Reddit reviews Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present

What about that one about rap? And then you'll have The Pale King to read in a couple of months.

TL;DR - Wallace had really wide tastes, enjoying lowbrow fiction, highbrow fiction, technical philosophy, critical theory, poetry, Cosmopolitan, and rap music. So I don't think the list was a joke. It might not necessarily have been the 10 books he would save from a fire, but plausibly '10 books anyone, no matter their background, can and should read'.

I don't have my copy of 'Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself' to hand, but there are passages in there where he talks about it. I'll try to remember to edit them in when I get home.

I'll be skimming 'Every Love Story...' today and adding quotes as I find them / if I remember to.

p143 - "Wallace also began to write book review for newspapers and magazines. Though he took them for money, these two helped him organise his thinking. Since his teenage years he'd had a taste for thrillers - they answered the need in his brain for instantly recognisable structures and cartoonish characters."

Here are some links to get you started.

Here's a page from the Harry Ramson archive.

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/press/releases/2010/dfw/teaching/

Here's a 2005 syllabus that includes Silence of the Lambs

http://alasophia.blogspot.com/2008/09/david-foster-wallaces-syllabus.html

Bonus Round: He also read self-help fiction in depth, as well as everything else.

http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/inside-david-foster-wallaces-private-self-help-library

And of course, rap.

http://www.amazon.com/Signifying-Rappers-Race-Urban-Present/dp/0880015357