Review from Salon of Davie Fosty Wally's new collection, Oblivion.

I never got much out of Infinite Jest (though individual parts of it were very good) and felt lukewarm about Girl with Curious Hair--but I liked A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, and I absolutely loved Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. (Which ones do you think that I think you should buy?)

Although the reviewer says this one isn't so much like Brief Interviews, it sounds like the bleak Oblivion is much more up my alley than the in my opinion overrated Infinite Jest. Life? Don't talk to me about life.

The trouble with DFW's style, reading as an alleged writer here, is that there's really not much you can learn or borrow from him without completely ripping of his gimmick. Footnotes are his, and you can't have them.

When he's on, though, he's really fun to read.

What I really want to read from him (and paging Eric Hittinger) is his straight nonfiction, geek-oriented history of infinity.

(Incidentally, I'm really jealous of Pclem's book review gig. Can you tell?)