I’m ending day one a bit ahead of schedule; I read halfway through page 27 on my lunch hour at work.
Some miscellaneous thoughts:
- I skipped the Eggers introduction. I don’t typically like to read introductions when I’m starting something new and exciting. I wanted to go into this book not knowing anything (other than it’s awesome, and it’s long, and there are endnotes). I’ll read the Eggers introduction when I’m done.
- This book is going to expand my vocabulary. I’ve already had to look up three words. Whee!
- “My chest bumps like a dryer with shoes in it” – best line of fiction ever?
- “The integrity of my sleep has been forever compromised, sir.” – I hope I get to use this line someday.
- I don’t like Erdedy. But I love that Wallace has made him so unlikeable.
- “He . . . realized intellectually that the feeling of deprived panic over missing something made no sense.” – I need to remember this more often.
Endnote to Matthew Baldwin’s introductory post to Infinite Summer 2009: When I told a guy in a bar that my favorite novel of the last decade was House of Leaves, he replied with, “Oh, right. Infinite Jest Junior.” House of Leaves is one of my top-five favorite books of all time. I’ll be interested in seeing how Infinite Jest compares and contrasts.
That’s all for now. I don’t have a whole lot to say so early on. More later!
Poetry and Practice 