Status Updates From Primitive People

On the main floor of the mansion was an octagonal library, its leather couches marbled with cracks, its musty books emitting a moldy, botanical smell....Many of the books were ancient, far too fragile to touch; many were birthday or holiday gifts, inscribed from the dead to the dead. There were texts on Latin poetry, gardening, classical art....

just picked this off my shelf. I think I may have found it at the library sale room. My first foray into Prose's writing (oh, all the potential plays on those words!)

Engaging plot with a ridiculous amount of insight and wry humor. I can't put it down.