Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

In this bleak book, Joan Didion sketches the portrait of Maria Wyeth's increasingly empty and meaningless life. Set in and around Hollywood, we watch both Maria's self-destruction and her observation of the lives crumbling around her. Coming from the author of Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album, though, this novel's perspective is not exactly a surprise. Didion's prose is crisp, and her instinct as to which scenes to include is sharp.