[wdewind]

I'm not sure I fully understood your second paragraph, but I found David Foster Wallace's commencement speech to hit the practical advice nail on the head. The story about shopping after work? Pretty brutal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html

[rquantz]

Thanks for this article. I think it's much better than the original, though I suppose it is to be expected that a novelist would write a better commencement speech than a lawyer. I have to wonder about taking life lessons from someone committed suicide, but since what he wrote felt true despite challenging some of my own preconceptions (while reinforcing others -- clever!) I suppose it might approximate something like wisdom. I recognized myself particularly in this passage:

Worship your intellect, being seen as smart -- you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.

[novalis]

Thanks for that, that was a great read.

[keithpeter]

Certainly conveys some sense of 'day in, day out'. I've dithered about reading a Wallace book, mainly because of the length of them.

PS: Do you not have corner shops in the US?

[philwelch]

In parts, but they're more expensive than supermarkets and don't carry much more than junk food and beer.

[keithpeter]

Over here (UK) the corner shop often has some fresh fruit, veg, milk and bread. They are of course more expensive, but in my opinion, the extra cost is not huge for one or two meals worth of food, especially laid against the angst and ennui of a heavy traffic supermarket!

[philwelch]

Yeah, you're lucky to find any produce at all in an American convenience store, though you're likely to find milk and probably bread in the better ones. On the other hand, there's all the beer, soda, "potato chips" (crisps to you), and chocolate bars you could ever want; sometimes a better selection than the supermarket!

Also, because Americans drive everywhere and walking is impossible in most places, most of our convenience stores are attached to gas stations (petrol stations to you).

[carguy1983]

Large US cities have plenty of neighborhood markets / corner stores with fresh fruit and vegetables and meat. I live next to 3 of them in West LA, within walking distance. SF has even more. NY has countless. And yes, they are much more preferable and expensive than supermarkets. The markets in California usually have world class wine and produce, since our state grows millions of tons of the stuff.

But yeah, most American suburbs don't have any of that, which is what you're describing.

[salvadors]

"Consider the Lobster" and "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" are collections of his essays. They're still fairly long, but they're generally superb, and you can read them in smaller chunks than his novels.