Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace discussion
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Infinite Jest
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Kris wrote: "Very helpful perspective, Moira. It sounds like a combination of faith, attentive reading, use of resources to help remember characters, etc. when memory fails, and patience is required."I was once diagnosed with ADD, and while I dispute the diagnosis, some of the symptoms, which I admit having, helped, actually.
high fives all around for anyone attempting to read TEN BOOKS in 2013!and btw, that "drop and give me fifty pages" made me laugh. i do feel like i signed up for some kind of bizarre brainy boot camp with the IJ+ISOLT combo.
Eight Prousts and IJ . . . what's the tenth book?
MJ wrote: "Eight Prousts and IJ . . . what's the tenth book?"any bonus book! because a person can't read just nine.
Stephen M wrote: "Finnegans Wake!"Laughing here. :)
Kris wrote: "Stephen M wrote: "Finnegans Wake!"Laughing here. :)"
oh dear....
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/82...Take your pick. I have yet to touch FW. But I think it's harder than the top two depicted.
Actually, I apologize for posting that list. It's crap. The Bell Jar is on there. Are you freaking kidding me???
Yeah, more people confusing long with difficult. It's not the size that matters.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by...This is a very cool list. I feel validated for my struggles with To the Lighthouse right now, as well as added excitement for Women and Men.
Finnegans Wake is probably the hardest book I've read, despite my fondness for polyglot gibberish as a relaxation technique, followed by Joshua Cohen's egregious Joycelick Witz.
Stephen M wrote: "http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by...This is a very cool list. I feel validated for my struggles with To the Lighthous..."
I'm very excited about Women and Men too, whenever we get to it. :)
A lot of us are in the Proust group. Can we convince them to set their reading schedule around ours? Maybe we can get them to delay Proust a smidge so we have time for IT. No?
Jason wrote: "A lot of us are in the Proust group. Can we convince them to set their reading schedule around ours? Maybe we can get them to delay Proust a smidge so we have time for IT. No?"I'm reluctant to ask them - it's a huge group, and I know it will be ambitious for them to try to move everyone through all of ISOLT in one year. And my sense is that we'll need some time for IJ - I don't think we can rush through it in a few weeks. However, I do think when we see the reading schedule, we can try to find a way for the IJ reading to fit in in a way that won't make those of us doing both groups go crazy - or crazier than we already are.
I think I'm probably going to start IJ sometime in December, maybe over my winter break, to get a head start on it before January comes.
What do you think, Jason and everyone else?
I might be more interested in reading it in December than in January. It won't take us that long to read Margarita and this way we won't have two huge projects going at once. It is ambitious enough for me to attempt Infinite Jest
OR
Proust. Imagine both at once???! It is almost comical!I might do December with you, Kris. And even if it takes me a couple months, I'm sure their reading schedule will be like two months per book, which is fine. I think the groups are set up so that people can read at their leisure. Obviously it's nicer when everyone reads together, but a few weeks plus or minus will be fine, I think.
Jason wrote: "I might be more interested in reading it in December than in January. It won't take us that long to read Margarita and this way we won't have two huge projects going at once. It is ambitious enough..."That sounds good to me, Jason. Mary, Madeleine, and all, what do you think about starting the IJ read sometime in December for those of us who need a good head start before the Proust read, with the understanding that those who want to can begin in January as scheduled.
I also want to check with Ian to see when he's thinking about starting up a Lewis Carroll group read/collaborative writing project. I think that will be a lot of fun. My guess is it would start in the fall, so I don't think a December IJ start will interfere.
well...i'm not concerned if i fall behind either group. just having the threads to visit will be enormously helpful. i do hope to finish IJ because i get the sense that it is a book that should be reread and i'm totally cool with that. and it's "only" about one thousand pages, right?i don't expect to get through all of ISOLT in 2013. i have too many other things to worry about in my reading life...like two groups i moderate and two others i'm pretty devoted to. so if i manage to read two, maybe three, of the Proust books, i'll be pretty happy with myself. and again, the discussion threads will be enormously helpful as i slowly make my way through the entire thing at my own speed.
Kris wrote: "Jason wrote: "I might be more interested in reading it in December than in January. It won't take us that long to read Margarita and this way we won't have two huge projects going at once. It is am..."It's all good, ppl can start whenever :)
Ali wrote: "...Proust won't be that horrible."Gee, I was hoping for a more encouraging endorsement, but I'll take what I can get!
maybe i'll copy that idea. i will pencil IJ in for December. if i get it done within a couple of months, i will have the whole year to go back and reread parts, etc. :D
OK, I updated the group info to clarify that starting in December is an option. Jason, I'm glad you brought this up. I've been concerned about the overlap. It's good to have another option -- it feels more realistic to me.
I need to start a serious training regimen. For me, with IJ and Proust in a year it's like the Olympics of reading. [blushing]
Kristen wrote: "I need to start a serious training regimen. For me, with IJ and Proust in a year it's like the Olympics of reading. [blushing]"you're not alone.... :)
Bird Brian wrote: "Holy cow! there's already 48 people participating. This will by far be the largest group read I've ever been in."It's pretty exciting. I'm thrilled to see such a great response.
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Kris wrote: "That sounds good to me, Jason. Mary, Madeleine, and all, what do you think about starting the IJ read sometime in December for those of us who need a good head start before the Proust read, with the understanding that those who want to can begin in January as scheduled. "Bumping up the start date is not a problem at all. I'm down for whatever needs to be done to accommodate everyone's ambitious reading plans for the new year. I've already resigned myself to 2013 being the year of the one-book reading-challenge goal.
Actually, I'm pretty cool with passing along my mod duties to anyone who can be more helpful/active, too, as January is a wicked time for me in terms of work and I worry about being the non-contributing moderator.
