A Meager Beginning

And so this massive project — my infinite jest — begins. Knowing myself, I’ll tire out of the blog before I tire out of the reading, but I’m excited to attempt to document this venture regardless.

I didn’t get a whole lot of time to read yesterday, just the first two chapters of Wallace’s Infinite Jest. Let me tell you, I’ve never seen 27 pages seem so miniscule in comparison to the remaining unread.

I did buy a new book, though, to add to The List (where you can track my progress in simple detail, as opposed to more complex story).

There’s more to come, I promise; I just didn’t want anyone to think I’d given up already ;).

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Read on.

The Story

This all started because, as it turns out, I’m a sucker for well-written forewords.

I was in a Barnes & Noble (so sue me), and I glimpsed a copy of Sir David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, a novel I’d caught wind of as an English-loving bachelor pursuing a Bachelor’s in English. But feelings of intimidation had caused me to place it on the back burner of my literary list, at least until after graduation. I’d graduated in December of 2011 (age 23). Nine months passed, and I’d gotten married in August of 2012 (still 23). Another nine gestational months passed before — no longer a bachelor and having obtained my bachelor’s — I reencountered Wallace’s Jest in a Barnes & Noble that fateful day in May of 2013 (now 24 years old).

So I picked up the novel and read the foreword, written by author Dave Eggers.