THE FUN STUFF And Other Essays

Simon Vance’s well-known capacity for blending in with a text works to good effect in this mixed collection of essays and reviews. Compilations are uneven by nature and, even for a critic of Wood’s caliber, are devils of discontinuity. Vance finds in Wood’s eclectic and associative style a natural flow of ideas, references, and fresh insights. Wood, a regular contributor to THE NEW YORKER, writes with equal penetration on Keith Moon and Leo Tolstoy; he mixes Hardy, Orwell, and Edmund Wilson with W.G. Sebald and Kazuo Ishiguro—and six or eight others you may not even have heard of. They all meet compatibly in Vance’s measured and seamless delivery, and the result is a highly satisfying and thought-provoking demonstration of the critical mind at work. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2012]