Anyone who knows me, knows me as much more of a book nerd than a music nerd. I love to read, I have since I was a child. One of the writers I'm most interested in now is David Foster Wallace. I was first turned on to DFW by my friend Sumo who works at Borders. I was in there wasting time as is my wont when Eric approached and said "what's up, sucka muthafucka." After the initial greeting ritual, he started telling me about this story I had to read. So he grabs Wallace's Girl With Curious Hair, flips to the title story, and sits me down in a big comfy chair. Twenty minutes later I'm walking out the door with it.

I'm no expert on this guy and I haven't even read all his books, but he is my favorite right now. So I managed to find a round table discussion he had with some students on the internet. The sound quality is crappy, and most of the questions he's asked are inaudible, but he speaks pretty clearly so it's still pretty informative.

David Foster Wallace-Intro
DFW 1
DFW 2
DFW 3
DFW 4
DFW 5

Here's a reading by DFW this one at the Hammer Museum in conjunction with KCET.

DFW Podcast



I don't know what I'd reccomend for a new reader. I personally enjoyed Brief Interviews With Hideous Men it's another collection of short stories, but there is a recurring motif (as suggested by the title) where several "stories" are actually interviews with various men in dialectic form, though none of the questions are written, merely a Q: The answers are those given by various men whose "techniques," for lack of a better word, render them a touch hideous. These interviews pepper the book among (slightly) more conventional "stories." If you're the adventurous type, and maybe you've already read Gravity's Rainbow or War And Peace, or something, then you should definitely try Infinite Jest. This book makes use of footnotes as an art form of its own. If that makes any sense. Trust me, if you have a few years, go ahead and invest in this classic. It will never cease to amuse and awaken you.