Reading Update

I am now 150 pages into Infinite Jest, and there are some points that I would like to make regarding it in general, in no particular order:

• New characters are still being introduced. Some do not have names and there are not many hints as to locations and context.
• I have no sense of time, since all years are named instead of numbered, and the narrative jumps around.
• There are no chapters, just lots of sections.
• The footnotes are funny. Well, there's a lot of humor in the whole thing.
• Some sentences (not to mention paragraphs) can be almost a page long. And very rambly. It is all written as stream of consciousness, and I think Wallace just forgot to re-read before it was published. This style of writing is probably the reason a lot of people who try to read it begin and fail.

In other book news, today I had a "Blind Date With a Book." Clifton Library had a display of wrapped books; you pick one at random, and it could be anything. I got a biography of the women that created Nancy Drew. Should be nice after 1000 pages of rambling. Would have been cool if they then let me pick a book to wrap!