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The Empty House: On ‘Here’ and ‘The Case Against Satan’
Posted on December 11, 2015 Leave a Comment
By Adam Boretz 1. I was hoping Ryan Joe would deliver the goods in his response to Richard McGuire’s Here — and his post did just that. For me, this was actually a second reading of Here. The first time around — months ago, when I got my hands on a galley — I really liked the book for […]
The Organizing Principle Is No Organizing Principle: On the Bears, the Patriots, ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead,’ and ‘Milk & Filth’
Posted on December 1, 2015 Leave a Comment
By Adam Boretz It’s Year in Reading time over at The Millions, which, for the purposes of FBC, means one thing: I did not have time to write a proper post about Carmen Giménez Smith’s Milk & Filth. Which is why, Gentle Reader, you are reading this piece, which is pretty much entirely lacking in any organizing […]
What Have We Done to the Earth? On ‘The Sixth Extinction’
Posted on November 22, 2015 1 Comment
By Adam Boretz 1. I never cease to marvel at the human ability to ignore inconvenient truths. Present us with a fact that is not to our liking — smoking cigarettes causes cancer; it’s pretty much impossible for an invading army to win a land war in Afghanistan; the music of Bon Jovi is simply […]
One of Us: On ‘Hyperbole and a Half’ and Chicago Bears Mediocrity
Posted on October 18, 2015 3 Comments
By Adam Boretz 1. I think Yona’s piece from earlier this week hit upon two key aspects of Hyperbole and a Half. In that post, she wrote: [Allie] Brosh, unlike any writer I’ve read in a long time, doesn’t seem particularly concerned with extracting any deep meaning from her childhood to reveal the meaning of present […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Her Headspace: On ‘Brain Fever’ and the Five Stages of Chicago Bears Grief
Posted on September 27, 2015 Leave a Comment
By Adam Boretz 1. Because my body is a wreck and due to a week of innumerable medical appointments[1] , I read Brain Fever in a fragmented, desultory fashion: in fits and starts and fragments — a poem or two in waiting rooms or between visits to neurologists and physical therapists and physicians. The effect was […]
Malignant Mutations: On Family, Jay Cutler, and ‘Winesburg, Ohio’
Posted on September 18, 2015 Leave a Comment
By Adam Boretz 1. It has recently come to my attention that the once charming eccentricities of my more distant family members have devolved into full blown pathologies. The wild uncle once known for his cutting wit and free spirit has grown shiftless, unreliable, and selfish. The morbid aunt has become clinically depressed and briefly […]
The Truth Is Terrible: On ‘Against Football’ and the Bears’ Pre-Season
Posted on September 9, 2015 Leave a Comment
By Adam Boretz Were I making a list of things I’d have absolutely no problem missing out on — a head wound, the music of Slipknot, gonorrhea, a close personal friendship with Anthony Weiner — Bears’ pre-season football would land pretty close to the top. Let’s be honest: Pre-season football is all but meaningless, features a sad array of […]
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