"The Remains of the Day," Kazuo Ishiguro

I can see why this won a Booker Prize - it's an easy, well-written read. And I enjoyed it, too, because who doesn't love character studies full of pathos?

Still, I couldn't help but do an alternate reading of the book, in which Stevens (the repressed butler) is not just a repressed butler but also a high-functioning autistic. The storyline really seemed to make more sense that way, although then it was no longer a pathetic story of a man holding himself back from love and life, but instead a Time magazine piece on amazing people who happen to have crippling mental disorders. Of course, it could just be that 1930s England was a society based entirely off an autistic concept.