The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon (Book Club II: Electric Bookaloo)

In a word: brilliant.

Kavalier, a Polish Jew obsessed with Houdini, escapes Nazi rule - leaving his family behind - and comes to America where he meets his cousin Clay, a comic-obsessed young American Jew with polio-shrivelled legs. The two conspire to create a comic book hero "The Escapist" who can do all of the things they wish they could. Funny, fascinating, often heartbreaking, you won't want to put this book down. I know I didn't.