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A man on twitter once said “Moby Dick is the biggest indicator of intelligence. Most people can’t even get through the first chapter” or something like that. I turned into an avid cetologist (new word. Cetology is the study of whales?) reading this book. Not a bad sentence in the entire novel. the greatest story ever told. It’s so fucking sick. It is my bible. 2 separate times in my life I have read this book to a girl and gotten laid because of it. The last time was an actual 3 way. Shout out Herman Melville and my friend Curtis Eggleston for forcing me to read this.
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This applies to popular works that are often recommended by others (for me: bell hooks’s work, Man’s Search for Meaning, Braiding Sweetgrass) but it also applies to the classics that people don’t necessarily recommend because they’re difficult— often assigned instead of recommended because they’re important— but their significance and perceived difficulty often overshadows the fact that yes, they’re actually really that fucking good. The works in this category that come to mind for me are Moby Dick and Le Samouraï. What are yours?
Oct 19, 2024
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i know… the worst guy you ever met had half this book stuffed in his messenger bag and made out like he was a genious for reading what seems like the longest book of all time. fuck that guy. it’s genuinely a good read. take it slow, dont feel pressured to get through it quickly. there‘s enough bouncing around from character to character that it doesn’t stagnate. i read it on several 5 hour plane rides over ~2 years and have had a tender place in my heart for it ever since. it’s also afaik the place where my Capitalizing for Emphasis comes from. reading it now is extra neat bc of how many little things dfw got right about the future. did i say neat i meant scary
Feb 28, 2024
This is one of the only novels over 500 pages that not only did I read through to the end but also devoured each page. Ive never known of a book around 600 pages to absolutely speed through immense amounts of plot as this book does but it feels like a list of slimy gossip plastered onto you until you’re absolutely coated in grimy stories of poisoned smack or bitten off noses.
the way this book also proudly flaunts its anti-capitalism and anti-America ideology is also so pleasing- so many of the characters are absolutely blinded by the bright lights of the post war boom and the new reinstatement of the American dream.
If you’re looking for a book that not only exudes with the sounds of the platters and frank sinatra but also shows you the obvious underbelly of American history then read the FUCK out of this book.
Apr 3, 2025
Top Recs from @chandler
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1986 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nobody saw this film. I and 3 of my friends and 2 of my ex girlfriends have seen it. It’s a shakespeare level masterpiece. Action set pieces, 10/10, Arnolds WITTY AS SHIT one liners have never been more out of place, and the cinematography can only be compared to the love child of Tarkosvky and Roger Deakins high on crystal meth. It’s the sickest.
Nov 4, 2021
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In most peoples eyes, blink 182 is this fun little band that wrote all the small things and their drummer is now wheeling a Kardashian (or she’s wheeling him and devouring his soul, who knows) But people forget that after the breakup in 2004. Tom Delonge, frontman of blink 182 started his own ‘supergroup’ Angels and Airwaves. 2009 the sophomore album ‘I-empire’ released. I regard it as the best production of all time. The synths, the vocal chain, the sampling, the ascending guitar riffs soaked in ¼ delay. It’s larger than U2. It truly is some of the most inventive rock music I’ve ever heard. Soaring confidence. It’s a strange thing to attempt to convey that this to anybody, but I promise it’s some of the best shit ever.
Nov 4, 2021
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Though voyeurism is the absolute worst thing in our culture (i.e sports, mma fighting, porn, etc) That being said, I am a complete fucking sucker for youtube near death compilations. Monthly installments on either Fail Department or Fail Force One are really all i look forward to in regards to a ‘tv show’ or something that would fill that criteria of viewership in myself.
Nov 4, 2021