Another thing, and please do tell me if I'm posting too much-- I'm just trying to be helpful without being overbearing or a know-it-all:

The years in the book are named (as you know by now). On p. 223, there is a list of years, which you can refer to to figure out when certain chapters occur, chronologically. I suspect no one will actually use this list, but if you're interested in a close reading, having a post-it note on p. 223 may help.

It is, for instance, important to note that the book begins at the very END of the chronological scope of the novel. This isn't really a spoiler; I wish someone had told me this the first time I read it.

It's amusing how socially awkward Hal is.

"I compose what I project will be seen as a smile. I turn this way and that slightly, sort of directing the expression to everyone in the room."

.....

"Is Hal all right, Chuck?" Athletic Affairs asks. "Hal just seemed to....well, grimace. Is he in pain? Are you in pain, son?"

You'll think, Ohh, when you find out what those details are really a manifestation of.

SPOILER DON'T CLICK IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK

you ****ers might just make me reread this book again

I'm in.

poasting in epic thread

I'll just wait for the screams

Great idea! I want to be in.

I started reading it at the beginning of the year and got to page 64 (and the first mammoth endnote), so I can spend the rest of the week reviewing and at least try to participate in the first discussion.

I'm a painfully slow reader if things aren't lined up in tight magazine style columns, so I'm nervous that I won't keep up with the thread.

I'm reading this for a book club I just joined and I thought that I would pass along some of the "support" links they gave us:

Infinite Jest Wiki
Infinite Summer - a project to read Infinite Jest over the summer from a few years ago
How to Read Infinite Jest - from Infinite Summer

Shark Sandwich: I'm with you. SPOILER DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET ETC ETC ETC

The spolier boxes are bound to annoy the hell out of people who haven't yet read the book, which, by definition, should be a signifcant percentage of the regular readers of this thread. There's a DFW appreciation thread in OOT, I'd guess that is a more appropriate place for talking about spoliers.

Took a quick glance in there, and found this and had to cross post it.

Girlfriend Stops Reading David Foster Wallace Breakup Letter At Page 20 - The Onion.

Observation number 2 from that thread:

CLawnsby, are all 76 of your posts directly related to Infinite Jest?

THIS IS WHY I WILL NEVER FINISH INFINITE JEST.


*Disconnecting internet*

Just read pages 10 and 11 as instructed. I read them TWICE. I'm really blowing through this thing.

I know we said tomorrow for the first 63 pages, but I'm going to be doing bachelor party stuff for my friend and may not get to the thread until Sunday, so I wanted to post some preliminary questions/discussion topics. Hopefully we have some people reading along?

1) Is the beginning of the book too confusing to be enjoyable? The first time I read it, I remember thinking "I have no idea what the **** is happening and I hate this." Are people having a similar reaction, or is there enough cool stuff in there to intrigue and hook you?

2) Are any themes beginning to emerge? We haven't spent more than a couple scenes with any of the major players of the book, but I feel as if there are a few things already beginning to take shape, despite the murky plot.

3) This might be a stupid question to try to answer this early, but what do we make of Hal in the first chapter? What could have happened to him to cause his behavior?

General impressions?

Anyways, I don't want it to seem like I'm trying to run the thread or anything. I'm just curious to hear what people think, and if you want to ignore everything I've written and talk about other things, that's great too.

My son's 2nd birthday party is today. Should be fun. Snuck in here quick.

1. I have made several attempts at Ulysees and this i found less bewildering thus far. I definitely don't hate it.

2. I've noticed a sense of isolation and interestingly disturbed inner-life of a few of what seem to be main characters.

3. I imagine eating the fungus muffed him up a lil'.

uh

I like the cover with the blue and green and the clouds.

nice

These are two of the funniest essays I've ever read.

Even more highly recommended: Get the book that contains the uncut versions; the versions in Harpers are edited down. It's called "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again."

Did no one else read this besides 00000 and me? That would be too bad but honestly not that unexpected.

1) The "Wardine" section was pushing it for me. Tried to read it a few times and still barely understand it.

2) There's a ton of drug use so far, much of it what I'd call abuse.

3)Can't tell.

A not-too-clear plot point from the first 100 pages:

I did, but I just got back from vacation.

I'll just say this real quick. DFW reminds me of Cormac McCarthy in at least one way: It's as if they have every word in the dictionary at their immediate disposal and can put this limitless basket of words together in such a way as to perfectly describe a scene in a way that's never been done before.

Reminds me of someone who can pick up a guitar and just play any music that happens to pop into his head.

Right, but I don't think it's the anniversary of the affair. Notice the date - April 1 = Avril I.