3/12 Books: Infinite Jest

infinite jestOh Infinite Jest.  At its 1079 pages, including extensive (and mandatory) footnotes, it is by far the longest book I can discuss with any of my friends.  In fact, I could theoretically discuss this book with no fewer than four of my friends, with a fifth soon to follow (Hi E!  Don't worry, no spoilers).  And yet... and yet... Let me begin by saying that the book is highly engaging.  While there were short periods where I thought I would not want to finish, most of the time the various story lines kept me fully interested.  It takes a long time to read a 1k-page book, so it doesn't bother me that I was at Infinite Jest for over two months. Let me also say that David Foster Wallace was an immensely talented writer.  I say this with some authority because I took AP English.  Anyone that's gone through that gauntlet of reading has the right to give an unqualified statement about someone's writing ability. Now I haven't gone online to do the kinds of research George found necessary after completing the book - checking the Wikipedia article, looking at timelines, etc.  I will do those things shortly but wanted my opinion to be unbiased by any kind of hard-core analysis others might have accomplished for me. Infinite Jest manages to say a lot of interesting things about the human experience - particularly with regard to entertainment and addiction.  I found Wallace to be intriguingly accurate at predicting the future - about technology and about society.  Written in 1996, he is spot-on with our use of technology and how it affects us.  He was very sharp about human nature. But funny?  All of the critique for this book centers how how "hilarious" Wallace is.  Not sure what's wrong with me, but I don't get the joke.  While I found the book entertaining and sometimes amusing, I would hardly call it comic. Also, don't expect the book to come to a beautiful conclusion with everything wrapped up nicely.  I was prepared for this by reading one of Wallace's shorter novels, and the ending here was similar - you are left in a bit of a lurch, with some idea of where things are going in some story lines and completely baffled by others.  The characters don't find redemption or get crushed because they deserve it.  In Wallace's world, things don't get resolved because it's the end of the story.  In fact, I can't really say I saw any of the characters - and there are many, many characters - really grow or change in any meaningful way.  The used-to-take-AP-English essay-writer in me wants to say this directly speaks to Wallace's take on human nature. So do I recommend the book?  ::sigh:: I hate to say it, especially because several of my friends recommend it so highly, but I have to be honest: I think some of the applause for this book is really in part self-congratulatory applause, for those who managed to get through it.  Like anyone that manages to stumble through War and Peace (I am not a part of that group), they are required to sing this book's praises because otherwise they just wasted two months of their lives. On the other hand, it was a good read.  Required?  Not on my list, but a good read nonetheless.

12 Books

This post comes to you as part of E‘s 12 books in 12 months project.  The goal is to read 12 books in a year – 12 books that we might not ordinarily be too motivated to read, but that have been on our to-read list.  Not sure which of the remaining 9 I will tackle next, but I guarantee it will be one of the easy books. 1. Story of O, Pauline Reage 2. The Four Hour Workweek, Tim Ferris 3. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality, Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá 4. The One-Week Job Project, Sean Aiken 5. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace 6. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman?, Richard Feynman 7. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce 8. Light in August, William Faulkner 9. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway 10. At least one book from my photography collection, TBD. 11. Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion 12. A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick

2/12 Books: Sex at Dawn

A pre-book review note: This is a long review of a non-fiction book about marriage and sex.  It has absolutely nothing to do with photography and really very little to do with any of the things I normally blog about.  For an overview of the 12 Books project and to see the other books I'll be reviewing here (just one on average per month), check the subheader at the bottom of the post. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality pretty much sold me on their argument, which leaves me in a bit of a lurch, for the moment.  Not too long from now, I'm sure I'll forget most of what I learned and go back to thinking about sex and marriage as I always have.  But for just a brief moment here, I'll pause while I sort these things out and bring you a book review that really rattled my assumptions. Authors Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá ask a few simple questions that I think most of us would probably brush off (I'm certainly attempting to, even having read the book):
Could it be that the atomic isolation of the husband-wife nucleus with an orbiting child or two is in fact a culturally imposed aberration for our species - as ill-suited to our evolved tendencies as corsets, chastity belts, and suits of armor?  Dare we ask whether mothers, fathers, and children are all being shoe-horned into a family structure that suits none of us?  Might the contemporary pandemics of fracturing families, parental exhaustion, and confused, resentful children be predictable consequences of what is, in truth, a distorted and distorting family structure inappropriate for our species?

1/12 Books: The One-Week Job Project

The major problem I had with this book is that it's not quite what I thought it would be.  The other problem is that it was written by a 25-year-old for 25-year-olds.  Apparently I require a lot less navel-gazing than other people my age. The One-Week Job Project is about Sean Aiken's quest to find a job he is "passionate" about.  He travels around Canada and the United States in a variety of roles, boosted by some media coverage he received over the course of the year.  I must have caught some of that coverage because I knew about the book before it even came out. I thought it might be a short overview of 52 different careers.  Instead it was a somewhat pedantic quest for the author to "find himself."  It also quickly devolved into a love story of sorts featuring, naturally, the author. It was an entertaining enough read but I can't say I'd recommend it.  Also, I realize this isn't the best of book reports.  But it's my kind of book report.

12 Books

This post comes to you as part of E's 12 books in 12 months project.  The goal is to read 12 books in a year - 12 books that we might not ordinarily be too motivated to read, but that have been on your to-read list.  Next up: Infinite Jest. 1. Story of O, Pauline Reage 2. The Four Hour Workweek, Tim Ferris 3. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality, Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá 4. The One-Week Job Project, Sean Aiken 5. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace 6. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman?, Richard Feynman 7. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce 8. Light in August, William Faulkner 9. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway 10. At least one book from my photography collection, TBD. 11. Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion 12. A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick