You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Infinite Jest
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I'm not picky on a time to start so whatever works for everybody. I do have some other buddy reads coming up but no worries. It doesn't bother me a bit to have a few books going. I think I actually pay attention better than focusing on one book because I don't zone out
Amanda wrote: "Yay! I'm so excited for this!"It appears that I won't have access to the book until after 2/10, since it is checked out to someone else.
Since it is such a big book, I think we should avoid Toppler week (2/10 thru 2/17).
Travis and I are pretty flexible after that. What do you think Amanda!? Shall we wait until the beginning of March, in order plan for the month?
Waiting until March is fine for me, gives me time to clear my currently reading shelf.
Apparently the actual story is about 980 pages, the rest are a brief foreward and referenced footnotes located at the back of the book. I thought it might be helpful to break this large book into discussion sections. Here is a rough outline for us to keep track of one another.
I'm already chuckling at "The year of" names. Similar to the Chinese Years of the Rat, Boar, etc. Here we have Years of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Tucks Medicated Pad, Trial-Size Dove Bar, etc.
Foreward, Chapter 1, Year of Glad, and Chapter 2, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 3, 1 April - Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad, Chapter 4, 9 May - Year of the Dependt Adult Undergarment, Chapter 5, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and Chapter 6, Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar
Chapter 7, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 8, October - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 9, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and Chapter 10, Year of Dairy Products from the American Heartland
Chapter 11, 3 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 12, As of Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 13, Denver Co, 1 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 14, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 16, 30 April - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 17, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 18, Y.D.A.U., Chapter 19, Mario Incandenza's First and Only Even Remotely Romantic Experience, Thus Far, Chapter 20, 30 April - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 21, 30 April - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 22, 3 November - Y.D.A.U, Chapter 23, Year of the Purdue Wonder Chicken, Chapter 24, Helen Steeply's Article, Chapter 25, Tally of Separatist Organizations, Chapter 25, Videophony
Chapter 26, Winter B.S. 1960 - Tuscon, Az., Chapter 27, 4 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 28, Tennis and the Feral Prodigy, Chapter 29, Selected Transcripts, Chapter 30, Late October, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and Chapter 31, 6 - November, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 32, 7 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 33, Chronology of O.N.A.N.'s Revenue Enhancing Subsidized Time, by Year, and Chapter 34, 5 - November, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 35, 6 - November, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment and Chapter 36, 14 - November, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 37, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 38, 30 April/1 May, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 39, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Interdependence Day, Chapter 40, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Interdependence Day, and Chapter 41, 30 April/1 May, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 42, 8 - November, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 43, 30 April/1 May, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and Chapter 44, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 45, Very Late October, Y.D.A.U., Chapter 46, 9 November — Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 47, Pre-Dawn, 1 May - Y.D.A.U., Chapter 48, Pre-Dawn, 1 May - Y.D.A.U., Chapter 49, Winter, B.S. 1963, Sepulveda, Ca., and Chapter 50, 10 November — Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 51, Pre-Dawn and Dawn, 1 May Y.D.A.U., Chapter 52, 0450H., 11 November, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 53, Early November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 54, Late P.M. Monday 9 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and Chapter 55, Wednesday 11 November - Year of the Adult Depend Undergarment
Chapter 56, Selected Snippets from the Individual Resident-Informal-Interface Moments of D.W. Gately, and Chapter 57, 11 November - Year of the Adult Depend Undergarment
Chapter 58, 1 May Y.D.A.U., Outcropping Northwest of Tuscon, Az., U.S.A., Chapter 59, 13 November, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 60, 13 November — Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 61, 14 November — Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 62, 13 November — Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and Chapter 63, 14 November — Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 64, 14 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 65, 14 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and Chapter 66, 14 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 67, 11 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment and Chapter 68, 17 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Chapter 69, 17 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Chapter 70, 20 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, and Chapter 71, 20 November - Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
I was looking yesterday and I noticed audible had the book. 56 hrs. They had part 1 28 hrs. Part 2 28 hrs part 3 7 hours. Noticing that was larger than 56 hours I looked into it and apparently in the beginning the print version was the only one which hadnthe afterword notes and what not so audible now offers the 7 hr part 3 which is after the story. Which I was thinking after 56 hours I just don't see myself wishing for 7 hours of notes. Personally
Travis sivarT wrote: "I was looking yesterday and I noticed audible had the book. 56 hrs. They had part 1 28 hrs. Part 2 28 hrs part 3 7 hours. Noticing that was larger than 56 hours I looked into it and apparently in t..."Yeah, I'm wondering if I really want to interrupt my reading in order to flip to the back of the book. I might just skip them and look in the back later, unless something strikes me as though I need more explanation.
