A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

Essays and Arguments

By: David Foster Wallace

Narrated by: Paul Garcia

These widely acclaimed essays from the besteselling author of Infinite Jest — on television, tennis, cruise ships, and more — established David Foster Wallace as one of the preeminent essayists of his generation.

In this exuberantly praised book — a collection of seven pieces on subjects ranging from television to tennis, from the Illinois State Fair to the films of David Lynch, from postmodern literary theory to the supposed fun of traveling aboard a Caribbean luxury cruiseliner — David Foster Wallace brings to nonfiction the same curiosity, hilarity, and exhilarating verbal facility that has delighted readers of his fiction, including the bestselling Infinite Jest.

Critic reviews

“Animated by wonderfully exuberant prose…this volume reconfirms Mr. Wallace's stature as one of his generation's pre-eminent talents.”—New York Times

The title reflects expectations

Wallace's prose toes the line between measured and verbose. Garcia makes the humor absolutely pop.

Brilliant writer/pitch perfect narration

This is a excellent book of essays, narrated beautifully, bringing out all of David Foster Wallace's remarkable humor and irony. I am looking forward to more books narrated by Paul Garcia.

Terrible Reader

The guy reading this doesn’t understand what he’s reading and so can’t modulate his voice in a way that makes sense. Totally off-putting. Basically unlistenable.

Yes. Good listen.

Good audiobook. Reader was expressive and seemed to get DFW's sense of humor.

Good essays.

Wonderful book, terrible narration!

I had read this book but wanted to listen to it as well. The writing is still wonderful, but clearly the narrator doesn't understand the material. He uses sarcasm when the author is not being sarcastic, makes huge reading mistakes (he calls Louise Erdrich "Louis," for example), and changes meanings by emphasizing parts of sentences that don't make sense.

Fortunately, the writing makes the awful reader less damaging.