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Matthew Baldwin

• Avery Edison, Eden M. Kennedy, Kevin Guilfoile, Matthew Baldwin, Rountables

  Midsummer Roundtable, Part I

  08.10.09 | Permalink | 41 Comments

  This is the first of a five-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Congratulations on reaching the halfway point. Eden M. Kennedy: Thanks. Matthew Baldwin: Huzzah! Avery Edison: Thank you. Although I think that once you factor in the endnotes, we technically haven’t even started. Kevin Guilfoile: I turned 40 last year, [...]

• Matthew Baldwin

  That’s Entertainment

  08.03.09 | Permalink | 38 Comments

  At some point in Infinite Jest, around page 73, I abandoned my highlighter. There was simply too much to absorb on the first read, I decided, and I would save the markup for the second pass. But last week, on page 389, Old Yeller rode again: ‘You burn to have your photograph in a magazine.’ [...]

• Matthew Baldwin

  The Bully Pulpit

  07.27.09 | Permalink | 25 Comments

  A few weeks ago I was speaking to a journalist and struggling to explain how a novel so revered by people who have read it could also be so off-putting for those wading through it for the first time. I mentioned the length of course, and the endnotes, and the 84¢-words, and the sentences that [...]

• Matthew Baldwin

  Missed Connections

  07.13.09 | Permalink | 78 Comments

  Warning: This post does not contain spoilers in the traditional sense of the word (i.e., information to which you have not yet been privy), but it does synthesize some data points to reveal a (IMO, non-critical) fact to which you may not have tumbled yourself. There are likely many more in the comments. If you [...]

• Matthew Baldwin

  Letters of Acceptance

  07.06.09 | Permalink | 49 Comments

  Fifteen years ago I told an acquaintance of my aspiration to become a Peace Corps volunteer. “Good luck,” was her reply. “Did you know that only one out of every nine people who apply gets in?” As this was five years before the Internet-As-We-Know-It, and even more before the debut of Snopes, there was no [...]

• Matthew Baldwin

  Dead Sea Diving

  06.29.09 | Permalink | 50 Comments

  Fun fact I learned from the last book I read: the Dead Sea, with a salt concentration of 32%, is so saline that it practically precludes swimming. You can dive in (though heaven forbid you do so without hermetically-sealed goggles), but the density of the water will pop you back to the surface like a [...]

• Matthew Baldwin

  Mountaineering

  06.22.09 | Permalink | 29 Comments

  The Guides have begun reading, but won’t begin commentary until the 29th. This week they will use this space to introduce themselves. Feel free to do likewise, in the comments or in the forums. I don’t know why I own Infinite Jest. Well, let me clarify. I know the reason I own it: it is, [...]

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The Book

the challenge

Join endurance bibliophiles from around the world in reading Infinite Jest over the summer of 2009, June 21st to September 22nd. A thousand pages¹ ÷ 92 days = 75 pages a week. No sweat.

1. Plus endnotes^a.
a. A lot of them.

The Search

The Last 10 Posts

• Infinite Index
• Acknowledgements
• Summer’s End Roundtable, Part IV
• Summer’s End Roundtable, Part III
• Summer’s End Roundtable, Part II
• Summer’s End Roundtable, Part I
• The End
• Roundup
• Greg Carlisle: Reading Infinite Jest Changed My Life (and Now It Will Change Yours)
• Mission Improbable

The Last 10 Comments

• Pemulis' Yachting Cap on Mission Improbable: Ooh, I’m thinking maybe Gately’s ginormous head has to do...
• Pemulis' Yachting Cap on I Got This Fire In My Heart, Won’t Let Me Sleep, Can’t Concentrate…: Nucks...
• Pemulis' Yachting Cap on Summer’s End Roundtable, Part III: I just realized that Mario reminds me a bit of Owen...
• Pemulis' Yachting Cap on Summer’s End Roundtable, Part III: I’m finished! I’d started last summer...
• Tao Joannes on Infinite Index: So, are we doing it again this summer as an official thing? I’ve got some...
• Melissa on Infinite Index: Thanks, Matthew. I was keeping pace with y’all last year up until August, when I had...
• Peer on Acknowledgements: Thanks for the link. I will check it out. I was just hoping for some announcements here...
• Prolixian on Acknowledgements: Peer – if you are interested in 2666, check out bolanobolano.com. A group read...
• Peer on Acknowledgements: When will we start the new book?
• Todeswalzer on Acknowledgements: RIP Infinite Summer. It was great while it lasted.

The Directory