I love the expression on her face. It's pretty much how I feel. I'm still not through with Infinite Jest. I love it so much, yet I'm taking my sweet time.

"Everybody does see that I'm reading Infinite Jest, right? I hope my hand isn't obscuring the cover."

i feel self-conscious if I read it in public, which is probably why it's taking me so long.

Unfortunately not true. Talk to emergency room physicians. Too many people only manage to shoot their eyes out or merely injure themselves to the point that they can't make another attempt.

Is anyone planning to try to see Brief Interviews with Hideous Men?

I remember reading about it a while back and was surprised to see it On Demand a few days ago. I probably will check it out.

Have you read the book? If you haven't, I think that you would love it. If you have, you know what I mean.

i heard the movie is bad.

ya know, I picked it up one time and started it in Barnes & Noble, and I enjoyed it but I didn't get very far. Since I've gone back I've been reading other books though. I do plan on reading it eventually, of course I say that about all his books and I've really only read his essays.

Thanks for the tip, Invention. I really haven't heard reviews.

I think Brief Interviews is one of the most deceptive books I've ever read. On the surface level, it's just your run of the mill dark humor, but after you absorb it a little bit then dear god does it paint an accurate picture of loneliness and selfishness. I'm not so sure how I feel about being able to relate to a lot of it. The Depressed Person and Forever Overhead might be some of the best writing I've read all year.

reid, would i like dfw?

Probably. He has a lot to say about America at the turn of the century and how we communicate with each other. That sort of stuff seems like your kind of thing, from what I gather.

hmmm...i bought Oblivion at a used bookstore a few years ago but haven't read it...i don't think i really want to start with it though

I haven't read Oblivion either. Start with this:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/ ... _thompsons

I've heard Oblivion is pretty abstract...like it'll be known as his 'late period' orsomething someday. I heard a recording of DFW reading from it on NPR and I was like wtf (and that was after reading IJ).

oblivion is an awesome title though.

one thing about this guy that pisses me off is that he killed himself.

I've been through numerous episodes of depression, some more severe than others, and felt like kicking the bucket, but I didn't, because I kept telling myself, "Cowboy up. The pioneers had it worse."

I mean, what the fuck, Wallace?

mental problems

its kind of weird thinking that we lived in the same town, went in the same stores, hung out the same places, etc.

Didn't he go off of depression medication that he had been using for quite a while before he killed himself?

Yeah, he did. Surely that contributed to it, but I think it takes more than that to have an honest to god suicidal ideation. I think that a lot of his writing was more a form of catharsis than anything else.