The Invisible Book — Sergei Dovlatov

One of the heroes of late Soviet literature, Sergei Dovlatov was as admired and beloved in the United States as he was among the Soviet intelligentsia. A regular contributor to The New York Times and The New Yorker, the "delightful" (The New Yorker) Dovlatov captured all that was ridiculous and brutal about Soviet life, but always with the lightest touch. The Invisible Book is a marvelously funny novel about the daily compromises and humiliations of life as a Soviet writer. Featuring letters from stubborn editors and foolish officials, The Invisible Book is unflinching in its portrait of a cruel bureaucracy, but, at the same time, never less than hilarious.