I just put this down, and it was awesome. Story of two brothers and a Jewish girl (as the book puts it in a "tryst") in pogrom happy 1946 Russia (sorry Soviet Union). Includes slave-labor camps, sex, Soviet politics, and lots and lots of death (Soviet Union remember). I read this after reading Koba the Dread (non fiction book on Stalin, also by Amis) which was perfect back to back.
The Face of Another is an great, great book about a scientist whose face is badly disfigured in a laboratory accident. He has dropped out of society owing to the lack of a face (the story is based in Japan). As a plastic surgeon explains to him, the face "is a roadway between oneself and others"; people cannot reach out to a man "without the passport of the face". Even his wife, for whom he should be much more than a face, treats him with a suppressed revulsion. The protagonist retreats to a quiet hideout and attempts to fashion himself a new face.
Estranged from the world when without a face, he finds that with his new face he is suddenly a stranger to himself? it is as if he has a new identity upon his old one. His plan is to approach his wife as a stranger and seduce her, but this proves more complex than he had imagined. In Abe's hands the problems of having no face, and then a new face, become the material of a drama more compelling than any detective novel or thriller.
I loved it. Also there is a movie version with the same title of the book that is pretty awesome (not Face/Off).
No idea if anyone knows who Gerhard Richter (famous German painter) is, but this is a collection of his writings and interviews on art (mainly on painting though). This is the sixth time I have read it, and it is still great. If you care or are interested in contemporary painting/art this is a great philosophical and at points funny text on those subjects.