The Scotiabank Giller is very Canadian, for it is the prestigious literary prize that ever so politely “wants to celebrate them all.” And here they all are, I guess, on the official long list.
Every Love Story is a Ghost Story, D.T. Max's biography of David Foster Wallace, is out now and so far reactions have been pretty positive. The book was excerpted on The Daily Beast and The Millions. And there's Max's original (and excellent) New Yorker piece that was the seed for what became the project. Every Love Story's trailer is out too, with a coterie of writers, editors, and fans praising and describing Wallace's singular talents. So far the most compelling criticism of the biography wonders at how much of Wallace's unique voice can be attributed to his deeply Mid-Western sensibilities. Then again, maybe he was just supremely, primally American, “re-jiggering, retooling, playing with, playing among” the wide and complicated land we call the USA.
Mark O'Connell can't always bring himself to finish the books he reads, even the very good ones. Maybe it's 'cause the Internet has changed the way he reads. Speaking of the Internet: It belongs to cats.
