Re-Reading Infinite Jest

I'm re-reading Infinite Jest (along with most of my book store co-workers) and if anyone wants to join in on the fun, I've posted our reading schedule below.

Date Page #

2/21 63

2/24 94

2/27 137

3/2 168

3/5 210

3/8 242

3/11 284

3/14 316

3/17 358

3/21 390

3/24 432

3/27 464

3/30 506

4/2 537

4/5 580

4/8 611

4/11 653

4/14 685

4/17 727

4/20 759

4/23 801

4/27 833

4/30 875

5/2 907

5/5 949

5/8 981

Is This What Represents Chicago?

Granta 108 (The Chicago Issue)
256 pages published by Grove Press

Apparently this issue of Granta, issue 108, based entirely around Chicago (both in content and authorship), is the highest selling issue of Granta of all time. So, you're welcome, Granta.

But. But. This issue was kinda lame. The Chris Ware cover art is the best thing about the whole thing, which is strange because taking a look at the table of contents, there are some pretty impressive names. Just to name a few: Aleksandar Hemon, Stuart Dybek, Don DeLillo, George Saunders, Richard Powers, and the token Chicago writer, Sandra Cisneros. I mean, come on, those are some good names. But the results fall way short. I don't know what it was. Disappointing. Don't waste your time. Read the aforementioned authors but just read their books.

I Learned This Word While Reading A Book, Vol. 83

opprobrium- harsh criticism; public disgrace arising from somone's shameful conduct.

Zombies and Dead Dialogue

The Walking Dead (Compendium One)
1088 pages
published by Image Comics

I read the first issue a while back and I wasn't very impressed. I bought this compendium for my wife for Christmas because we've been watching the new AMC series. So, I gave the graphic novel another chance. Well, not much had changed. The graphic novel (much like the new series) suffers from some pretty terrible dialogue. Unfortunately, there is a lot of talking. I kept reading pretty much because I wanted to know what would happen.

The World Is A Dark & Lonely Place

The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq
272 pages
published by Vintage

It took me a while to finish this book though not because I didn't like it. Just a bad reading month, ya know? Lots of stuff going on. Life, etc.

We follow two half brothers (that is brothers who share a mother) through almost their entire lives. One, a cold, molecular biologist who can't experience pleasure or love and generally goes through life alienated from the human race. The other, a self-absorbed charmless yet oddly lovable horn-ball who endlessly searches for genuine human co...moreIt took me a while to finish this book though not because I didn't like it. Just a bad reading month, ya know? Lots of stuff going on. Life, etc.

We follow two half brothers (that is brothers who share a mother) through almost their entire lives. One, a cold, molecular biologist who can't experience pleasure or love and generally goes through life alienated from the human race. The other, a self-absorbed charmless yet oddly lovable horn-ball who endlessly searches for genuine human connection after surviving a tormented childhood.

The overall mood of the narrative is pretty dark and hopeless, which is a bit hard to take at times. Kinda in the way that Vonnegut was pretty dark but he was also very funny. The last third of the novel lost a little bit of the energy that the first two-thirds had, though that could have been because the first two-thirds dealt mainly with Bruno (the lovable horn-ball), who had a more interesting story.

This book caused an "uproar" when it was published in France, probably due to the weird "master race" cloning/genetic ideas that were presented. The book ends kinda strangely from the view point of the future dominate race of genetic clones that the molecular biologist of the story helped pioneer.

Quotes:

"I work for someone else, I rent my apartment from someone else, there's nothing for my son to inherit. I have no craft to teach him, I haven't a clue what he might do when he's older. By the time he grows up, the rules I lived by will have no value- he will live in another universe. If a man accepts the fact that everything must change, then he accepts that life is reduced to nothing more than the sum of his own experience; past and future generations mean nothing to him." pg.140

"Unhappiness isn't at its most acute point until a realistic chance of happiness, sufficiently close, has been envisioned." pg.203

Midwest is Young and Restless

Racing in Place by Michael Martone
published by University of Georgia Press
168 pages

I like Michael Martone. I like what he tries to do. Sometimes he fails, but he tries. He tasks risks. Sometimes he can get a little "writerly", a little to "flowerly" with his sentences. But again, he's taking the risk. And I can respect that.

This book is pretty much what it says it is: fragments, collages, ruins and postcards. And a fun drinking game is to chug a beer every time Martone mentions that he grew up in Fort Wayne.

Quotes:

"Despite the confusion about its location, people agree that the Midwest is a good place to be from. It is as if we keep the region purposely vague in order to include as many as people as natives. 'I am from the Midwest': that coin is worth collecting." pg. 97

Our Ridiculous Selves

Earth (The Book) by Jon Stewart and The Daily Show
238 pages
published by Grand Central

If you have read America The Book, you know what to expect heading into Earth The Book. And that's not a bad thing, because America was hilarious and Earth doesn't disappoint. Not as good as America, but very very good.

"For society to flourish, it would take work. So what was work? Tasks we performed for compensation in the service of an employer, be it individual or corporate entity. And yes, it was as exciting as it sounds. We didn't want to work. In fact, that's about as good a definition of "work" as you could have-- 'that which we didn't want to do, but had to, if we didn't want to eat dirt.' Of course, some workers attacked their jobs with passion and creativity. These people were known as brown-nosing jagoffs." pg.128

"We relied on a system of small regular bribes to keep certain sorts of transactions moving smoothly. Tipping 15-20% of the bill encouraged servers to treat customers with something milder than disdain. Tipping was both an acknowledgment of servers' underpayment by management, and a handy excuse for management to continue underpaying them." pg.133

"The only thing that increased more rapidly than the speed of new technology was the speed with which we became irritated at its now relative slowness. Eventually, we developed the capacity to be instantaneously disappointed. This was the final triumph of faster." pg.182

"If necessity was the mother of invention, then laziness was its drunken stepfather. Man created many contraptions to free up as much of his time as possible. This helped us achieve our life's greatest goal: doing nothing." pg.183

"As confident as the human species was that after death, a Higher Power awaited us in an eternal utopia filled with everyone we've ever known and/or virgins, one thing we all feared was death. And although we never quite succeeded in conquering the Grim Reaper, we did manage to confuse and delay him, allowing many of us to enjoy up to twenty extra years of feeble dependence." pg.188