High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

There are those that grow up and there are others who have adulthood thrust upon them. Nick Hornby's hero in High Fidelity belongs to a third group which comprises those who, having been thrust with adulthood, refuse to grow into it. At 35, Rob Fleming runs a failing record store and has just had his girlfriend of five years walk out on him. He has few friends, has a top five list of nearly everything and judges people on their record collection. Rob finds himself at a dead end and from there on goes onto redeem himself and faces up to being 35.

This is a coming-of-middle age story and Rob's transformation is told through a very funny narrative full of self-deprecatory humour. The conversations in the record store between Rob and his friends-employees Barry and Dick being the high point.
Nothing remotely dramatic ever happens in Rob's life. And yet, this is an absorbing book with clever insights into life and home truths some of us prefer to run away from. Pick it up, you won't regret it.