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Guides

• Matthew Baldwin

  Acknowledgements

  09.26.09 | Permalink | 30 Comments

  Back in April, when I set out to recruit three more Guides, I decided to start with the folks I thought would be best suited for the role and then move down the list as I accumulated rejections (of which I expected plenty). Instead, to my great fortune, the first three people I asked accepted. […]

• Guides, Rountables

  Summer’s End Roundtable, Part IV

  09.25.09 | Permalink | 22 Comments

  This is the last of a four-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Did Infinite Jest change your life? Avery Edison: It’s definitely got me reading books again, which is marvelous. I hadn’t realized how much the internet had affected my ability to just sit down and read a book, and — […]

• Guides, Rountables

  Summer’s End Roundtable, Part III

  09.24.09 | Permalink | 12 Comments

  This is the third of a four-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: Looking back, do parts of the novel that seemed superfluous at the time now make sense? Eden M Kennedy: Yes and no. The joke about “never try to pull more than your own weight” came back a few times […]

• Guides, Rountables

  Summer’s End Roundtable, Part II

  09.23.09 | Permalink | 43 Comments

  This is the second of a four-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: What do you think happened to Hal? Avery Edison: I think it was the withdrawal from Bob Hope that did him in — all that mold stuff has to be a red herring, since we never got a 14-page […]

• Guides, Rountables

  Summer’s End Roundtable, Part I

  09.22.09 | Permalink | 39 Comments

  This is the first of a four-part roundtable discussion with the Infinite Summer Guides. Infinite Summer: How about that ending, huh? Matthew Baldwin: I found the ending to be incredible. Literally quote “incredible”, as in straining credulity, as in: despite the vast expanse of white space between the final sentence and the “981”, I was […]

• Avery Edison

  Mission Improbable

  09.17.09 | Permalink | 27 Comments

  Yes, I know — the term “mission improbable” brings up around forty-five thousand results in Google. I am, very decidedly, not the first person to think of it. Last week I went with the title “Grapes of Wraith”, which was somewhat poorly received in the comments section. One commenter improved it, though, changing the title […]

• Kevin Guilfoile

  I Got This Fire In My Heart, Won’t Let Me Sleep, Can’t Concentrate…

  09.16.09 | Permalink | 45 Comments

  NOTE: I realize some Infsumerians didn’t like the (fully disclosed) spoilers in my last post. There’s a big one (a nuclear one) in this post, too, but I’m wrapping up the novel this week and it would be difficult for me to do that without making this point, so here’s my apology in advance. If […]

• Eden M. Kennedy

  The Floor Dodged His Foot And Rushed Up At Him

  09.15.09 | Permalink | 12 Comments

  Over the course of my reading I became aware that DFW liked Cormac McCarthy’s novels a lot, especially Blood Meridian and Suttree. As it happens, those are my two favorite Cormac McCarthy novels as well, and even though it’s been fifteen years since I read either of them, once I became aware of this bibliographical […]

• Matthew Baldwin

  Sincerely Yours, David Foster Wallace

  09.14.09 | Permalink | 31 Comments

  Until recently I had no idea what this book was about. I don’t mean to say that I couldn’t follow the plot (although that happened on more than one occasion), but rather that it was unclear to me whether this was a book about tennis or addiction or entertainment or families or friendships or pet-murdering […]

• Avery Edison

  Grapes of Wraith

  09.10.09 | Permalink | 58 Comments

  Yes, I’ll start off by apologizing for that post title. It’s an awful pun, rendered more awful when viewed in light of the fact that it doesn’t even make sense. Still — we’ve just spent the summer reading Infinite Jest, so hopefully we’re used to things not making sense. I, for one, thought I was […]

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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...
• 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.
• Medusa4303 on Join the Tunnel Club: Thanks. Scott! I have just joined the Bolano group, and I am looking forward to...
• ariel on Join the Tunnel Club: thank you scott!!

The Directory