The David Foster Wallace Reader

David Foster Wallace

A great thick hunk of wood and ink weighing in at 962g (a shade heavier than DFW’s best known work Infinite Jest), comprises a selection of the late writer’s greatest hits, including short stories, novel excerpts, essays, and teaching materials, and showcases his vast range, phenomenal grammatical skill and devastating beauty with language.

Seemingly an expert in everything, the American’s work encompasses many dark themes and is difficult to compartmentalise into any specific genre.

An undercurrent of psychology and philosophy riddles every sentence, some of which, particularly in his novels, can traverse paragraphs and pages.

I like to imagine the full stop key on his typewriter as being the only one not worn down to anonymity. And so this book is now the best book I own.

It contains the funniest, saddest, most intelligent things I have ever read and will probably ever read. How can a man who detested a luxury cruise to the point of despair make me want to go on one?