Seven top novels set in the literary world

Caitlin Barasch’s debut novel, A Novel Obsession, is out this month from Dutton/Penguin Random House in the U.S. and Canada, and from Eksmo in Russia.

Born and raised in New York, Barasch earned her BA from Colorado College and her MFA from New York University, where she also taught creative writing. Her work has appeared in over a dozen publications, and been nominated for Best Small Fictions.

A former bookseller, Barasch is currently a creative writing instructor at The Writers Circle.

At Electric Lit she tagged seven "books set at least partly in the literary world, featuring characters who will do whatever it takes—to find love, to get ahead (or to simply survive) in the industry, to make good art, and/or to lead a more novelistic life." One title on the list:

Last Resort by Andrew Lipstein

Caleb Horowitz, the 27-year-old narrator, is on the brink of achieving his wildest dreams—a life-changing book deal for his novel—when Avi Deitsch, an old college rival and the novel’s inspiration, gets his hands on it. Caleb is then forced to make a Faustian bargain, one that tests his theories of success, ambition, and the limits of art. The book is an often hilarious and ironic skewering of the literary world, and no one is spared.

Read about the another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue