Infinite Summer 2011

 

or, Finally Reading the Greatest Book, Like, Ever, in 92 Days

Some time ago I encountered Infinite Summer, an internet book club project wherein a broad assortment of readers around the world read and discussed David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest over the summer of 2009. Either I discovered the project too late, or I wasn’t ready to tackle it, but for lots of reasons, I feel ready now. This is the year.

Why Infinite Jest? I’ve heard enough about it (and read enough bits of Wallace here and there) that I’ve known for a long time that this needed to happen. It’s not just the most acclaimed novel in a billion years, it seems to be a book tailor-made for me. I hope not to become one of those insufferable dudes who can’t shut up about it, but I’m ready to at least become a dude who has read it. If you’re also ready to cross this monster off your bucket list, join me.

How to Read Infinite Jest? Matt Bucher has a useful list of tips by that title. Jason Kottke has too. Most importantly: read the endnotes, use multiple bookmarks, and don’t give up.

But I Don’t Have Time! Yeah, me neither. But I’m gonna make time. It’s 10 pages a day. And your TV shows are over now anyway. Now are you gonna stand there with your butt on the back of your body or are you gonna get in on this?

What’s the Plan? Well, I’m not an army of bloggers, so I’m making it up as I go along. I doubt I’ll blog about it here very much, but I’ll probably tweet about it. Some other folks had the same idea independently, although their rough schedule is a little different than mine. Here’s a chart of roughly where I plan to be at the end of each day:

[every print edition of IJ has the same pagination. This doesn’t count the 100 pages of endnotes, which will be read along with whatever section they belong to. If you’re on a Kindle, you’re on your own – though the Infinite Summer 2009 schedule may help.]

INFINITE SUMMER 2011
Day	Weekday	Date	Page	% finished
1	Wednesday	6/1/11	11	1.09%
2	Thursday	6/2/11	21	2.17%
3	Friday	6/3/11	32	3.26%
4	Saturday	6/4/11	43	4.35%
5	Sunday	6/5/11	53	5.43%
6	Monday	6/6/11	64	6.52%
7	Tuesday	6/7/11	75	7.61%
8	Wednesday	6/8/11	85	8.70%
9	Thursday	6/9/11	96	9.78%
10	Friday	6/10/11	107	10.87%
11	Saturday	6/11/11	117	11.96%
12	Sunday	6/12/11	128	13.04%
13	Monday	6/13/11	139	14.13%
14	Tuesday	6/14/11	149	15.22%
15	Wednesday	6/15/11	160	16.30%
16	Thursday	6/16/11	171	17.39%
17	Friday	6/17/11	181	18.48%
18	Saturday	6/18/11	192	19.57%
19	Sunday	6/19/11	203	20.65%
20	Monday	6/20/11	213	21.74%
21	Tuesday	6/21/11	224	22.83%
22	Wednesday	6/22/11	235	23.91%
23	Thursday	6/23/11	245	25.00%
24	Friday	6/24/11	256	26.09%
25	Saturday	6/25/11	267	27.17%
26	Sunday	6/26/11	277	28.26%
27	Monday	6/27/11	288	29.35%
28	Tuesday	6/28/11	299	30.43%
29	Wednesday	6/29/11	309	31.52%
30	Thursday	6/30/11	320	32.61%
31	Friday	7/1/11	331	33.70%
32	Saturday	7/2/11	341	34.78%
33	Sunday	7/3/11	352	35.87%
34	Monday	7/4/11	363	36.96%
35	Tuesday	7/5/11	373	38.04%
36	Wednesday	7/6/11	384	39.13%
37	Thursday	7/7/11	395	40.22%
38	Friday	7/8/11	405	41.30%
39	Saturday	7/9/11	416	42.39%
40	Sunday	7/10/11	427	43.48%
41	Monday	7/11/11	437	44.57%
42	Tuesday	7/12/11	448	45.65%
43	Wednesday	7/13/11	459	46.74%
44	Thursday	7/14/11	469	47.83%
45	Friday	7/15/11	480	48.91%
46	Saturday	7/16/11	491	50.00%
47	Sunday	7/17/11	501	51.09%
48	Monday	7/18/11	512	52.17%
49	Tuesday	7/19/11	522	53.26%
50	Wednesday	7/20/11	533	54.35%
51	Thursday	7/21/11	544	55.43%
52	Friday	7/22/11	554	56.52%
53	Saturday	7/23/11	565	57.61%
54	Sunday	7/24/11	576	58.70%
55	Monday	7/25/11	586	59.78%
56	Tuesday	7/26/11	597	60.87%
57	Wednesday	7/27/11	608	61.96%
58	Thursday	7/28/11	618	63.04%
59	Friday	7/29/11	629	64.13%
60	Saturday	7/30/11	640	65.22%
61	Sunday	7/31/11	650	66.30%
62	Monday	8/1/11	661	67.39%
63	Tuesday	8/2/11	672	68.48%
64	Wednesday	8/3/11	682	69.57%
65	Thursday	8/4/11	693	70.65%
66	Friday	8/5/11	704	71.74%
67	Saturday	8/6/11	714	72.83%
68	Sunday	8/7/11	725	73.91%
69	Monday	8/8/11	736	75.00%
70	Tuesday	8/9/11	746	76.09%
71	Wednesday	8/10/11	757	77.17%
72	Thursday	8/11/11	768	78.26%
73	Friday	8/12/11	778	79.35%
74	Saturday	8/13/11	789	80.43%
75	Sunday	8/14/11	800	81.52%
76	Monday	8/15/11	810	82.61%
77	Tuesday	8/16/11	821	83.70%
78	Wednesday	8/17/11	832	84.78%
79	Thursday	8/18/11	842	85.87%
80	Friday	8/19/11	853	86.96%
81	Saturday	8/20/11	864	88.04%
82	Sunday	8/21/11	874	89.13%
83	Monday	8/22/11	885	90.22%
84	Tuesday	8/23/11	896	91.30%
85	Wednesday	8/24/11	906	92.39%
86	Thursday	8/25/11	917	93.48%
87	Friday	8/26/11	928	94.57%
88	Saturday	8/27/11	938	95.65%
89	Sunday	8/28/11	949	96.74%
90	Monday	8/29/11	960	97.83%
91	Tuesday	8/30/11	970	98.91%
92	Wednesday	8/31/11	981	100.00%

test

92 days. 1079 pages. 11 pages (+ notes)  a day. Totally manageable!

Get a copy (if all else fails, the Kindle version’s 10 bucks). We start tomorrow.