A challenging but stimulating group of essays of literacy criticism by a New Yorker staff writer and Harvard professor. Wood focuses largely on American writers (Rush, McCarthy, Wilson, O’Neil, Robinson, Davis, Yates) and Brits (McEwan, Sebald, Orwell, Dyer, Hollinghurst) though he adds a soupcon of others (Krasznahorkai from Hungary, Kadere from Albania, Tolstoy, Hemon from Bosnia, Ishiguro). These reviews are bookended by the eponymous essay on Keith Moon, drummer of The Who, and an essay on his father-in-law’s library. Superb turns of phrase, piercing literary insights from close reading, and rich references make this a book to re-read.