I first wrote about BOUND TO LAST in November and considered it then (even though I was still reading it) to be one of my favorite books of the year. It's a must for writers and book lovers but really anyone at all who appreciates smart, thoughtful essays is going to adore this one. It doesn't simply celebrate books as objects (which is clearly what the folks in this NYT design article are all about) but rather specific books that are significant for specific reasons. I was surprised each and every time I turned the page but it was Karen Green's essay that really gave me pause. Green is the widow of David Foster Wallace and for her, books are a piece of the man who left and his notes in those books are something much more than just literary thoughts. But first, there is Green herself:

I was asked to contribute to this anthology because I am the widow, via hanging, of the writer David Foster Wallace, whose writing I enjoyed very much, but whose made-up potty humor songs on a road trip I liked even better. Originally, I thought maybe I could mention him, then respectfully move on to the use of text in fine art, or books as juju, or.

It turns out I'm still not used to this. It turns out the word widow is still some kind of joke. I turns out all roads lead to the same chthonic place, which is itself a road that leads to the same chthonic place.

She writes partly about her husband, partly about Amy Hempel's short stories, which she read after his death, and also about what it means to go through the books of a deceased "great" writer:

After David died, I had a legal obligation to examine each book in order to determine its archival value. Instead, I found myself looking for secret messages in the margins, something that would grant me the equation of reversal, or the equation of acceptance. Mercifully I had a helper, also obligated, who was slightly less unhinged.

I will admit right now that I have read very little of David Foster Wallace's work. Some of his essays, nothing more. I was sorry when he died because it was very tragic but I did not expect to be moved by Green's essay so much. It is her directness that got to me though - and honestly if there is one thing all of the essays in BOUND have in common it is a similar direct tone, an honesty and forthrightness, about why certain books matter to them and can not be replaced. The essays are all earnest and meaningful and powerful and each time you turn to another you are surprised all over again by how much you care, even when the words are by someone you've never heard of or about a writer you've barely read.

I love this book and you will too.

OTHER LINKS:

The excellent article by Jen Howard about the embrace of DFW by the academic world. [link via Bookslut]

The NYT profiled Karen Green last October.

The Boston Globe on "Lost Libraries" - or what becomes of author's personal libraries.

Also, note that Karen Green designed the cover for DFW's upcoming unfinished novel, THE PALE KING.

[Post pic is of DFW's marked up copy.]