The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild by Mathias Énard
Recommended by Gary L.
In this gorgeous stream-of-consciousness that reads like a dream, anthropology student David Mazow is studying local culture in a small French village when he discovers a local custom where life and death take a three-day sabbath while death-workers have a giant feast. Enard's writing is quiet and beautiful and this felt like something truly new.