Stephen M wrote: "Finnegans Wake!"***WIN***
Stephen M wrote: "Finnegans Wake!"Either that or Miss McIntosh My Darling, I think that's over 1200 pages or something.
MJ wrote: "Finnegans Wake is probably the hardest book I've read, despite my fondness for polyglot gibberish as a relaxation technique, followed by Joshua Cohen's egregious Joycelick Witz."For me it's either Robert Musil or War & Peace. I was actually able to read Finnegans Wake, altho that was looong ago.
I just got double replied. Ha, that's awesome.
Kristen wrote: "I need to start a serious training regimen. For me, with IJ and Proust in a year it's like the Olympics of reading. [blushing]"You are soooo not alone there. I don't know how long it's been since I read IJ all the way through and not just my favourite bits (Gately bits) (shut up), and I managed to read 1/3 of the first volume of the Proust so long ago I don't even want to try to remember exactly when it was, and I'm a pretty good reader. These books are daunting!
Kris wrote: "Mary, Madeleine, and all, what do you think about starting the IJ read sometime in December for those of us who need a good head start before the Proust read, with the understanding that those who want to can begin in January as scheduled."Sounds like this is already decided but I just want to throw in my vote that I think this is a good idea, and wait is there a Margarita reading group too?
Bird Brian wrote: "William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich -approximately 1400 pages, I believe."....I am ashamed to admit that both Civilians and The Fatal Shore anaesthetized my frontal lobes or something because I not only could I not finish them I can't remember them at all. Urk.
Hmmm, it was sort of difficult to read Middlemarch and Don Quixote at SJC, but that was partly because it was the just-the-text ethos of the place. Dante without notes was hard. Aquinas was hard. Aristotle was hard. (Shut up.) KANT, maybe the hardest book I've tried, except for Hegel. But it's not like I would wander into a bookstore and go "Your latest Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, my good man, and make it snappy!" .... God, that fucking book. It was something like 20 pages and I reread it about six times and still never really got it.
Apparently I never finished Tom Jones either, hunh. http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...
well, Moira...based on everything you wrote above, i think War and Peace will be a cinch for you. i think that should be your fluffy book for 2013.
No one's mention William Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means. That can be the tenth book(s).
Marieke wrote: "well, Moira...based on everything you wrote above, i think War and Peace will be a cinch for you. i think that should be your fluffy book for 2013."//wilts SERIOUSLY that thing has defeated me three or four times. Maybe I just need a different translation. I'm a Fyodor fangirl at heart.
I read the new one and enjoyed it. I did feel exhausted by the end and felt super annoyed at the second epilogue, though. I have yet to tackle the big D...I am afraid....although I have many of his books. Staring me down.
Nathan "N.R." wrote: Steve also stumbles around goodreads here and maybe this young man ought receive an invite to our reading group? Done!
OK. Step 1. Ordered my copy. I'm already behind because I haven't read all these comments in our group discussion.
I'll read the cliff's notes. It's just multiple choice, right?
I vote Ali as group secretary!
I take responsibility for off topic discussions and other pointless, witty banter that makes Goodread's comment threads the delight they are.
Stephen M wrote: "I take responsibility for off topic discussions and other pointless, witty banter that makes Goodread's comment threads the delight they are."I'm glad to see someone has owned up to all this merriment.
I knew I would be happy and comfortable here when I saw the nice balance between serious discussion and silliness. I don't have my book yet. I think I have every DFW except this one and Consider the Lobster, which I'll be reading shortly.
Ali wrote: "First fifty messages contained mostly serious discussion of the actual book as well as group scheduling, degraded into two-line pointless joke messages and off-topic good?(depending on your prospective)ness by around comment 70, I think (but don't care to check) with small stretches of discussion about IJ. After message 60 or so, you should be able to go through the rest of them in five or ten minutes. ""General chit-chat" is just that Ali - general. The read is still several months away so we'll set up some structured discussion topics when it gets nearer to the actual read. In fact, I'll start one up right now, here ya go: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...
Stephen M wrote: "I take responsibility for off topic discussions and other pointless, witty banter that makes Goodread's comment threads the delight they are."Please make sure your delightful witty banter has a point, geez man, I mean, c'mon! It's the internets and all!
Moira wrote: "Kris wrote: "Mary, Madeleine, and all, what do you think about starting the IJ read sometime in December for those of us who need a good head start before the Proust read, with the understanding th..."Oh yes - I'll send you an invitation.
MJ wrote: "No one's mention William Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means. That can be the tenth book(s)."I am now calculating the page count on our 10 books for 2013.... :)
Nathan "N.R." wrote: "I am introduced.Thanks for the invite. Joining this group . . ., well, I don't feel like I really had a choice.
This will be my third traversal of DFW's genius masterwork. My hope is for a s..."
I am so glad you joined, Nathan. And you're right, you really had no choice at all....
Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
Books mentioned in this topic
Women and Men (other topics)The Quincunx (other topics)
Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace (other topics)
A Suitable Boy (other topics)
The Devil's Details: A History of Footnotes (other topics)
More...
Ohhhh yeah. I don't know how much I really comprehended that first reading (except allllll the addiction stuff). But even though I was in a pretty fogged mental state and skimming a lot, it still sort of felt like a big heavy anchor - something I could really hold onto. I think maybe he wrote it to be that way, too.
(I will obvs be the person telling dull personal anecdotes and constantly referring to this essay because I think it is brill, huzzah. http://www.thehowlingfantods.com/broo... ....I own like several books with awful titles like "Rhetorical Strategies in the Narrative Therapy of Alcoholics Anonymous," heh) (Altho I am not actually a big AA-er -- I do think there are a lot of problems with the organization. I would hate for people here to think I'm going to proselytize or something.)