiography, literary criticism and philosophy... 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