The Fun Stuff, James Wood
The Fun Stuff, James Wood
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The Fun Stuff
And Other Essays

Author: James Wood

Narrator: Simon Vance

Unabridged: 12 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/30/2012

Synopsis

A new, far-ranging collection of essays from "the strongest…literary critic we have." (New York Review of Books)Following The Broken Estate, The Irresponsible Self, and How Fiction Works—books that established James Wood as the leading critic of his generation—The Fun Stuff confirms Wood's preeminence, not only as a discerning judge but also as an appreciator of the contemporary novel. In twenty-five passionate, sparkling dispatches—which range over such crucial writers as Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy, Edmund Wilson, and Mikhail Lermontov—Wood offers a panoramic look at the modern novel. He effortlessly connects his encyclopedic, passionate understanding of the literary canon with an equally in-depth analysis of the most important authors writing today, including Cormac McCarthy, Lydia Davis, and Aleksandar Hemon.Included in The Fun Stuff is the title essay on Keith Moon and the lost joys of drumming—which was a finalist for last year's National Magazine Awards—as well as Wood's essay on George Orwell, which Christopher Hitchens selected for The Best American Essays 2010. The Fun Stuff is indispensable reading for anyone who cares about contemporary literature.

About James Wood

James Wood is a staff writer at the New Yorker and a visiting lecturer in English and American literature at Harvard. Previously he taught literature with Saul Bellow at Boston University and, in 1994, served as a judge for the Booker Prize. He is the author of How Fiction Works, several essay collections, and the novel The Book against God.

About Simon Vance

Simon Vance is an award-winning actor and an AudioFile Golden Voice with over fifty Earphones Awards and thirteen prestigious Audie Awards. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bart on January 21, 2013

After a brief foray into something less with How Fiction Works, James Wood returns to top form with this collection of critical essays he wrote between 2004 and 2011. We are lucky to have him. He is best when he satirizes authors, and he is best at it because he reviews authors more than individual w......more

Goodreads review by Tuck on March 14, 2013

oh my my, though i DO have quite a big disagreement with james wood about his lack of charity, seemingly cruelty just for its sake, and his seeming rigorousness unless it inconveniently disagrees with his thesis, this collection is utterly captivating, informative, funny, and synthetic. has in-depth......more

Goodreads review by M. on April 03, 2013

This was well-written and engaging. I like James Wood. I wouldn't call his work "amazing" but certainly well worth the time to read him. He writes in an easy manner and seems quite personable which I always think is a good thing unless you are somebody like Thomas Bernhard and you have a bone to pic......more

Goodreads review by Tom LA on November 23, 2018

I listened to the audiobook. This is a series of essays by James Wood, renowned literary critic who still writes as staff writer for The New Yorker, and was the chief literary critic for The Guardian for many years. He writes beautifully, and you can hear that he is someone who lives and breathes li......more

Goodreads review by Mary Ronan on February 26, 2013

Keith Moon is not one of my favorite people. But James Wood is, so when I borrowed from the library his new book, The Fun Stuff and Other Essays, thinking it was essays of literary criticism, which it is, mostly, I read the first essay in the book, the title essay, even though it's about Keith Moon.......more

Quotes

“Wood passes a crucial test of criticism: He is unfailingly interesting to read....He opens up new dimensions of the novel he’s reading in a way that strands other critics in Flatland.” Chicago Tribune

“Stirringly intimate...The fun of Wood’s caliber of criticism is his shared enthusiasm. The thrill of these essays is the joy of vivid, intellectual collaboration.” Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A captivating collection...Wood enlightens and excites, informs and ignites disagreement. He sends readers back to novels with a heightened awareness of what makes fiction live and breathe.” San Francisco Chronicle

“Nabokov famously recommended that ‘as a reader, one should notice and fondle details,’ and Wood is something like the critical embodiment of this ideal....An excellent and necessary critic.” Slate

“This collection of twenty-three essays gathered from the New Republic, the London Review of Books, and the New Yorker offers the latest proof that Wood is one of the best readers writing today. Devouring these pieces back-to-back feels like having a long conversation about books with your most erudite, articulate, and excitable friend. To read his essays on the works of Norman Rush, Aleksandar Hemon, Leo Tolstoy, or Lydia Davis is to relive the specific brand of joy created by a particular work of genius. Wood’s reviews are never just evaluations; more often they are passionate, sensitive discourses on the variations of authorial voice, the nature of memory, or the burden of biography. Wood’s critical writing on Cormac McCarthy, Joseph O’Neill, and Thomas Hardy is bookended by two moving personal essays…Wood’s veneration of virtuosity reminds why we’re reading at all—because we still believe that it’s possible to find transcendence in great art. Isn’t it fun to think so?” Publishers Weekly

“Literary criticism sometimes takes itself too seriously, so it’s a pleasure to see that preeminent literary critic Wood’s very title reminds us what literature is really about: fun. Here he offers his heartfelt views on writers ranging from Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy, and Mikhail Lermontov to Cormac McCarthy, Lydia Davis, and Michel Houellebecq. The twenty-three essays have all appeared in some form in the New Yorker, where Wood is a staff writer; get ready for some bracing delights.” Library Journal

“Simon Vance’s well-known capacity for blending in with a text works to good effect in this mixed collection of essays and reviews…Vance finds in Wood’s eclectic and associative style a natural flow of ideas, references, and fresh insights.…They all meet compatibly in Vance’s measured and seamless delivery, and the result is a highly satisfying and thought-provoking demonstration of the critical mind at work. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

Awards

  • Publishers Weekly Best Book
  • Kansas City Star Top 100 Book
  • AudioFile Earphones Award
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