Anyway, I have been meaning to re-read IJ. This sounds like it could be fun. The book has the tendency to be a tad bit inaccessible in the beginning, but once the substance-abuse recovery house enters into the story, you will be hooked. Promise. Good luck!

So, you shoudl read it anyhow…we shoudl read it together and discuss it. Yes. Even if you have a lot of stuff going on, you know…when there is time to read, you could read it and then discuss it. See how that works? I don’t know – but I think it would be fun if you read it too. Don’t be discouraged by the rules. FUCK THE RULES. Please read this with me. I don’t want to do this alone. Or with Janie, alone. She’s mean.

Also, it is VERY possible that DFW wasn’t really as arrogant and assholey as I remember. I mean, I was a bit of an assholey teen at the time so, you know, I can’t necessarily trust those feelings. Teenagers are jerks! But he might have been…and until I’m proven otherwise, or at least prove it was justified, well…it is what it is.

Also, I’ve contemplated no television for the summer. But I need to see the Real Housewives of NJ reunion show and then I’m sure there will be other good shows on, PLUS, I still need to see the finale of BSG. CAN YOU BELIEVE I HAVE NOT SEEN THAT YET?

Also, I’ve owned IJ for a VERY long time, but have yet to crack the mofo. It’s just been sitting around, collecting dust. Dust in now . . . how many states? 3? I’ve dragged it to and fro across the country, I have.

But then I followed that link and read, “HOW TO READ INFINITE JEST.”

I gotta lotta crap goin’ on right now, not sure I can commit to that. Whoa. So . . . mebbe no. This makes me sad.

It also might amuse you that I when I initially read your post about DFW being a jerk I was thinking . . . no way! Once upon a time ’round about that same decade, I worked in a lil’ indy bookstore in Atlanta. We had many authors come for signings. I thought I remembered DFW being this very shy guy who was very sweet, and kind of horrified that all these peeps were there to see him. He hid in the employee area for a bit, and wondered (to the bookstore employees) if there was a way he could simultaneously do the signing, yet hide from everyone. He was anxious and phobic, yet wanted to please everyone. Ultimately everyone (the bookstore employees and the crowd) LOVED him. And I was about to write you back with my counterpoint.

And then I finally remembered um . . . that was actually Rick Moody. Oops. I actually never met DFW.

Meanwhile, taking a stance that you shall never watch television is patently idiotic. It’s a communications medium, just like radio, just like books, just like newspapers, just like the internet. There’s good stuff and bad stuff out there via ANY communications medium. A stance that one never watches TV is about as bright as insisting one never reads the printed word or hears anything on the airwaves. It’s retarded. Shall we stop reading books or listening to the radio because some publications or broadcasts are stupid? Or shall we just try to be discriminating?

Jesus Christ on a Stick!

:-*