Saturday, January 23, 2016

A 'Before' Picture




Here it is, in all its intimidating glory. Pristine. I imagine that it will be fairly battered by the time I'm through with it. I'm still not sure how I'll be highlighting or marking. It will probably come about organically as I progress.

After failing to find a copy at the local thrift shop I caved and called Books-A-Million and reserved their only copy. The thrift trip wasn't a complete waste though. I found a dozen books there, quite a variety, ranging from Machiavelli to Melville. I'd like to dive into some of those right away, but I have the feeling that I'll be practically drowning in Infinite Jest and will have little time for extracurricular reading.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Infinite Winter

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

This will be my personal space to record any thoughts I have on Infinite Jest while participating in the Infinite Winter 2016 reading group.

I'll be hitting up a couple thrift stores tomorrow to try to find a used copy.  If that fails, Amazon will have to do.  I'd love to find a well-loved used book that has notes scribbled in the margins.  It's always interesting to get that glimpse into the mind of a fellow reader.  Although some find it sacrilegious to deface a book in such a manner, I think that it makes for a much more interesting experience.  It's as if they blazed a trail ahead of you, and you are now following behind them, trying to make sense of the clues and notes they left behind.

Regarding the book itself, I'm somewhat intimidated by the book's reputation.  It may be the most difficult book that I have ever attempted to conquer.  I'm hoping it won't be a repeat of my experience with Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson.  As I went through that one, I ended up going off on my own tangents, researching the real-life history that was the backdrop for the novel.  I read a half dozen books about English history, and learned a hell of a lot about Cromwell and the like, but never ended up finishing Quicksilver itself.  Being a part of a reading group may help me stay focused.

I'm very interested to see if there's anything alluding to suicide in Infinite Jest.  It's a subject that interests me for various reasons and I'm curious if DFW's personal battle with it bled into the book at all.