Keep the Aspidistra Flying, by George Orwell

Wildly depressing but wonderfully written. Gordon Comstock is a failed poet, scraping by in a dingy bedsit, and although he claims to despice money, he is obsessed with it. He can't afford to take out his girlfriend, Rosemary, and they have one of the most depressing relationships I have ever read about. His wealthy friend Ravelston tries to do him favors, but Gordon seems determined to ruin himself. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, Gordon must return to work at an advertising agency, doing work he despises, and he throws away his unfinished manuscript for his magnum opus, London Pleasures. They get a small flat, and he buys an aspidistra. Freaking DEPRESSING.