The Foxed Page

This novella--an excerpt of THE PALE KING--was a revelation. Just as its publisher Sarah McNally says in the preface, Wallace's cult-status fame as a challenging writer can be daunting, and his oeuvre is so large, it's hard to know where to begin. This is where to begin!

The lecture is probably best heard if you've read The Pale King (and/or this amazing section itself) but I like to think lovers of DFW will get lots out of this even if you haven't read him in years.

It was SO GOOD to return to this work: his later, more grounded, warmer, incredibly moving work. In this case, about tax law and radical tedium. Doesn't get better than that.

I loved The Perfect Couple. I even loved the UNperfect parts.

Part of the reason there's a second tv series is because Hilderbrand is so good at what she does. Listen in to fully appreciate this juicy, splashy series!

(And if you're someone who turns up her nose at Hilderbrand, but you want a frothy beach read, listen in to hear why her work is much better than you think!)

When I came across a new short story by Ben Lerner, an audio version of the story read by Lerner, an interview with Lerner about the short story AND a nonfiction piece by Lerner related to the story, I felt like I'd entered a very Lernerian world.

Tune in for a quick ten minutes that will convince you to hunt down out "The Readers." Not only is this the very best prose, but the pieces also combine to provide a fat PRIZE at the end of that hunt. NO READING NECESSARY!

It might not be the flashiest part of Strangers, but it's worth taking a quick look at why Burden's prose functions so well.

Also! My sense of specific thing that makes this far more than a cautionary tale about women and personal finances.

AND! My own personal crusade about how we should describe this woman while recommending this book to everyone we know.

Andrew Sean Greer is one of those writers who wrote a book that is so uncommonly GOOD that everything after it pales in comparison. Less--with its propulsive plot, its sneaky narrator and its incredible twist--continues to be an enormous favorite of mine. VILLA COCO might stand in the shadow of that earlier work, but so much is working well here. Especially if you're someone who starts it and feels it lag, this lecture is for you. It picks up! And if you have the real strangths of the novel in mind, it'll be all the more CHARMING.

NO SPOILERS! A GOOD PRE-READING lecture!