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August 2009

The Archives

• Guests

  John Green: Why I’m Behind

  08.21.09 | Permalink | 22 Comments

  John Green is the Michael L. Printz Award-winning author of Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, and An Abundance of Katherines. He is also the co-creator (with his brother, Hank) of the popular vlogbrothers channel on youtube, which spawned the nerdfighter community, a tight-knit group of a hundred thousand nerds who use the internet to celebrate [...]

• Avery Edison

  Everybody Hurts (Except Mario Incandenza)

  08.20.09 | Permalink | 52 Comments

  I am coming to believe that there is not one normal character in this book.77 We see characters with physical deformities (the wheelchair assassins, Mario); mental problems (Himself, Kate Gompert, others); substance addictions (the Ennet house gang, a vast number of students at E.T.A); sociopathic tendencies (Lenz, Lenz, Lenz); obsessive compulsions (Avril Incandenza, Lateral Alice [...]

• Kevin Guilfoile

  I’ve Seen the Future, Brother, It Is Murder

  08.19.09 | Permalink | 66 Comments

  In the underrated Mike Judge film Idiocracy, Luke Wilson is unfrozen centuries in the future where people have become so stupid that a two-hour video of a man’s naked, farting ass wins four Oscars, and Wilson has to run around desperately trying to convince everyone on the planet that humans will go extinct unless they [...]

• Eden M. Kennedy

  Thanks, but I Don’t Particularly Like to Hug

  08.18.09 | Permalink | 13 Comments

  I’m a little behind in my reading, I’m smack in the middle of the whole Lenz thing and it’s kind of making me sick, so I’m going to backtrack a little. Last week I accused Infinite Jest of having kind of a Kubrickian sterility about it at times, but as I continue reading and the [...]

• Matthew Baldwin

  The Peril of A.P.

  08.17.09 | Permalink | 19 Comments

  It’s always strange to hear a term you thought you “owned” in a complete different context. Case in point: as a board gamer, I have been using the phrase “analysis paralysis” for years, completely unaware that the term was affiliated (and perhaps originated) with A.A. Most Substance-addicted people are also addicted to thinking, meaning they [...]

• Elsewhere Jest

  Roundup

  08.16.09 | Permalink | 11 Comments

  Every Happy Days needs a Laverne and Shirley, and maybe even a Joanie Loves Chachi for good measure. So too is Infinite Summer spawning spin-offs. Next week Infinite Jest will finally be published in German. At that time, the publisher is planning an Infinite Summer like read-along, and has a bunch of writers all lined [...]

• Summaries

  Infinite Summary – Week 8

  08.15.09 | Permalink | 10 Comments

  Milestone Reached: 590 (60%) Chapters Read: Page 528 – PRE-DAWN AND DAWN, 1 MAY Y.D.A.U. / OUTCROPPING NORTHWEST OF TUCSON AZ U.S.A., STILL: The Marathe and Steeply show continues. Steeply argues that America is not the only culture in which people are drawn to things that could “entertain them to death”. Page 531 – 0450H., [...]

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

  Midsummer Roundtable, Part V

  08.14.09 | Permalink | 7 Comments

  This is the fifth of a five-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Any predictions as to what will happen in the second half of the novel? Matthew Baldwin: I’ll tell you what I’m not expecting: anything resembling a standard climax or dénouement. In nearly all of Wallace’s non- and short-fiction I’ve [...]

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

  Midsummer Roundtable, Part IV

  08.13.09 | Permalink | 22 Comments

  This is the fourth of a five-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Kevin, do you find Wallace’s style influencing your own? Will the title of your next novel (The Thousand) refer to the number of endnotes you went back and inserted? Kevin Guilfoile: I’m pretty easily influenced by anything that I [...]

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

  Midsummer Roundtable, Part III

  08.12.09 | Permalink | 41 Comments

  This is the third of a five-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Does anyone have a favorite character? Avery Edison: I’ve written before about liking Hal the most, whilst suspecting that he may be a dick. That’s still holding true. I tend to like the smarter characters, and in a book [...]

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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 Sponsors

The Queue

In October we are reading Bram Stoker's Dracula in October. See the announcement.

In January & February of 2010 we are reading 2666, the paperback of which was just released.

At some point in between we are reading a novel TBD.

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