Jeffrey Eugenides

If there ever existed an author of perfect fiction, Eugenides is it — in my opinion, he writes the most stunningly lyrical prose since Nabokov, and while there's times in his novels wherein not much really happens, his beautiful studies in character and human nature all but make up for the lack of suspense and plot twist. If you are a lover of words, well, reading Eugenides is kind of like having (really good) sex with the English language. Recommended: "The Virgin Suicides," "Middlesex."