“Bream Gives Me Hiccups: And Other Stories” is the whip-smart fiction debut of Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg.

This book is a collection of small stories, conversations, and basically things that cannot be synopsized*.

Taking its title from a group of stories that begin the book, “Bream Gives Me Hiccups” moves from contemporary Los Angeles to the dorm rooms of an American college to ancient Pompeii, throwing the reader into a universe of social misfits*, reimagined scenes from history, and ridiculous* overreactions.

In one piece, a tense email exchange between a young man and his girlfriend is taken over by his sister, who is obsessed* with the Bosnian genocide; in another, a college freshman forced to live with a roommate is stunned when one of her ramen packets goes missing; in another piece, Alexander Graham Bell has teething problems* with his invention.

United by Eisenberg’s gift for humor and character, and grouped into chapters that open with illustrations by award-winning cartoonist Jean Jullien, the witty pieces collected in the book explore the various insanities* of the modern world.

A contributor for the New Yorker and McSweeney’s, Eisenberg is the author of three plays, “Asuncion,” “The Revisionist,” and “The Spoils,” which won the Theater Visions Fund Award.

The author uses a lot of irony, satire, and sarcasm that mixes into a dry humor. It’s definitely not your average “actor writes a book” scenario.

Both the English version and its Chinese translation are available at online bookstores like jd.com.

(SD-Agencies)