Small World by David Lodge

A summer of conference-going, a highly coveted UNESCO chair of making a ridiculous sum of money for no work, a helpful airport employee, a mysterious, yet brilliant, appearing-then-disappearing grad student, a street performance of The Wasteland and old favorites Phillip Swallow and Morris Zapp make this book an excellent read. In his highly literate, self-aware, and allusive send-up of the academic conference scene, David Lodge outdoes himself.