Finally someone has discovered a useful purpose for all of those wires connecting all of our computers. Infinite Summer is basically an online book club, devoted to David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. (Via Ezra Klein, who commandeered the only obvious blog post title.) Anyone who would like to join along should plan on reading 75 pages a week (not at all burdensome), and can then come join the conversation.
I once read through Gravity’s Rainbow with a real-world reading group, and it added a lot to the experience. And I would like to do a blog-based book club when my own book comes out, so this should be a learning experience. I’m going to give it a shot, anyway.
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
sweet, i’ve been looking for some motivation to pick this up off my dusty shelf and read it finally!
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Tried to read it once and didn’t succeed. Maybe the time is right (although I’m finishing off “Against the Day” I don’t know if I need another long one).
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Cool – I’m in the middle of my first read through this, anyway, and it’s indescribable. I can’t remember being this challenged and having this much fun at the same time before.
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:12 pm
So, 75 pages including footnotes? If not, some weeks could be substantial
June 3rd, 2009 at 6:30 pm
[...] As I wrote this, I saw Sean had a new post relating to David Foster Wallace up. I gambled in pyramids, as some of you may know. When Dave killed himself last year, I first [...]
June 3rd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
When does the book come out? I’m looking forward to that reading group.
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Are you asking about my book? Oct 15 is the target, but a may be a couple of weeks late. And it’s probably going to be more expensive than currently advertised — so buy now!
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I found it really slow going between pages ~30 ~ 200, but it really takes flight after the chronology is clear and all the story lines are established.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Sean, have a look at the way CommentPress do it. It is the first good way of commenting on text that I have seen:
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http://www.futureofthebook.org/mitchellstephens/holyofholies/1-empty-an-introduction/
The link above is an example of it in use (I am sure you will also agree with the sentiments it expresses
June 4th, 2009 at 6:35 am
I wish I had thought of this when my book came out!
June 4th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
I’m slightly over 1/3 of the way through, and I swear it keeps getting better. Way to go.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
[...] of Discover Magazine’s “Cosmic Variance” blog wrote “I once read through Gravity’s Rainbow with a real-world reading group, and it added a [...]
June 7th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Sean, I was asking about your book, so thanks for the link. Is Dutton planning on making it available in a Kindle edition? If not, I’m sure I can scrape up the funds, somewhere, to buy the real deal.
June 7th, 2009 at 10:35 am
I don’t know for sure if there will be a Kindle edition, but I suspect there will be, as other Dutton books have them.
June 13th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Just finished Infinite Jest. Yes, it is quite the project, but completely brilliant, seriously disturbing, and hilarious, provided you have a deep appreciation for the dark and the absurd.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Thanks for the info on the Jest… Looks like interesting reading.