Infinite Jest SUPPORT GROUP

There was some conversation late in 2011 about reading Infinite Jest as a group. I want to read this in 2012, but I don't want to be hemmed in to any certain time frame. If somebody would like to make this into a bona fide group read and divide the 981 pages into sections, please go for it. Oh yeah, let's not forget about the 96 pages of endnotes!

After reading the first few pages, I think what I need more than anything is encouragement to keep plugging along; hence the support group. This can be a place to plot progress, share frustrations, ask questions, and, I hope, to celebrate revelations. Where we go from there is up to someone who is more committed to this book than I seem to be.

Who's in? Any thoughts about how to proceed?

ALL input is welcome.

Wish I could join in, but this is not in the cards for me right now. I wish you all the best of luck with the book! If you do start a group read for the book, I hope to use the thread as a reference in the future when I do get to the book.

Stasia, IJ might provide some comic relief from the textbooks! I have a very short list of people who expressed interest in reading it this year. Perhaps one of the busiest weeks on LT is not the best time to introduce this topic.

Hmmmmm. Where we go from there is up to someone who is more committed to this book than I seem to be.

Wow! You make it sound so enticing Donna;-)

>4 brenzi:: Have you read the first few pages, Bonnie? I rest my case!
But I DO enjoy a challenge. ;-)

Let me know if this becomes a group read and I'll add it to the wiki...

#3: IJ would probably provide some much-needed comic relief, but I would have to check it out from the local library and I think the time would expire before I got to finish it!

Hi Donna, I was one of the ones expressing an interest late last year but never got to it what with holidays, overtime, summer and christmas all hitting me at once. If we can break it down it may seem less daunting a read. I'll come back and post some more when I get time to locate my copy and have a look at it properly.

I am interested. And somehow 2012 has snuck up on me. I do need to find my copy.......

I might be up for this... but not starting just yet. *gulp*

It's good to see some IJ interest out there. I plan to read this at a snail's pace. I will probably still be in the beginning section while we contemplate whether or not we want to make this an official Group Read.

I love your picture at the top, btw!

I'm willing to join in later in the year. Perhaps March?

I read the book 2 years ago, so it's too early for a re-read, but I'd follow the thread and maybe post some comments. I remember I felt very lonely when reading it, it's certainly a great book for a group read.

And I also remember that once I was over page 200 (the German edition having 1,400 pages incl. endnotes!), I couldn't put it down and couldn't read any other book along with it.

It takes a bit before the different storylines start to connect and before the differences in style make some sense.

Here I am! Sorry that I did not understand the link you gave me before! I still want to read this book this year, and I have started it. I have only read about 40 pages or so. I kept asking my daughter questions about it, and she kept telling me "It doesn't matter." Finally she said the book is like a puzzle, and the pieces that are next to each other are not the ones that go together. I remember that when she read this last summer, she had the same experience of starting slowly, but once she got around 200 pages she could not put it down, just like Deern. So here is to reaching 200 pages!!!

Apparently I do not own a copy (it occurred to me to check here.......) I have several others but not the tome..... but I might find a copy of it today as I have to be in town. Tomorrow is my thingaversary, so I've got 3 books coming my way, although IJ should count as two, hm?

I found a copy at our local library, so I can start it whenever........

Oh please don't give up on *IJ* just yet, Donna! The first 40 or so pages you just have to read on faith; in fact, when you finish, you'll want to reread them immediately. He is beginning at the end, more or less. In fact, for me this was a book meant to just be read. Things do come together, and I'm sure that more comes together than I was able to see, so I need to reread but not yet. I do believe that he was a genius though. Get beyond the initial nasties with Don Gately, and I think that you'll be hooked.
No, Lucy, don't count *IJ* as two books; it's definitely only one!

>13 Morphidae:: At the rate I'm going, I'll probably still be reading it in March!

>14 Deern:: I remember I felt very lonely when reading it, it's certainly a great book for a group read. Ah, that's exactly why I formed this support group! Please feel free to join in with comments at any time, Nathalie. We welcome all Infinite Jest Alumni!

>15 billiejean:: That sounds like good advice from your daughter, BJ. I enjoy book puzzles; it sounds like putting the pieces together will be an integral part of this reading experience. Let's hoe we all fall in love with it before the 200-page mark!

>16 sibylline:, 17: That's great, Lucy. I'm glad I have my own copy as this is one book I want to underline passages in and write those comments in the margins that make no sense when I go back to them.

>18 LizzieD:: Another alumna heard from. Peggy, I've only read the first ten pages, but I was entranced by them. No way am I giving up after this introduction:



ETA: I tried to resize this cartoon I found through a Google search. It is huge when I try to post it here.

There is a well-organized, much-posted-in group of Infinite Jesters already operating at LT. I recommend a lot of their comments and research when you're a little farther into the book.

Thank you for that link, Peggy. I haven't done much searching out of resources yet; I just kind of wanted to let the experience flow over me for awhile. Plus, I'm kind of a lazy reader!

I'll be "watching" the Infinite Jesters and checking out some of the comments as I go along. I'm sure there are going to be lots of helpful sites on the WWW that we will discover as we make this journey.

I enjoyed the cartoon. I will probably still be reading it in March and even April. I am thinking this will be a four month book for me at about 250 pages a month. I am still only at page 60, but I have been out of town again. Now I hope I can settle into a normal schedule.

I am around page 85, and I got to the really long footnote that mentions Infinite Jest in it. I am hoping to read about 250 pages this month. I was wondering if I should have taken notes on the years to try to get a chronology going. That long footnote can help with that, I think. Has anyone else done that?

