The shamelessness coursing through modern society is nothing new, but more and more I think it's the defining tension of the 21st century — attempting to live a meaningful life, characterized by meaningful beliefs, can feel so silly when measured against such rife shamelessness. (At least for me...)

This is Sunday — it's going to be really good

This Sunday, come to the Brooklyn Book Fest and watch me bother @andrealongchu.bsky.social, @jeremygordon.bsky.social, and Sarah Chihaya about criticism

I'm doing a panel at the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 21 with Andrea Long Chu, Sarah Chihaya, and Daniel Drake — no spoilers, but we're solving books. Come through if you can make it, event info here: brooklynbookfestival.org/event/the-fi...

In “Muscle Man,” a new novel about a socially awkward, contrarian professor, Jordan Castro shows how private grievances can blossom into grand obsessions, @jeremygordon.bsky.social writes:

I wrote about the jacked, radicalized minds of Jordan Castro's new novel MUSCLE MAN

I wrote about the jacked, radicalized minds of Jordan Castro's new novel MUSCLE MAN

I was on the New Books Network podcast talking SEE FRIENDSHIP and many assorted topics newbooksnetwork.com/see-friendship

Instead of speed reading 17 pages over 6 train stops I am listening to Pitbull and “liking” one billion posts

Bobby Hill, the sensitive tween of “King of the Hill,” is now an adult—with extremely Millennial anxieties, writes @jeremygordon.bsky.social:

love this from @mitchtherieau.bsky.social on the difficulty we have historicizing Obama-era musical trends and how folk-rock in particular was “about the capture of social life”

Four journalists were killed by an Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital today, including Mariam Dagga, a freelancer with the @apnews.com. She has a 12-year-old son, who was evacuated from Gaza earlier in the war. She was a true hero, like all of our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza. tinyurl.com/3cn5c9vb

I wrote about Bobby Hill, my favorite millennial www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

I wrote about Bobby Hill, my favorite millennial www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

The first of these is tonight — they're saying an evening of readings has never been so anticipated

Last book completed: @jeremygordon.bsky.social's See Friendship Currently reading: @jaysongreene.bsky.social's UnWorld Both highly recommended!

Chicago — I'm in town for two novel-related readings. The first is on August 22 at Pilsen Community Books at 7 p.m.; the second is on August 23 at Bookends and Beginnings in Evanston at 2 p.m. I'll be reading with some great people, so come through if you're around

I lived across from Bill Pulte during my sophomore year of college. Life is so very strange and long, you know?

Top stories of my People magazine weekend roundup: 1. Dad of 4 Attacked by Crocodile in Front of Screaming Onlookers. His Remains Were Later Found About a Mile Away 2. Kate Middleton and Prince William Relocating Family After 3 Years Living in Adelaide Cottage

My new bit is meticulously researching something and then saying "Grok told me"—everyone loves it

I wrote a Substack about going to the My Chemical Romance show and explaining to my wife why I like My Chemical Romance. Also, some stuff about Michael Clune’s novel and 9/11. jeremygordon.substack.com/p/your-chemi...

I wrote a Substack about going to the My Chemical Romance show and explaining to my wife why I like My Chemical Romance. Also, some stuff about Michael Clune’s novel and 9/11. jeremygordon.substack.com/p/your-chemi...

Don't have any particular connection to or feelings about My Chemical Romance but this piece by @jeremygordon.bsky.social about their recent stadium (!!) show is really good

I have studied the targeting of journalists for many years, but the scale and public display of these killings is truly shocking: “Israel admits deliberate attack on the journalist, known for frontline coverage, in a strike on a tent outside al-Shifa hospital“ www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

At @wtevs.bsky.social's BASKETBALL FEELINGS, the Zesty KAT stuff took me right back to my own dumb childhood jock dreams and the ugly homophobia that’s seeping into ever corner of the current fascist moment—even the '24-25 Knicks. www.basketballfeelings.com/p/exits-some...

