2004 man booker prize

'you're such a snob,' she said, with a provoking laugh; coming from the family he was thought to be snobbish about, this was a bit of a facer.'i'm' not really,'said Nick, as if a small admission was the best kind of denial, 'i just love beautiful things.'

extracted from alan hollinghurst's the line of beauty... bought the book out of whim, but it's already gripping.