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 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