Sometimes you have to read a really bad piece of culture writing in order to appreciate the good stuff www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/o...

Thought this was super

This was a good overall read in my inbox today, though this part in particular articulates what I was joking about when taking potshots at "the youths" the other day. "Cringe" has become meaningless outside signifying something about the person who lobs it at art they don't like.

I dusted off my Substack to write about Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, of course jeremygordon.substack.com/p/heres-a-st...

SEE FRIENDSHIP has been out in the world for four months and a day, wow — here's a photo of me saying something incredibly witty and insightful at last week's (very respectably attended) event in Washington D.C.

This month, the eBook of SEE FRIENDSHIP is on sale at Amazon for just $1.99 — I'm no economist, but that's certainly a consumer-friendly price

This is tonight, wow. DC people, you’re in for the best night of your entire life

Hulk Hogan, who died on Thursday at 71, sold audiences a brash, brawny version of American patriotism while unabashedly ignoring the truth, @jeremygordon.bsky.social‬ writes: https://theatln.tc/VCt899KG

I wrote about Hulk Hogan as a quintessentially American figure, the pitchman who ropes millions into his orbit through sheer charisma—and sticks to his story even as the lies and misdeeds pile up www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

I wrote about Hulk Hogan as a quintessentially American figure, the pitchman who ropes millions into his orbit through sheer charisma—and sticks to his story even as the lies and misdeeds pile up www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

Had a dream where my agent and a mysterious British higher-up were telling me all the things my second novel needed to be a seismic hit. Sadly, can't remember any of their advice — except for a suggestion that the main character should be from St. Louis, for some reason

Only a few pages into @jeremygordon.bsky.social ‘s “See Friendship” and already he’s perfectly represented the vibe of being a creative person for a living in two sentences.

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. "Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die" Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

The SEE FRIENDSHIP tour continues: I'll be in Washington D.C. on July 30 at Politics and Prose, in conversation with my colleague Megan Garber. They're saying it'll be yet another specular evening of sparkling banter and fine-tuned insights

This weekend would've been my 19th straight year attending the Pitchfork Music Festival — and thank God they killed it, I couldn't yet again grapple with the passage of time against a backdrop of college-era indie rock

Walked by a Cybertruck in lower Manhattan — it happens more and more these days, what can you do — but this one had big googly eyes affixed to the grill, upon which seeing I was forced to say: gimme a break!

Language is beautiful: In tennis, you can be a ball striker or a shot maker or both or neither. One wonders: Isn't tennis about striking the ball and making shots? How could a professional player lack such fundamental skills? But let me tell you, it's extremely possible

It is so, so important to not develop a personal politics based on an explicit opposition to the last three people who annoyed you

Fognini is part of that vanishing class of sportsman who is not trying to start a podcast, or model part-time, or partner with a mental health foundation... just myopic, stubborn hooping until his legs fall off

"Pick up a novel," @jeremygordon.bsky.social @theatlantic.com writes, for the value in seeking "new mental frontiers beyond the accumulation of information...It may shock you, the worlds you end up exploring—and the feelings you will stir up from nothing at all." www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

There are many pieces wondering why men don't read fiction, and what it will take to get them back on track. Today I attempted to work in reverse, and wrote about why I — an individual man, beholden to nobody but my wife and conscience — read fiction www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

@jeremygordon.bsky.social: More men read than is commonly assumed, but more men should still be doing it: for the visceral experience, for the acrobaticness of shifting points of view, because it's a counterpoint to the thin prescriptiveness of broculture, because "Libra" slaps:

There are many pieces wondering why men don't read fiction, and what it will take to get them back on track. Today I attempted to work in reverse, and wrote about why I — an individual man, beholden to nobody but my wife and conscience — read fiction www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

I’ve been reading this kooky history of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys and this is a cool thing to say to your brother’s biographer