“A Dictionary of Proper Names” is one of the most unusual novels by the brilliant Amelie Nothomb. Competing in plot construction with the great master of the theater of the absurd, Eugene Ionesco, Nothomb places herself in the space of a stylized nightmare, as if urging the reader not to take everything she has written literally. A girl with a rare and difficult to pronounce name, Plectrude, is born under very sad circumstances: her nineteen-year-old mother shot her husband a month before giving birth and, after giving birth to a child in prison, hanged herself. This is the beginning of the book. Its end is no less dramatic. However, Amelie Nothomb knows how to turn everything inside out. This edition also includes her autobiographical novel “The Metaphysics of Trumpets,” the title of which already intrigues the reader. This time, Amelie bravely decided to tell the whole world about her experiences and complexes, feelings and thoughts, as well as about the metamorphoses that happened to her in childhood. The novel has it all: a sophisticated mind, a sense of humor, unexpected discoveries, funny situations and a smile-making ending.