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  • Name a book that was difficult to read. See all answers
    • 'Infinite Jest' is no walk in the park

    • I'm still not even halfway through this behemoth (it's about 1,000 pages), but I started reading it as part of the Infinite Summer effort that's currently underway. One of my coworkers got excited about reading it, several of us ordered copies...and so far I'm the only one reading it.

      It's good, just sometimes belabored. There are 10-page-long descriptions of scenes in which NOTHING HAPPENS, intricate explanations of technology, politics and tennis, and occasional punctuation-less first-person accounts from drug addicts.

      In addition, David Foster Wallace likes using footnotes. Normally not that much of a problem, but these are at the end of the book instead of the bottom of the page, requiring much back-and-forth flipping (I use two bookmarks).

      That said, I am enjoying it. I'm following Jason Kottke's advice to just read, enjoy, and not sweat all the big words. As he said, after enough time, things become clear and you get the overall gist.

      Let's just hope I finish before next summer.

       
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  • Comments

    larbage said:
    That's a huge bitch!
    .... I am one of the coworkers who is not reading. I just *hate* foot notes. House of Leaves? There's another bs foot note book that I just cannot get through.
    posted over 2 years ago
    Shelliebean said:
    I've only ever read "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" by DFW, and in that book, the footnotes are at the bottom...infinitely (no pun intended, ... ok, well, maybe) easier than at the end.Your description reminds me of reading "A Clockwork Orange" with the glossary at the back. I spent hours flipping and flipping and flipping before I finally remembered the vocabularly. Then, when I didn't have to flip anymore, I was like, a page or two from finishing!
    posted over 2 years ago
    ursulabear7 said:
    I am reading, "The Sweet Life in Paris: Dlicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious-and Perplexing-City" by David Lebovitz. It is a pretty funny read about cooking and culture shock. This chef moves from a stable career in San Francisco to Paris and runs into all kinds of mishief. You might want to take a look at it.... I am enjoying it quite a bit. :)
    posted 6 months ago

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