Your reading recommendation please (Re: Infinite Jest)

I picked it up a while back and am now just over 100 pages in. For whatever reason, so far it just isn't working for me. Maybe David Foster Wallace and I are just too far apart for me to connect with the book. Maybe all the hype was not deserved. Whatever.

Normally I'd continue slogging through, but given that the book's about 1000 pages long, and my bedside table is overrun with other stuff waiting to be read, I need to know if something it going to change and it's going to be worth it.

You thoughts - continue, or bail?

TIA

hello! i bailed, but i plan on picking it up again when i have the chance (which won't be anytime soon considering i have about 800 pages per week to read for school). this is no help to you, hough:)

Check out Consider the Lobster and come back to Infinite Jest later.

Hate DFW. Tinder.

Short stories by Jim Harrison.

I read Consider the Lobster and while it had some interesting bits (Up, Simba!) it just didn't inspire me to explore his work further. I see how it could appeal to others but I don't consider him a literary genius as some have anointed him.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ashwa64

hello! i bailed, but i plan on picking it up again when i have the chance (which won't be anytime soon considering i have about 800 pages per week to read for school). this is no help to you, hough:)

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Hey Michael, sounds like they're keeping you busy. Skim!!!

Z and J - I'll check out your recommendations.

M

Mmm, bail. Read (or re-read) The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. I'd do that myself, but I made the mistake of loaning it out, and never got it back. Of course, everyone's personal preferences are just that.

I've never made the commitment to dive into Infinite Jest, but if his Kenyon College commencement address were the only thing DFW ever wrote, he would still have made a mighty contribution.

David Foster Wallace on Life and Work - WSJ.com

Infinite Jest is my favorite book, but I played lots of tennis in high school and I've battled an addiction to bike parts for my entire adult life, so I can identify with the subject matter. The first 200 pages are probably a mite slow, but good god it worked its way into my psyche after that. It still subtly affects my world view on a regular basis. That being said, the rest of his work is not for me -- too concerned with form over function. Infinite Jest is the only one that feels honest to me.