Monthly Archives: October 2015
Book 6: Maggie Nelson’s ‘The Argonauts’
Posted on October 12, 2015 Leave a Comment
This week, Football Book Club will be reading Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, discussing Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half, still not watching the NFL, and certainly not talking — or even thinking — about the Bears’ two-game win streak. The Argonauts — which has been dubbed a genre-bending memoir, a work of authotheory, and autobiographical criticism […]
Unhealthy Attachments: On the 49ers, Piles of Bodies, and ‘Edwin Mullhouse’
Posted on October 12, 2015 6 Comments
By Ryan Joe I watched the final drive of the San Francisco 49ers game against the New York Giants. The one where the 49ers are winning until Eli Manning looking all slack-jawed flings a last-second touchdown. My mood is surprisingly dark right now. You know what else is surprisingly dark? Edwin Mullhouse by Steven Millhauser. […]
Embracing Your Tinfoil Hat: On the Levels of Reality in ‘Edwin Mulhouse’
Posted on October 11, 2015 5 Comments
By Dan Bjork It feels good to be back in fiction. Writing about poetry proved to be both easier and harder than I’d expected: it was much easier to find something to say, and then much harder to say it with any clarity. And last week’s non-fiction post was solely inspired by the voice in […]
The Crimes of the Biographer Jeffrey Cartwright: Conspiracy Theories and ‘Edwin Mullhouse’
Posted on October 9, 2015 1 Comment
By Adam Boretz After finishing Edwin Mullhouse, I initially thought I would write about Steven Millhauser’s amazing depictions of childhood – the games and comics and bike rides and adventures of two young boys in late-1940s and early-1950s Connecticut. However, the more I thought about the book, the more I became confused about – and […]
Book Extras: ‘Hyperbole and a Half’
Posted on October 7, 2015 Leave a Comment
If you just can’t get enough of Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half, check out these video interviews with Brosh from The New York Times, Amazon, Google, and AVideoMagazine. And be sure to check back later this week for FBC’s reactions to Edwin Mullhouse — and next week, when we’ll be sounding off on Hyperbole and […]
Book 5: Allie Brosh’s ‘Hyperbole and a Half’
Posted on October 5, 2015 2 Comments
This week, Football Book Club will be reading Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh, chatting about Steven Millhauser’s Edwin Mullhouse, and bemoaning life without the National Football League — as well as the shittiness of our respective teams. Including excerpts from Brosh’s web comic/blog of the same name and new […]
The Language of Packers Love: On Fandom and ‘Going Clear’
Posted on October 4, 2015 Leave a Comment
By Rob Casper Adam, I think you make a good point in your post about those who commit heinous acts in the name of their religion. Which reminds me of the surprise I felt reading the epilogue of Going Clear. First there was Lawrence Wright’s takedown of Joseph Smith for The Book of Abraham, followed […]
Therapy of the Masses: On Scientology, the National Football League, and ‘Going Clear’
Posted on October 3, 2015 3 Comments
By Ryan Henry Joe 1. Last weekend was fascinating for college football in Arizona. On Saturday, my alma mater UCLA, lead by a true freshman quarterback named Josh Rosen, completely annihilated the University of Arizona, 56-30. [EDIT: Annnnd UCLA just lost in an upset against Arizona State. FML.] The next day however, my other college […]
Nothing’s Shocking: On Lawrence Wright’s ‘Going Clear’and the Lies We Tell Ourselves
Posted on October 1, 2015 1 Comment
By Adam Boretz 1. I have a confession to make: I was laboring under a significant misapprehension when I nominated Lawrence Wright’s Going Clear for Football Book Club. My thinking at the time went something like this: Here’s an interesting book full of wacky/weird/funny/ridiculous stories about Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard. That will be a […]
