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=Infinite Summer 2011 =

Are you a snobbish literary type and/or a bit of a masochist? If so, Infinite Summer is for you. Some time ago, I promised myself I would read David Foster Wallace's //Infinite Jest// in the summer of 2011, following the "Infinite Summer" guidelines. For those philistines who don't know what "Infinite Summer" means, it was a project undertaken by a group of people who decided to tackle the seemingly un-tackle-able in one summer. They set up a calendar which they used to spread out their reading. In preparing for my own plunge into literary infinitude, I thought it would be easier, and slightly less terrifying, to follow their exact plan. This way, I'm not just jumping in and hoping for the best (that's my approach to diving boards, not books).

A few weeks ago, I half-jokingly asked my mentor teacher, Denise Maltese, if she'd like to read it as well. She responded, totally non-jokingly, "sure." Suddenly, this adventurous adventure had two adventurers willing to venture adventurously through the 1,000+ page novel. "Why stop at just two?" I thought and hopefully did not say aloud. I started asking friends, and Denise did as well (I think) and we started to drum up interest in the idea. Friends, family members, colleagues, etc. People were getting excited about the idea, maybe too excited. Still, I was happy to hear people would want to try this. If you're reading this, you're probably down for the challenge. I will continue to invite people to attempt this book with us, and you should invite people too. Here are the rules, insomuch as something like this can even have rules:

-[|Here is the Infinite Summer calendar.] The calendar tells you how many pages to read per day. It's a good guideline, but you don't have to follow it exactly. It begins on June 21, but start whenever you want. If you're going to post something here about what you've read, be clear about which pages you're writing about so you don't spoil anything for the rest of us.

-You must read the footnotes (or are they endnotes?). They're an integral part of the story. I hear it's a good idea to get two bookmarks, one for the novel and one for the footnotes.

-Post on this site once in awhile. Nobody is forcing you, but the point of this site is to provide a place for us to talk about what's going on. Our posts don't have to be deeply analytical essays, just thoughts.

So that's that. It starts June 21 and ends September 21, if you follow the calendar. I'm starting early. The book is very big. Buying it is a little intimidating. Godspeed.

P.S. I know very little about how this "wikispaces" works. Just letting you all know.

P.P.S. The "philistine" part is a joke. And you are a rube if you didn't get it.