Consider the Lobster and Other Essays | 
pickMonths ago Peter lost a bet to Matt and consequently Peter had to read a selection of essays from David Foster Wallace. On this episode, we discuss two of those essays, “Consider the Lobster,“ and “Host.“ We discuss the essays themselves but also Wallace's famous style. Side note, let us know your feelings on David Foster Wallace.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1rPbRASQtlxOQYcD4BvGtA
pickYou could say that DFW is an acquired taste. I happen to be among those that love him. He‘s a lot like having a friend who is far smarter than you, but doesn‘t *know* they‘re far smarter than you and so does not talk down to you, but as an equal. Which is both confusing and wholesome. DFW has an acerbic wit. He‘s funny, intelligent, thought-provoking, and self-deprecating. I‘m glad I chose this for July‘s #BookSpin & the #RoryGilmoreChallenge
This is from “Host,” the last essay in this collection. I very nearly bailed b/c Ziegler‘s attitude about saying the N-word “bEcAuSe ThEy SaY iT tOo,” & as some F-you to political correctness is so mind-numbingly stupid/arrogant. As someone who will be teaching English, I think DFW makes such a compelling argument about the difference between PC & being mindful about our speech & how it affects others. Words have power, else we wouldn‘t use them.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ An eclectic collection of essays and articles from the late 90s and early 00s. It will surprise no one that DFW‘s nonfiction writing is immaculate and thoughtful. I read Infinite Jest a few years ago with an amazing group here on Litsy, but have just now decided to explore his backlist. So far, so good! I wish that he was still with us creating, innovating, and challenging us as readers.
Finished up this fun, vintage motel signs puzzle over coffee this morning. 🤩🧩 Really enjoying this DFW nonfiction collection, btw. I‘m switching between print and audio.
Grabbing a few pages while my 7 year old sweet baby gets a tooth capped. Poor guy! I can‘t be in the room with him, but at least I‘m right outside the door.
Loving my new 🐼 book sleeve from #StoryTimeSleeve! @Megabooks can also vouch for the quality. This is the only sleeve maker I order from! And she‘s now making ones with zippers.
An octopus cupcake 🐙 🧁 made while listening to DFW talk about how lobsters are cooked. #audiocrochet
Latest #audiocrochet project - a short-sleeved cardigan using Jeans yarn from Lion Brand yarn. Cute and relatively easy to make! Also, I‘ve been wanting to read Consider the Lobster for a while and the push was listening to Ruth Reichl‘s Save Me the Plums where she talks about that very essay that was published in Gourmet magazine.
Can now cross ‘The Strand‘ off my Bookstore Bucket List. What a great place! (Visiting my daughter, who is working in NYC for the summer.) The tagged book is my purchase here - I‘m a big fan of DFW‘s writing.
Some David Foster Wallace
#24in48 hour 16 challenge: what is on my nightstand. Usually it's higher, but I moved some to my 24in48 TBR pile in the living room. And notebooks, always aome of my approximately 500,000 notebooks...
I might have gotten a little carried away with the filters on this post, but I love this essay so much I couldn't stop myself.
bailed2/2: when I started reading recreationally again (I'm not dyed in the well, like many of you), I promised I would push myself intellectually, and some of these essays are so good, they're transcendent. It was so good to experience that feeling again. But 15 pages into the McCain essay and I'm just lost and disappointed. I need to set this aside. Sorry for being melodramatic about it.
bailed1/2: Is it possible to do a temporary bail? I was enjoying this, but the next 80 pages or so are about following John McCain on the 2000 campaign trail. Given the current political climate, I'm really just not in the mood for that stuff. McCain wouldn't have been my first choice then (if I had one. I'm an a Canadian, after all), but he would be a vast improvement over what's in office now, even if I don't agree with his record all the time.
Some essay collections we have on hand. The top and bottom are still #TBR. #essays #noteworthynovember
There is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard's vote.
Took the plunge and dipped my toe into some David Foster Wallace for the first time. Now I never want to leave this DFW pool!
This is a Kindle Daily Deal for $2.99 today. I haven't read any DFW, so this is a good chance to read some of his non-fiction. Has anyone read this one?
And, yes, those 13 items in my shopping cart are all books. I'm struggling not to hit the buy button.
Alright, I'm not ashamed to admit it: I've had to look up three "new-to-me" words since I started reading this book. Today's word was "lallating":
Medical Definition of lallation. 1: infantile speech whether in infants or in older speakers (as from mental retardation) 2: a defective articulation of the letter l, the substitution of \l\ for another sound, or the substitution of another sound for \l\—compare lambdacism 2.
I couldn't resist this Mary Ness bookmark while in the market this morning. #ldnont
Foregoing my own writing this morning to dig into this. I've been meaning to read some David Foster Wallace for some time. I picked this up after reading @bookriot 's Start Here essay on him. I'm elbows deep in two other books at the moment, but I started reading the first essay last night. Five pages in and he was already going through the ins and outs of the porno industry. So, I'm hooked.
pickOne of my first and my all time favorite essay collections!Not only did it completely change my opinion overall on essay collections but it was also my first exposure to David Foster Wallace! #READATHONESSAYS @Liberty
Holy bookish things day!! 😍😍😍
Took advantage of the recent @outofprint buy one get one t-shirt deal, ordered the DFW from #amazon, then picked up the KV (already read, just needed a hard copy) and Parnassus on Wheels today at #parnassusbooks. #bookmail #bookhaul
It's fascinating how Wallace makes the mundane seem so important, especially in an essay about the events of 9/11 in a small town in Iowa.
pickAmazing. I love his meditative, stream-of-conciousness-with-a-clear-point writing style. My favorite essay was the John McCain Election 2000 one.
Am I a good person? Deep down, do I even really want to be a good person, or do I only want to seem like a good person so that people (including myself) will approve of me? Is there a difference? How do I ever actually know whether I‘m bullshitting myself, morally speaking?
so-soDFW is clearly brilliant and there are some fantastic insights here. But his rambling style is EXHAUSTING and the constant tangents and footnotes were way too much for me to really enjoy this. I think I will take Infinite Jest off my bucket list. But here's a great quote about the 2000 election.
I don't think I am going to survive this book. The footnotes. OMG the endless footnotes. I'm so exhausted looking at it. Most of his references are flying right over my head. I start an essay and keep going until I can no longer understand what is going on, and then I move to the next one. Help me.
I like to think of this quote as I spend the first week of July in Maine every summer being one of these loathsome tourists. 😂 Oh, DFW, you and your insistence on making us confront the most uncomfortable truths about ourselves. ❤️
Last weekend I saw The Lobster (the movie.) This weekend I'm listening to DFW's essays.
Vacation reading for the plane
pickMy first and still favorite collection of DFW essays...the subject matter is extremely varied but his writing will keep you hooked to all of them📚📚📚📚📚
pickHave always been a DFW-hater.
This one is changing my mind.
