Is anyone up for an Infinite Jest reading group starting May?
Is anyone up for an Infinite Jest reading group starting May?
DFW hung himself with a belt, pleb.
You'll probably get more out of it just reading it on your own at your own pace. Group readings are pretty plebeian and the only real benefit is forced "motivation", something which you should conjure up on your own or otherwise not even be reading at all.
no. read something good like mason and Dixon, the recognitions or life and fate
... I think group readings are fun ... I've already read the book twice anyways...
I would join in, never read it before and don't feel like I'd be motivated for some time otherwise
I'm going to start in May for the group read. I enjoy group reads, but I haven't had the opportunity given the local book clubs spend most their time reading John Green or awful adult-teen books. So yes, I will be joining.
I enjoy group reads and the local book club doesn't cover books that are outside of the teen-adult genres.
we should read something actually hard to get through, not just annoying
Like what?
What date would be good start for you guys?
we webcrawl most difficult novels
we pick the one that seems most rewarding
Traditionally it is June 21st to September 22nd if I remember correctly.
What is "rewarding" and "difficult" According to who? What does "we" mean in this situation?
Shut the fuck up
Is that Infinite Summer? I'm interested in starting earlier myself.
you've got mental problems m8
Yeah, that's infinite summer. I mean, read it at your own pace, it's just a lot easier to continue the tradition on the regular dates. I personally set out nine books to pace through until Infinite summer.
How about June 1st?
Did his pants slide down?
He died as he lived: spilling spaghetti all over the place.
...
Can anyone explain this whole Infinite Jest meme to me? What is the whole thing about it?
It's long, memable and has a few interesting parts. David Foster Wallace gave interviews and is also memable. His death is too. IJ was advertised a lot when it came out and it's well known for being the kind of book many buy but few actually read.
How could it not be a Veeky Forums meme?
HE LIVES
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace, is the worst science fiction novel ever written. The truth is it might be the worst novel ever written, or at least published, but given the fact that Wallace has stiff competition from the burgeoning spawn of PC Elitist writers, not to mention his own PoMo kith, such as Rick Moody, Dave Eggers, and that ilk, I think I’ll stick with just calling it the worst sci fi has ever produced. Granted, I am not one who has read all the depth of sci fi offerings, but I’ve read enough to know that this so far undershoots the rest that by mere extrapolation it would be a titanic achievement for another author to do worse. Yes, there are the sword and sorcerer riff-raff, the cyber-punk crapola, and the remanent dross of the Golden and Silver Ages of sci fi still hanging around, and even those who’ve produced masterpieces, such as Richard Matheson and Ursula LeGuin, have been known to write horrorshow books in terms of quality, but this dystopian novel by Wallace is worse than them all. His book, only a decade old, is more outdated than many Golden and Silver Age sci fi books specifically because of his slang’s sounding as relevant as John Dryden’s courtly verse. Unlike Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, the slang is based in the then-contemporary world, which makes it seem so 1990s trying to seem cool, rather than timeless. Even his use of emails, with outdated isp formats, seems to belie his lack of creativity. Not that his relentlessly PoMo use of product brand names, bumper stickers, redaction marks, and lengthy digressions on things as pointless as Hawaii 5-0’s relevance versus Hills Street Blues’, does not already belie his creative bankruptcy, but it’s worth noting. Of course, nothing comes of his discourses- they’re tossed in like olives in a salad, so Wallace can preen his learnedness to you, and dropped just as quickly- a habit that he too often indulges- bringing up and dropping things.
Harold?
Just like last year. Keep the tradition alive.
Yes, and his last breath was into a slide whistle.
No, I am still starting with the Greeks
>pushed Mary Karr out of a moving car
The absolute madman.
D-Dave....?
I think infinite summer could be pretty fun, not been reading all too long and never been part of a reading 'group' so I'm looking forward to it
Nah, he didn't have long hair by the time he died.