Friday Night Links/P.J.'s Picks

I picked up yet another David Foster Wallace book. This time it's Consider the Lobster, his second collection of essays. I'm not done with it and am right in the middle of an essay on lexicography and English usage in America. The essays are crammed with facts and wit and make for easy and enjoyable reading. I find the book especially refreshing after trudging through the highly neurotic and cerebral stories of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. The essays in Consider the Lobster lack the excessive introspection and self-doubt and as a result are more accessible and easier to read.



It's not entirely fair to compare his short stories and essays because they each strive to do something entirely different. It's like the old cliche of comparing apples to oranges; you just can't do it. Be that as it may, I have compared the two and decided essays win out at the end. I'll be back with a more in depth look at the essays when I'm done with the book. In the mean time, here are my links:


A whole article dedicated to the history of Webster's Third Dictionary often touted as, "The Most Controversial Dictionary in the English Language."

My old buddy Logan Esdale has a brief but insightful primer on the work of Gertrude Stein.

The blog of New York based writer Molly Young. It's not often that I come across a writer's blog that actually has meaningful content.



In an effort to be topical, here are several links relating to our bum economic times.

"Atlantic" essay on health care

Having trouble finding cheap eats in L.A.? LAist's ongoing blog, Recession Obsession will help you find the goods (but not the droids) you're looking for.

Two part article on organic produce. It really helps demystify and clarify what all the labels mean and brings some balance to the whole organic vs. corporate farming debate.

Part I

Part II


Do you enjoy low cost Swedish furniture of dubious quality? Then check out Ikea Hacker, a blog dedicated to the tweaking and improving of the hard to pronounce, yet easy to love furniture of Ikea.