Some of the footnotes are important, Almeta. They are part of the story. If you save them to read at the end, the book will be even more confusing, and after nearly 1,000 pages, the footnotes won't mean much anyway. As for flipping back and forth, you need to use two bookmarks--one for the text and one for the footnotes.
I wonder how the audio book handles footnotes?
Interesting. So maybe I will need to buy the part 3 audio to go with the book. Are the footnotes in order as they come up in the book so if you used the audio if you switched over to the footnotes would everything stay in line?
Maybe I need audio plus print notes. I should probably read through audible reviews and try to get a feel of people's thoughts
It seemed to me that the footnotes were an integral part of the experience of reading the book. If audio plus print notes is an option, that might be best. If the footnotes were recorded separately, how would you jump back and forth to put them in order? There are a lot of footnotes. Some of the footnotes have footnotes. It's been five years since I read the book, so I don't have that clear a memory of it, but I think the footnotes added another whole layer of story in places, and explained connections between people in the main story.
I don't have the answers to audio and audio. But I wonder if the audio makes mention of when there is a footnote. Probably not so I wouldn't know when to use them. I'm rethinking this whole thing in audio now.
If you read kindle, Infinite Jest is a daily deal today for $3.99. One advantage to reading the book on kindle is the ease of dealing with footnotes. You reach a footnote, you click on it, and you are taken directly to the footnote, and the back arrow takes you back to where you were in the main text.
Hi all. Really keen to join this IJ griup read. Ive read the first 150 pages twice over the years, so want to do this for sure this year.Ive used the INFINTESUMMER scedule previously, similar to the outline Almeta provides. Oh, i would deffo recommend using 3 book marks (see infinitesummer guide) and maybe jot down words not recognised to look up at the end of each segment.
Just a bit of a heads up - what time scale for each section?
Really looking forward to this!
I'm contemplating joining this Infinite Jest read. The timing feels right, and many are now reading it 22 years after it was first published. And 10 years after the author's death by suicide. It's so long-- a big commitment.
Some time mid-March works for me or later. Just not earlier.
Lee wrote: "Hi all. Really keen to join this IJ griup read. Ive read the first 150 pages twice over the years, so want to do this for sure this year.Ive used the INFINTESUMMER scedule previously, similar to t..."
Lee, Thank you for pointing out this resource: Infinite Summer
I wonder how the schedule listed corresponds to the chapter breaks that I have listed above.
Looks as though we have quite a project ahead of us!☻
Travis sivarT wrote: "I don't have the answers to audio and audio. But I wonder if the audio makes mention of when there is a footnote. Probably not so I wouldn't know when to use them. I'm rethinking this whole thing i..."I generally prefer audio. This time it sounds as though that may not work well. If the end notes really are on a separate disc/file, you'd almost have to have two separate "machines" to flp back and forth easily.☻
Shucks missed the post about the Kindle deal. On the other hand I'm not sure where my Kindle is. Should be a rectangular object covered with inches of dust I think
Travis, my oldest kid has not seen her kindle in about ten years, but she reads Kindle Unlimited books on her phone or laptop.
Travis sivarT wrote: "Shucks missed the post about the Kindle deal. On the other hand I'm not sure where my Kindle is. Should be a rectangular object covered with inches of dust I think"You are describing my Nook!☻
Travis, did you check out the audiobook on Audible? It may be different for you (what's available in the States isn't always available in Canada), but it looks like the book is broken up into 4 audiobooks.ETA - wait! It looks like there is one audiobook that is the entire book at 56 hours. Then, you can buy Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. One of the parts has the end notes. But why would you use up 3 credits when you can buy the entire book for 1 credit? Weird.
Lol. Yeah. We've discussed this Janice. There are footnotes with the book. So if you want to read the footnotes as you read the book you would want to buy the complete 56 hrs and part 3 and go back and forth. Idk. It's confusing with the audio but I'm seeing a lot of good reviews on the audio. Yes though the audible offering available to me is exactly as you see it. I'm still going back and forth with things.
I don't see where there is a whisoersinc option. I think if you could read along with the audio and pause to go to the footnotes it would work really well. Idk. Never used whisoersinc and it doesn't seem to be an option.
I knew you were talking about the audiobook and the footnotes, which is why I took a look see. I guess I missed something in the conversation.
I think I was a bit confusing in my usual rambling manner Janice. I remember confusing myself through it lol
ROFL! Well if you confused yourself, there's no hope for me.
I'm going to start around the 15th. It seems obvious that discussion for this large book is going to take some time.
I would like to get the monthly challenge and group read, etc. accomplished before I start Infinite Jest.
See you all soon!☺
Perfect as I'm involved in two buddy reads currently anyway.
