Reviews

The Fun Stuff: And Other Essays by James Wood

mythos05's review against another edition

3.0

It was an interesting read. Definitely different from what I've read before. It's not for everyone. Read it if you like James Wood or are just really bored.

queenali's review

3.0

Only read bits and pieces about the authors I had read or recognized. Pretty proud of myself for being able to do that guilt-free(along with recently abandoning a terrible book). I liked the parts about Marilynne Robinson and Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

edgeworthstan2000's review against another edition

5.0

He is a great essayist, always a pleasure to read, which is why I’m done reading my third essay collection of his. Some quibbles and reflections:

* Re McCarthy’s The Road: How can you talk about post apocalypse fiction without talking about Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler?
* I love love love Norman Rush but felt uncomfortable when he was compared to Conrad. Not sure why, they just seem so different
* KJV essay is lovely. I’m deeply familiar w these texts (bible) and yet they never cease to amaze
* Had no idea Naipaul was such a dick. Not that he doesn’t have a lot to be sad about but those aren’t the same things.
* Glad he talked about Marilynne Robinson but wished he had tried to delve a little deeper into what makes her religious novels so popular. I think engaging w the ethics and theology in the text would have yielded good results.
* His Lydia Davis love was a lovely way of revisiting her Collected Stories.
* Ian macewan: love his central thesis that macewan equates his type of storytelling which is very manipulative and hinges on secrets that revealed late tie everything in a bow, with storytelling in general. Which is false and all this explains better why I don’t like this author very much.
* Richard Yates is interesting even tho I’ve only seen Revolutionary Road and not read it — my love of marital dysfunction stories explained: marriage as performance.
* Good confirmation of why I hated Tess of the d’urbervilles.
* The last essay about his father-in-law’s library realllly makes me want to better about getting rid of/not buying too many books.

whitneyborup's review against another edition

4.0

A couple boring ones, but for the most part these essays were a joy to read. I love reading about reading.

zhzhang's review against another edition

4.0

I do not want to spoil my reading of the books mentioned in this book, thus I only read the essay that talking about the books I read.

jayshay's review against another edition

By a not so fun guy. I enjoy me some critism but Wood's tone - not negative, but just sort of a general feel of dreary seriousness - ground me down. I might come back to it for specific topics.

lnatal's review

From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the week:
Highlights from an entertaining and idiosyncratic series of essays from James Wood, the leading literary critic of his generation. It's a collection which ranges widely, from a loving analysis of Keith Moon's drum technique to the intentions, gifts and limitations of some of our most celebrated modern novelists, including Kazuo Ishiguro and Ian McEwan.

1.THE FUN STUFF: HOMAGE TO KEITH MOON
Wood analyses the lost genius of Moon and his ability to create magic out of mayhem, relating this to his own experience of learning to play drums as a boy.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Reader: Peter Firth

Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03whqb5