Justin Skrakowski (Author of Strongman)

Justin Skrakowski wrote a new blog post: I found a nickel today—heads up—and I wondered if it me...

I found a nickel today—heads up—and I wondered if it me...

I found a nickel today—heads up—and I wondered if it meant anything. I've picked up plenty of coins in my life and I started to think if I've had... read more »

Justin Skrakowski gave

to:

Infinite Jest
by David Foster Wallace

read in March, 2012

My rating:

Worth every syallable, every flip to the Endnotes, every word you will have to look up because you've NEVER heard (or even heard of) the word before (which will be at the rate of about 3/page). And you know you HAVE to read it at some point so just g...more Worth every syallable, every flip to the Endnotes, every word you will have to look up because you've NEVER heard (or even heard of) the word before (which will be at the rate of about 3/page). And you know you HAVE to read it at some point so just go ahead and dive in as soon as you can, you'll be so happy that you did.
Also, maybe this was just Wallace's unbelievable prescience or ability to glean the direction all books were inevitably going to HAVE to take, but read this on an e-reader or on iBooks on your iPhone, it was quite possibly the first book to have been written with this type of formatting in mind (maybe not intentionally, but another testament to his genius that something which obviously took him years to write and published way back in the last throes of the pre-everything-digital-world of 1996 could work this well on a platform that wasn't even dreamed of yet). You will love the ease of going back and forth from text to endnote with the press of a button. You will love the truncated pages (even though when I got the .epub version for my iPhone it clocked in at just under 7,000 of those pages) it made the task that much less daunting, in fact, it wasn't daunting at all in this format since each page just seemed like a tiny framed treasure and never once will you lose your place. Not to mention the simple fact of holding your finger on a word to get a definition (many of which will NOT be in the meager dictionary supplied within the iBooks program itself, you know, the meager New Oxford American Dictionary, but being able to read Infinite Jest with one hand is the beauty of technology.
And really, just DIVE IN already. Stop reading reviews or looking at it and picking it up every time you go to the bookstore, or "You know, I'm just, like, working my way up to it. I started with "Consider the Lobster," just stop. Read this first and then become obsessed with him (you will immediately) and read the rest of his books as just more endnotes to one of the greatest achievements in the history of written language.
Everything you've heard about this book is true, good and bad. But if you love reading, if you love brave writing and watching someone bend an entire language to their will like nobody else can, and if you love a bit of a puzzle that you have to unravel the whole time without feeling like you got duped by a "surprise ending" or some lazy twist or the Deus Ex Machinae used to neatly tie together most fiction out there, then you're going to love this book as much as you hoped you would... and even more than that. And watch some interviews on Youtube of DFW, his unique self-consciousness, his apologetic attitude for everything he says, and the teeth-gnashing embarrassment after each answer he gives wondering if he ever makes sense.
We all are aware of his fate so watch and see why something of this magnitude could only come from someone who was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, to burn themselves down to the little cheap-metal plate that holds the wick inside of the candle to give us a work that has so much life itself that you wonder what it's doing when you're asleep.(less)

Justin Skrakowski gave

to:

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
by David Foster Wallace

My rating:

Justin Skrakowski is now following Yvonne's reviews

Justin Skrakowski liked Glenda Laitinen's review of Strongman:

" Cynical parables! Witty, charming and deep, stories of the author's experiences told in the style of parables! i won this book on GOODREADS. "

Justin Skrakowski liked Shannon Lovejoy's review of Strongman:

" I won this book through First Reads...my first one! It's a collection of short stories and I felt like I was seeing the world through the eyes of a teenage boy/college undergrad. Fun and easy to read; very entertaining. "

Justin Skrakowski liked Sandy's review of Strongman:

" I loved the cover of this book and was immediately drawn to it because of that. I had no idea what was inside this book but I had to find out. A dozen stories seen through the eyes of a teenage boy/young adult had me capturing moments that were tr... "
Read more of this review »

Justin Skrakowski gave

to:

The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

My rating:

Justin Skrakowski marked as to-read:

The Girl Next Door
by Jack Ketchum

My rating:

Justin Skrakowski gave

to:

Guts
by Chuck Palahniuk

My rating:

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Justin Skrakowski wrote a new blog post: I found a nickel today—heads up—and I wondered if it me... I found a nickel today—heads up—and I wondered if it me... I found a nickel today—heads up—and I wondered if it meant anything. I've picked up plenty of coins in my life and I started to think if I've had... read more »
May 23, 2012 08:42pm · like
Justin Skrakowski gave to: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace read in March, 2012	My rating:
Worth every syallable, every flip to the Endnotes, every word you will have to look up because you've NEVER heard (or even heard of) the word before (which will be at the rate of about 3/page). And you know you HAVE to read it at some point so just g...more
Apr 21, 2012 01:17pm · see review
Justin Skrakowski gave to: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace	My rating:
Apr 21, 2012 12:42pm
Justin Skrakowski is now following Yvonne's reviews
Apr 21, 2012 12:40pm
Justin Skrakowski liked Glenda Laitinen's review of Strongman: " Cynical parables! Witty, charming and deep, stories of the author's experiences told in the style of parables! i won this book on GOODREADS. "
Jan 09, 2012 10:37am · see review
Justin Skrakowski liked Shannon Lovejoy's review of Strongman: " I won this book through First Reads...my first one! It's a collection of short stories and I felt like I was seeing the world through the eyes of a teenage boy/college undergrad. Fun and easy to read; very entertaining. "
Dec 29, 2011 01:51pm · see review
Justin Skrakowski liked Sandy's review of Strongman: " I loved the cover of this book and was immediately drawn to it because of that. I had no idea what was inside this book but I had to find out. A dozen stories seen through the eyes of a teenage boy/young adult had me capturing moments that were tr... " Read more of this review »
Dec 29, 2011 01:51pm · see review
Justin Skrakowski gave to: The Road by Cormac McCarthy	My rating:
Dec 29, 2011 01:42pm
Justin Skrakowski marked as to-read: The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum	My rating:
Dec 29, 2011 01:41pm
Justin Skrakowski gave to: Guts by Chuck Palahniuk	My rating:
Dec 07, 2011 07:13pm

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Justin's Bookshelves

Justin's Friends (9)

Justin's Fans (2)

Justin Skrakowski

Goodreads author profile

16 postsJustin Skrakowski's Blog

combine editionsBooks by Justin Skrakowski

Upcoming Events

rssJustin's Recent Updates

Justin's Friend Comments

Flag Abuse

Add New
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16 posts
Justin Skrakowski's Blog

combine editions
Books by Justin Skrakowski

rss
Justin's Recent Updates