A Loss to the Literary World

I was saddened to read that David Foster Wallace had died, at the age of 46. I'd read a number of his essays years ago, when I subscribed to Harper's Magazine. (That was before I had kids, when I actually had the attention span to read 20-page magazine articles.) I was amazed by how he could explore every facet of a seemingly mundane topic and draw me into that fascinating world. After reading his essay on cruise ships, "Shipping Out", in my formative years, I'm not sure I'll ever truly enjoy a cruise. (Well, OK, I did go on a cruise with my family. Once. And I enjoyed it ... sort of. Maybe I need to read Wallace again.) Harper's has collected his essays here.