how to win the lottery: a book club podcast

we enter into 1993 with trainspotting by irvine welsh, which released on january 1. (whew, we just snuck in there!) after shreds fails to surface any 1993 facts, joey saves the day. we talk about a 90s novel set in the 90s, explore the irvine welsh shared universe, and discuss the dialectal writing in the text as well as the line that welsh straddles. we talk about how to describe the novel (in terms of it being a novel about masculinity, colonialism, heroin, and hiv) and how masculinity in 90s literature was defined by three writers (bret easton ellis, irvine welsh, and chuck palahniuk). we also make sure to talk about the humor (and how fresh this writing sounded upon release) before briefly discussing the adaptation (and what it changes/omits). shreds recounts an embarrassing moment from a film class. reading list for season seventeen vineland by thomas pynchonmao ii by don delilloall the pretty horses by cormac mccarthytrainspotting by irvine welshnotes of a crocodile by qiu miaojinsabbath’s theater by philip roththe atlas by william t. vollmanni love dick by chris krausthe poisonwood bible by barbara kingsolverfrom hell by alan moore

our 1990s module continues with all the pretty horses by cormac mccarthy, marking a rapid return to his writing after covering blood meridian earlier this year. after discussing whether we could have approached “the border trilogy” in another way, we discuss 1992 facts (wherein shreds makes a generous offer) and talk about mccarthy’s assumption that you understand a fair amount of spanish to read his work. we talk about the minimal plot found in all the pretty horses, how this book serves as both an antidote to blood meridian and a possible return to religion for mccarthy, and the focus on morality in this text. we also talk about the “offscreen” violence (and reading with a fear of blood meridian-esque violence), whether we could do a module of books set in the 1990s (rather than published then), and the hallmarks of the western genre. we also talk about the issues with billy bob thornton’s film adaptation (though it’s likely not his fault). reading list for season seventeen vineland by thomas pynchonmao ii by don delilloall the pretty horses by cormac mccarthytrainspotting by irvine welshnotes of a crocodile by qiu miaojinsabbath’s theater by philip roththe atlas by william t. vollmanni love dick by chris krausthe poisonwood bible by barbara kingsolverfrom hell by alan moore

we’ve progressed into 1991 to talk about mao ii by don delillo, and joey has finally done his due diligence and brought some 90s facts. we start things off by talking about whether or not it’s important to have historical context for the events covered in the text, how dull (complimentary) and realistic delillo’s writing is, and the death of the novelist as a cultural touchstone/celebrity. we talk about art in delillo’s books as an avenue of compulsion for its creators, how nice it is to return to an author you love, and whether the andy warhol-inspired title is fitting for the text. egg writes in a short email. we talk about the cult psychology of fandom, learning “how” to read delillo (or any author), and the first three episodes of alien: earth. reading list for season seventeen vineland by thomas pynchonmao ii by don delilloall the pretty horses by cormac mccarthytrainspotting by irvine welshnotes of a crocodile by qiu miaojinsabbath’s theater by philip roththe atlas by william t. vollmanni love dick by chris krausthe poisonwood bible by barbara kingsolverfrom hell by alan moore

our 1990s module kicks off with vineland by thomas pynchon and an existential dilemma: are we starting off this module with a lie? after talking about getting our hands on media before its release date, we detour to discuss radiohead’s live “hail to the thief” album, which shreds expertly weaves right into the novel description via paul thomas anderson’s upcoming “loose adaptation” of vineland. joey shares his pov coming into this (and how it failed him); we talk about the misdirection of vineland not really being a novel about zoyd and discuss who the main character really is. we talk about the novel being structurally strange, pynchon’s exploration of 60s counter-culture (and the yippie to yuppie pipeline), and the amount of time he’s taken to publish his work. we critique the things that pynchon doesn’t do very well and admire him for what he does. shreds gives tips on reading a book where you get lost within the plot. we ask: please, write in about this book. also: happy halloween. reading list for season seventeen vineland by thomas pynchonmao ii by don delilloall the pretty horses by cormac mccarthytrainspotting by irvine welshnotes of a crocodile by qiu miaojinsabbath’s theater by philip roththe atlas by william t. vollmanni love dick by chris krausthe poisonwood bible by barbara kingsolverfrom hell by alan moore

it’s time to unveil our next full-length module, which comes as a surprise to joey, too: we’re heading back to the 1990s. after shreds reveils the ungodly length of the original form of this module, we discuss how the form of this module is yet another one that we could cycle through. shreds announces the titles while confirming what we all know: we needed a win. we share a warning that we may pause to read new books! shreds avers that he is settling some personal business with these titles. joey realizes he gets to do 90s facts. reading list for season seventeen vineland by thomas pynchon mao ii by don delillo all the pretty horses by cormac mccarthy trainspotting by irvine welsh notes of a crocodile by qiu miaojin sabbath’s theater by philip roth the atlas by william t. vollmann i love dick by chris kraus the poisonwood bible by barbara kingsolver from hell by alan moore