Critical Notes

Roundup 2

By NBCC

David L. Ulin heard of the death of David Foster Wallace while in New York for an NBCC board meeting. He wrote this appreciation.

Former NBCC board member J. Peder Zane remembers asking Wallace for his “top 10” booklist.

Former NBCC president John Freeman talked to DFW in March 2006.

Harper’s has put together a set of the pieces DFW wrote for the magazine here.

There’s a link to DFW reading at the Harper’s 150th anniversary (and some others) here [Francessa’s Thinking]. And more on the Washington Post book blog, Short Stack.

Meanwhile, NBCC member Rebecca Donner contemplates Daphne Beal’s “peace corps novel,” “In the Land of No Right Angles.”

NBCC member Heller McAlpin compares Francine Prose’s “Goldengrove” to Judith Guest’s “Ordinary People,” and takes on Julian Barnes’s memoir, “Nothing to Be Frightened Of.”

NBCC board member James Marcus talks to Philip Roth about writing and being ticked off.

NBCC member Bob Hoover considers the dwindling number of book pages, John Le Carre’s new book (the author is writing letters to drum up readers) and more.