Michel is one of my favorite living writers at the moment.  I think Louis-Ferdinand Celine and Henry Miller had a love child and named him Michel.

I fell in love with Michel after reading his cynical look at our corporate society in "Whatever".

In Platform, Michel (Houellebecq likes to call his protagonists "Michel") lives a pathetic existence of loneliness, masturbation and a job as a civil servant.  His father dies and he inherits a bit of money that he uses to travel.  He meets a woman on a trip to Thailand and they end up working on a project to put together sex clubs for tourists. 

Thanks Michel for the literary brilliance.

Also recommended:

Naïve. Super
by Erlend Loe

This book was on the best seller list in Norway for over a year and made literary waves throughout Europe. 

Naïve. Super is about a man who drops out of his MA course and tries to find the joy and the meaning of life.  As he house sits for his brother, he stumbles on a book about time.  He becomes obsessed and anxious over the book.  Before he delves too far into his inner self, his brother makes him take a trip to New York.