BJ, I'm pretty sure that there's already a chronology of the years in the book. Let me fiddle with it a minute to see if I can find it....Nope. I didn't see it bookmarked. You do need it (or I did just to remember what the abbreviations were). I'll bet it's somewhere on the IJ thread or that you can easily google it. Yeah. Here you go from wikispaces!

Subsidized Time is the result of naming years after product names. The chronology is given on page 223. Several clues throughout the book (eg character ages) and specifically that November 4 Y.D.A.U. is a Wednesday (page 176) indicate that Y.D.A.U. is 2009. Thus, we have:
Preceeding 2002 Before Subsidization
2002 Year of the Whopper
2003 Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad
2004 Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar
2005 Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken
2006 Year of the Whisper-Quiet Maytag Dishmaster
2007 Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-Easy-To-Install-Upgrade For Infernatron/InterLace TP Systems For Home, Office, Or Mobile (sic)
2008 Year of the Dairy Products from the American Heartland
2009 Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
2010 Year of Glad

Go with the flow!

Thanks Peggy, for that most interesting timeline. It makes me smile just to read it. Now I must get back to the book.

I'm still only about 20 pages into it, BJ. I think I'll start over because I want to read that wonderful introduction again.

Anyone else reading along with us?

IN MEMORIAM: Janet Katz passed away suddenly on January 4, 2012. One of her last comments on her 2011 thread was about the Infinite Jest read which still hasn't officially started. I suggest that when we do read it, we dedicate our thoughts to Janet who didn't get a chance to read the book with us.

Request by the family: If, in memory of Janet, you would like to give to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Unit in which she was treated over the three years of her illness, please go to: www.justgiving.com/JanetKatz

Jim has also created a thread for us to post our memories about Janet. It's also a good place to share our grief. Sad News about JanetinLondon.

Donna, thanks so much for the information about Janet's passing. I did not know and I am so sorry to hear about it. I will definitely think of her as I read the book.

Peggy, thanks so much for the chronology. My daughter had mentioned about the sponsorship. I had gotten some of the info from that long footnote of the filmography, but there was some that I did not have (for example, 2007).

*** SORT OF SPOILER ***
I am at the part with Remy in the wheelchair. I had to text my daughter about the herd of feral hamsters.

I have read about 100 pages. My daughter insists that I stick with it!!! I think I will, although it definitely skips around a bunch. I am behind on the schedule that I set for myself of about 250 pages a month, but not too far behind.

I can see the Proust comparison even though the books are totally different.

Just checking in. I am on page 135. Not exactly reading at the speed of light here. Remy and Hal are the most interesting to me so far. I did find it somewhat amusing to read while watching the Australian Open on late night tv.

I hope to start reading this week. Hope being the operative word here.

I had to take a break due to work obligations. I am on about 145 or 150. But my daughter made me promise to stick with it to the end, so I will.

I did begin IJ last night. Even though I haven't finished the book of Wallace's essays, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again I did read one about his time as a tennis prodigy -- glad I did!

Sooo..... what is the deal, does Hal have some kind of fit? We're in his head, so we know he is sane, or sane-ish..... I only read to p.17 but I can see that we move to a new character.

Thank you Peggy for the chronology info. Clearly I will need that. Interesting -- a couple of the Asperger kids I know rather well chronicle things in a similar way -- one "That was the year Dervish put out the Live at Parma album" - that kind of thing (In this case her field is Irish music lore sprinkled with some TV lore).

Is anyone else still reading now that I've finally gotten going? The portrait of the dude hiding out in his apartment for his 'last' fling with a bong was amazing and scary, no? I'm reading about the (older?) brother who plays baseball and is in Arizona now.

I kind of got sidetracked with a heavy workload in January, but all the episodes at the beginning are a lot to contemplate, aren't they? I found the guy hiding out in his apartment afraid to use the phone in case he missed his important phone call really disturbing. And what about the brother with the glasses to suffocate the roaches? The whole book is strange to me, but I am hoping that it will come together more soon.

I thought it was interesting that he referenced Serena Williams watching them play in their tournaments, and she is still a big tennis player today after all these years.

Yes -- I noticed that too (Serena) -- speaking of which did you notice the reference to Charles de Lint (I figure NOTHING with Wallace is an accident) in the very first paragraph?

Gross, the giant roach solution, but also brilliant! The gross part is that he leaves them there -- he could slide something thin under the glass and then take them somewhere, uh, private to suffocate. Okay, that's enough, too early in the day!

Donna, I hope it is OK but I have posted a spoiler thread over in the Infinite Jest group - I feel a need for more input and company if I am ever going to make it! Here is the link for you and anyone else who needs it. HERE

I will keep posting some thoughts and progress here too, but I am afraid of spoiling..... I'll be focussing now on IJ as I have cleared the fiction 'decks' pretty well.

I've put a spoiler thread for IJ on the official IJ/Wallace thread in the hopes of some helpful feedback from those who have read it - you can find it HERE

Thanks, Lucy. I need something or someone to get me back on the IJ journey.

33: "...the episodes at the beginning are a lot to contemplate..."
Oh yeah, BJ, well said.

34: About that first paragraph....I too thought at first the reference was to Charles deLint, but on further reading discovered that A. deLint and Uncle Charles (CT) are separate characters. The roach imagery will be hard to top! ...I suppose this is the sort of thing that should go in our new spoiler thread.

I'll make an effort to get back in the IJ groove and post on the appropriate thread. Just to be clear...this thread will be for more general comments and progress reports, right?