Dan’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2009)

Dan’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

I saw this about it:

http://emergingwriters.typepad.com/em...

fancy that.

So, guess which book i disliked? This one. There were a lot of interesting bits of information that were obscured by a ceaselessly talking crazy bitch. She was the consummate unreliable narrator which had me doubting the interesting tidbits of trivia she rattled off. There was quite a bit of discussion about classical myth and tragedy which I enjoyed but not enough to make this not a waste of my time.

Ultimately this book seemed to be an exercise in form over storytelling which I don't particularly care for. We should have read the Tractatus....

I could have sworn this was a business venture of yours. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

Ben wrote: "Brian wrote: "wodehouse... this is the same guy who wrote I sank into a c. and passed and agitated h. over the b. he can pretty much say anything he wants it seems."

that was my favorite line!

"

What's with you and all this favorite line business Ben?

From one librarian to another: Feliz cumpleanos (as some say in our parts).

Well, we are glad to see you found us!

Hey Greg! Where ya been we missed ya!

I just read a library copy of Call of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse and noticed a spot where a previous patron crossed out the word 'ground' and wrote above it 'floor' because the character who fell was indoors. Odd I thought, not because he thought about it but because he took the time to change it. Do you often make corrections in the books you read? Are they usually corrections in publication errors or that in what you consider to be in the writing itself?

Jonathan wrote: " . . . wake me up when it's over . . ."

There will be no waking up when your brains have been devoured!

Jennifer, It is that way here too! Just thousands upon thousands of same sized romance books! the romance section is usually far larger than the fiction section. it's gross.

Also just saw this:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs...

Two manuscript pages from The Pale King.

So the more I have been thinking about the book the more I am coming to be less disappointed by the ending. I read read the article from the New Yorker which helped as well.


Hugh, was Gately's death explicitly stated? I didn't feel certain that he died in the end. Did I miss Something?

I found this link to a discussion on Infinite Jest right here on Goodreads. There are some interesting posts. Especially with those dealing with identifying the narrator of the book (many believe it to be J.O.I.)

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...

I have also read in various blogs and posts to reread the first 50ish pages of the book to get a better sense of an ending. Looks like I will be cracking it open again.

Adrian, silly Adrian we all know that Lord of the Rings, Atlas Shrugged and Battlefield Earth are truly the best books of all time. The they are also the most southern of all literature.

It's done. It took 43 days though I snuck in The Big Sleep somewhere in that time frame.

As I have said before, I didn't think I would like this book but I did for the most part. I was pleasantly surprised by how much most of the endnotes added to the novel without being annoying or getting in the way of the plot.

The characters were great and I was really into each of their plights/lives/story. This goes for many of the minor characters as well. Because there are more than 100 pages of end notes I didn't expect the end of the novel to come when it did.

The book ended abruptly, without explanation without conclusion and for me somewhat unsatisfactorily. It is possible I am completely stupid but I couldn't explain what happened to anyone. What about Joelle? Why did Hal become what he was in the beginning of the book?

I feel that Gatley's story makes the most sense. I don't really know what else to say. If someone who has read this book could explain anything about the way this book ended I would be happy.

I remember feeling this way about the ending of Broom of the System except I wasn't that enthralled with the story from the beginning.

In conclusion, I would say that Infinite Jest was brilliant for most of the time but was a lot of work and reading to be left thinking, "What the fuck?!?" at the end.

Hi Afsana,

Welcome to the group. I moved this thread to the Author's section since it is a more appropriate category(and updated the thread topic for clarity). The only Michael Grant I have heard of before is the Ancient Historian and it isn't likely they are the same person.

I looked up Gone on Amazon and it seems that Gone is a Young Adult and I am woefully and willfully ignorant of Young Adult authors and books. Though I do remember something about Nick Hornby writing one and Tom Robbins writing one recently.

Adrian wrote: "Patrick wrote: "Hopefully, you would be willing to overlook the part where the moderator yelled at me for whining about not being able to pimp my book, or win friends without people sending me comp..."

Hopefully you didn't catch the pig flu during the mauling.

Thanks for the link Patty. I did end up getting a copy along with some other goodies (Wodehouse, PKD etc.) from of all places, the library!

Who knew?!

Patrick wrote: "I called that event my own personal Vietnam. "


That's funny, though a little bit sad.

I actually have no recollection of these events.

This is the most amazing thread title ever.


I saw that DFW recommended this book. I haven't been able to find Witt's Mis at any of the bookstores here in the phoenix. In fact i could find none of Markson's books.

Thanks Michael for getting me pumped up for this book. I might have to resort to Amazon or Abe.

Joseph wrote: "Well,
I've read all the comments so far and understand where you are coming from. I hate spammers and self-promoters. We had a few of them on TNBBC and they were quickly chewed up and digested a..."

No one is going to (they shouldn't anyway) fault you for not knowing. The guidelines we have aren't really spelled out in an obvious place like they have been before. Don't be hesitant to reply to threads or post new ones, after all all we really want is to talk books with thoughtful people. So join in on the conversations, post. If you ever have any questions feel free to ask any of us.