Infinite Jest fans?

[seth3]

Hey all,

I'm about 300 pages into Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and absolutely love it. I was just curious if there are any fans out there (no spoilers, please :noevil).

Seth

[Ruraltom]

Really a fantastic book, a must read for anyone who follows the long thread of the modern literary novel/novelist. Such a shame he didn't produce more long form prose before he offed himself.

I will say that, and I don't imagine this is a 'spoiler', those super long, footnote-tangents/ non-sequiter segments kinda annoyed me after a while, especially when they took me miles (and amny pages) from where the story was going.

[Nurk2]

Absolutely! Read it twice (second time on a Kindle - great experience). It's totally worth it - but I'm a long book sort of guy, and I like all things DFW. If you're reading it in paper form, use two bookmarks.

If you google it, there's tons of great resources on the web to help you through your first time, if that's something you're into (I read it the forst time cold, right after it came out in paperback. The second time w/the Wiki below).

This is a spoiler-free resource:

http://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/david-foster-wallace/index.php?title=Main_Page


[....just talking about it makes me want to read it again]

[Nurk2]

Don't mean to be a big fat fanboi here, but here's some more stuff, in case you catch the bug:

http://www.thehowlingfantods.com/dfw/new-to-dfw.html

[seth3]

Hey, thanks for the thoughts and replies.

Yeah, I love the long, challenging books. I finished Ulysses (Joyce) this summer, and I'm working through IJ and The Idiot (Dostoevsky) with Jr (Gaddis) waiting in the que. So, I'm kind of a literary nut.

I'll check out those links. Thanks!

[Nurk2]

Hey, thanks for the thoughts and replies.

Yeah, I love the long, challenging books. I finished Ulysses (Joyce) this summer, and I'm working through IJ and The Idiot (Dostoevsky) with Jr (Gaddis) waiting in the que. So, I'm kind of a literary nut.

I'll check out those links. Thanks!

Then you're going to love IJ. Coincidentally, I read Ulysses for the first time this summer also, and though I've not read The Idiot, I read Crime & Punishment in the last year. Big fan of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. BTW, the big books are a pleasure to read on the Kindle....

Enjoy.

[Platypus]

fantastic read, started it again recently.

[Mike Anderson]

Recently started it for the third time, have yet to finish it.

I can't get enough of his essays. The one about the luxury cruise ship is one of funniest things I've ever read.

[seth3]

Hey Mike,

There's a thing on Youtube if him reading that piece (part of it?) - hilarious and sad. That's his thing. He gets you to laugh over sad things, which in some weird way make it even sadder.

What a wonderful writer!

[The Guy]

i just got a copy of infinite jest. i probably wont get to it until summer though.

the idiot is an excellent book (the ending is great, imo), but of all the dostoevski ive read, the brothers karamazov is the greatest. its one of those novels that sinks in deep and opens doors. . .

[pfflam]

I read the first page, late at night in bed, and thought _ wow, what a great first page.

I didn't go any farther, but will get to it someday
I read lots of long one: Gravitys Rainbow, the Recognitions, Brothers K, Ulysses, even Finnegan's Wake, yes even Finnegan's Wake boyee! etc etc . . I look forward to feeling like I am in the right space to get to the Infinite Jest

[Blanket Jackson]

Yesh, I like the Jets alright. Now with Paxico we'll see if they can tear some sh*t up!

[seth3]

Hey The Guy - The Idiot is beautiful so far. Haven't read Bro's K, but I did read Notes from Underground and was floored by his insight into the mind.

Hey Pfflam - Yeah, the book just is incredible - every single page has something amazing.

Finnegan's Wake? Wow. That seems like a very, very hard read. But, it's Joyce, so it will be beautiful and odd. I have read the second half of the first sentance (you know, because the first half is the last sentance...) over and over in bookstores, contemplating just finally breaking down and buying it. There is something beautiful and intriguing about writing like 'riverrun, past Eve and Adam's' though I have no idea what it means. It's more like T.S. Eliot than a novel. Joyce was wonderful.

Blanket Jackson - sorry, man, I'm up in Seahawk territory. : )

[rmj254]

I love that novel. I also loved "Broom of the System" and everything else that Wallace did. He was a brilliant, brilliant man. He's easily my favorite writer.

[Mike Anderson]

That's his thing. He gets you to laugh over sad things, which in some weird way make it even sadder.

Absolutely. And it's especially poignant for its discussion of despair and suicide.

[Chuck Snider]

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/ChuckSnider/Jets-Fans1.jpg

[The Guy]

^thats awesome

[Nurk2]

He was a brilliant, brilliant man. He's easily my favorite writer.

+1.