Tristram Shandy (Folio Society Edition) – Laurence Sterne

An autobiography that barely reaches the hero’s birth, this endlessly digressive masterpiece follows the life and hilarious “opinions” of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Narrated by Tristram, it’s primarily the story of his eccentric family: his father Walter, obsessed with pseudo-scientific theories, and his Uncle Toby, a gentle war veteran obsessed with miniature military fortifications. A bawdy, philosophical, and profoundly funny novel that constantly breaks the rules of storytelling, it’s a revolutionary work considered an early forerunner of the postmodern novel.