I did start it.

Managed a hundred pages or so.

Carefully creased the spine to make sure it looked as if I had read it.

Put it back on the shelf.

David Foster Wallace took his life a couple of years ago. Possibly tormented by the number of people who'd got arsed off with his meisterwerk after the first hundred or so pages.

for 18 months. Mind you, so have about 30 other unread books.

I'll get there eventually.

via me in a recent thread. I think it has several fans around these parts. But me, I've never finished it. Including one three week holiday in the late 90s that was all around the pool and not much else. I still couldn't finish it.

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/just-one-more-please

For anyone who finds the book daunting, here's a primer from the always-excellent kottke.org:
http://www.kottke.org/09/07/how-to-read-infinite-jest

Good luck!

I have read Consider The Lobster. It's a brilliant collection of his journalism which may be a Wallace starting point. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men I started the other night. I'm finding it a struggle to be honest, but I haven't given up.

Yet.

The other being 'How Late It was, How Late' by James Kelman.

and has been there for 3 years , but I promise I´ll get round to it this summer ( I said the same thing last year )

We could start a thread on the great unread books on our shelves.

I love a happy ending!

I actually can't make eye contact with it now without feeling a bit guilty & uncomfortable.

Formed an Infinite Jest support group to keep each other motivated. It all fell apart after 3 months when they both admitted to have been lying. Little did they know, so was I.
The first two hundred pages I have read promise much. But it is very, very hard to read, due mostly to it's wonderful cleverness. But it's also a book that demands to be read in as shorter space of time as possible. You can't dip in and out. And once you're out, it's hard to find the energy to jump back in.

I bought this book after a recommendation in The Word, which sufficiently intrigued me to investigate further. It is a long read and a somewhat one convoluted at that. However it is also fizzing with good ideas and good writing.

Anything that takes up as much of your time requires commitment though. Having commited that time and read it, I'm glad I did. In fact, it's one of those books that has made me want to read about it too and to discuss it with others.

That is the acid test for me (goes for music and film too): does it make me think and/or feel? Does it stay with me afterwards, even if as a puzzle I keep turning over in my mind?

Infinite Jest passes with flying colours.