James Wood is a bit outside the scope of the blog in the midst of #ReadWomen2014, but he's married to Clare Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs so it seemed like a good time to talk about The Fun Stuff, one of several collections of literary criticism and essays he has published. Wood is a literary critic for The New Yorker and his 2008 book How Fiction Works is one many of you have probably encountered. The Fun Stuff, however, is more of a random assortment of essays and criticism, less focused than How Fiction Works, although it is largely concerned with fiction and the novel.
Literary criticism is not everyone's cup of tea, but if that is the case there is all the more reason to dig in to James Wood. His writing is much less formal and didactic than what most of us probably read in college literature courses, and as someone who writes about books on a regular basis, I count him among my inspirations, although I will certainly never match the quality of his prose and insights. Wood occasionally contributes to the New Yorker Out Loud podcasts, which I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to dabble in literary criticism for fun.
Besides the fact that it is certainly the best and most enjoyable literary criticism I have ever read, the paperback of The Fun Stuff is the loveliest color of blushy-pink, and will look beautiful on your shelf.