A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again

David Foster Wallace made quite a splash in 1996 with his massive novel, *Infinite Jest.* Now he’s back with this collection of essays. In addition to a razor-sharp writing style, Wallace has a mercurial mind that lights on many subjects. His seven essays travel from a state fair in Illinois to a cruise ship in the Caribbean, explore how television affects literature and what makes film auteur David Lynch tick, and deconstruct deconstructionism and find the intersection between tornadoes and tennis. These eclectic interests are enhanced by an eye (and nose) for detail: I have seen sucrose beaches and water a very bright blue. I have seen an all-red leisure suit with flared lapels. I have smelled what suntan lotion smells like spread over 21,000 pounds of hot flesh . . . It’s evident that Wallace revels in both the life of the mind and the peculiarities of his fellows; in *A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again* he celebrates both.