I said around the 15th. I'm actually starting tomorrow, the 17th. Have one more to wrap up that is due back at the library.Anyone else ready?
I read this about five years ago, and I'm thinking about reading it again just to get Almeta's comments. I reread the first chapter tonight. I may read more tomorrow.
I never caught up with all Almetas comment over in wizard of earthsea yet lol. Ok. Rock and roll
I decided to get the audio plus the audio endnotes separate. A woman will just chime in with the number when there is a footnote. Works ok but one does need to be paying attention and ready to pause.
What is these cartridges always spoke of? To me a cartridge could be a cassette or vhs as they seem more cartridge to me than a DVD it CD but I'm thoroughly confused in this . We just don't refer to anything around here as cartridges
Having trouble distinguishing where I an chapter wise. So at footnote #2 at least I know no matter the format we're reading the footnotes will be the same
That's a good idea, Travis. I'm also having a little trouble knowing how to explain where I am. My newer Kindle that I do most of my reading on does not want to give me page numbers. I also have a much older Kindle that does not have a lighted screen, and it is willing to give me page numbers, but is not as nice to read on. I think I'm about three chapters in. I know I have passed footnote 1, but I don't remember seeing 2, so maybe I'm not there yet.
I can only read this in small doses at this point. It's a bit odd which isnt necessarily bad it's just going to take a bit to pull me in. So I decided to start Silence of the Lambs. Ended up binge reading that so now thats finished and I'm back on to this again.
I understand, Travis. When I read Silence of the Lambs, I think I finished it at about 3 a.m. And the next day was a work day.
I first read Infinite Jest in 2012, with a group called Brain Pain. Today I went back and looked at some of the discussion from that group (discussion without which I don't think I would have made it through the book). I am going to reproduce here a helpful piece of information about the order of the subsidized years:This comes from the wikipedia page for Infinite jest:
[Subsidized Time
In the novel's world, each year is subsidized by a specific corporate sponsor, for reasons not entirely explained. The years of Subsidized Time are listed here, in order:
1. Year of the Whopper
2. Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad
3. Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar
4. Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken
5. Year of the Whisper-Quiet Maytag Dishmaster
6. Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-Easy-To-Install-Upgrade For Infernatron/InterLace TP Systems For Home, Office Or Mobile [sic]
7. Year of Dairy Products from the American Heartland
8. Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
9. Year of Glad
In case anyone else wants to look at the 2012 discussion, here is the link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Most of the book takes place in the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment (YDAU"). There are many flashbacks. I like knowing that the year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar is five years before YDAU. Hal's interview at ASU, where the book starts, takes place in the year of Glad, which is the year after YDAU.
Thank you Casceil. This is not an easy book. The constant endnotes make it hard for me I don't like to be interested. I was also curious on the tine frame. I knew it was jumping around
Finished the first chapter. This is a hard book for me to follow, but I'm hoping it will get easier as I read more. Clearly not a great book to read for hours, though.
Amanda, I'm so glad you have joined us. The book does take some getting used to. And then every time you start to get used to it, it seems to change again. Think of it as an adventure!
Struggling here. See I listen while I drive or work. It's basically the only time I have for reading. All this flipping to endnotes isn't working well. This one is gonna take me a very long time to finish
It's taking me a long time, too. I'm still around page 60. Parts of the story are very engaging, and other parts--not so much.
I'm at 3% on my Kindle, which is something like three "chapters" in. Part of me thinks I need to be taking notes so I can follow the story. (view spoiler)
The first chapter is a college interview at ASU. It is told from Hal's point of view, so to the extent there is a narrator, it's Hal. The interview takes place in the Year of Glad, which is the year after most of the events in the book. Later, about the third chapter, I think, there is a chapter set in the Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad. Ten year old Hal is meeting with someone in an office, and Hal starts by saying that his dad told him to come here. By the end of the chapter, we know that the man Hal is talking to is his Dad. Most of the book happens after the father's death, so he doesn't appear much, except in flashback. The main action of the book takes place in the Year of the Dependable Adult Undergarment ("YDAU"). If you check the list in message 39 above, you can figure out how the years relate to each other. YDAU is seven years after the Year of the Tuck's Medicated Pad, so Hal is seventeen.
There is a narrator through most of the book. I've always assumed it is an omniscient narrator rather than a character in the book, but maybe we will find out differently eventually.
Since Hal was ten in the year of the Tuck's Medicated Pad, he would be 18 when he is seeking admission to ASU.
I haven't marked spoilers in this post, because the post is aimed at helping people get oriented, rather than discussing what happens in the story.
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
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We have not established a time for it yet.We have loosely scheduled it for March. It's a BIG book!Any one else interested?