Infinite Summer
I am participating in Infinite Summer this year, a project where a bunch of people have decided to spend the summer reading Infinite Jest. We're up to page 93, I think, at the end of today.
You may recall that I've been reading this book off and on this year, but I got bogged down in footnote 24 (the filmography) and put it aside at around page 65. I could have skipped the footnote, of course, but I consider that cheating. Especially if a book is on my reading list, I don't think it "counts" unless I read every word. I even read every word of Finnegans Wake (and no, I will never ever stop bragging about finishing that book, I'm sorry).
At this point it feels like DFW is throwing a bunch of balls in the air--setting up characters and storylines that will come together down the road. But many of the vignettes are enjoyable to read all on their own (like the "professional conversationalist" chapter or the guy sitting around waiting for his pot dealer to come over) even without the larger context, and some are even terribly poignant (Kate telling the doctor about her depression, which of course is what killed DFW himself). Even the filmography that undid me the first time is pretty entertaining as a standalone.
I'm not taking any fancy notes or anything, since the website has some great resources. At this point I am just taking it as it comes.
You may recall that I've been reading this book off and on this year, but I got bogged down in footnote 24 (the filmography) and put it aside at around page 65. I could have skipped the footnote, of course, but I consider that cheating. Especially if a book is on my reading list, I don't think it "counts" unless I read every word. I even read every word of Finnegans Wake (and no, I will never ever stop bragging about finishing that book, I'm sorry).
At this point it feels like DFW is throwing a bunch of balls in the air--setting up characters and storylines that will come together down the road. But many of the vignettes are enjoyable to read all on their own (like the "professional conversationalist" chapter or the guy sitting around waiting for his pot dealer to come over) even without the larger context, and some are even terribly poignant (Kate telling the doctor about her depression, which of course is what killed DFW himself). Even the filmography that undid me the first time is pretty entertaining as a standalone.
I'm not taking any fancy notes or anything, since the website has some great resources. At this point I am just taking it as it comes.
Labels: infinite summer, time 100
posted by mo pie at 3:50 PM
3 Comments:
I don't think I can keep up -- I am already about 60 pages behind and I just don't have enough reading time. Plus I keep reading other things, which will need to stop if I am going to be serious about this thing. (But one of the other things I'm reading is The Invisible Man, and it's so good!)
I read a blog post at the Infinite Summer site that made me not want to read any more over there because it was so discouraging. I definitely do not have time to take notes.
Oh, Invisible Man! I loved that one!
I'm not taking notes... I figure their little cheat sheets (like this thing) will be good enough. Plus everyone says you have to read it more than once eventually anyway. So what the hell.
Infinite Jest is on my shelf of "to-reads" - but I do not think this will be my Infinite Summer... Best of LUCK! I'm enjoying whittling away at the BBC Big read top 100.
Post a Comment
<< Home