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This edition is the latest in an ongoing series by James about funny novels. Today, he’s considering a stream-of-consciousness novel starring a distracted man who is hopelessly lost in thought on his lunch break. After that, we’ve got a couple of recommendations of things we’ve been into lately: Some tasty potato chips and a new, writing-focused issue of an academic journal.

James here! In the past I’ve recommended novels about surreal offices, midlife re-enactors, blundering conquistadors, and the worryingly horny, but the novel I want to recommend today is one where nothing happens. This is a book with no plot, barely a premise, but succeeds with a simple conceit and a very specific central character.