(no subject)
I posted this reply to a comment on Facebook after I'd quoted a passage of Infinite Jest.
The quote:
In other news, I used a gift card to download some erotica collections (Best of the Best of Gay Erotica and Best Gay Romance 2009) and I've been using that as my relief reading, because the stories are lighter and shorter than most short stories, plus they're also on the Nook so I can just flip over when I NEED A BREAK. And also they're basically porn so automatic interest, you know? Less of that "Am I going to like this story?" Although there is more a breadth of subject matter and style than I expected.
The quote:
- "Avril said she’d watch him just kind of drift from cluster to cluster and lurk around creepily on the fringe, listening, but that he’d always say, loudly, in some lull in the group’s conversation, something like ‘I’m afraid I’m far too self-conscious really to join in here, so I’m just going to lurk creepily at the fringe and listen, if that’s all right, just so you know,’ and so on."
- Thank you for saving me $12 as I now know not to buy this book. :)
- I mean, I actually did post this as an example of something I found humorous, in context I guess. But yeah, that could be an artifact of my having been reading this book for hours at a time these past days. So yeah. I would not, at this juncture, categorically deny that the book has merits and that if you're looking for a non-Ulysses and non-Gravity's Rainbow literary mountain to climb, then this is probably a good pick. But I will argue that it is at times arduous and that as a person who does not typically find literary merit in arduous reading, it has been difficult going at these times. I think I will not regret having read it, when I do finish it, but I also think that not being able to consistently read something I enjoy the past few weeks has contributed to depression and is ruining my goal of reading lots of books this year. I think I've become melodramatic at the end of my reply to your content, which was not the intent of my reply at the beginning. The point is, it's a very personal decision, reading this book, and I wish you luck in your journey with or without it.
In other news, I used a gift card to download some erotica collections (Best of the Best of Gay Erotica and Best Gay Romance 2009) and I've been using that as my relief reading, because the stories are lighter and shorter than most short stories, plus they're also on the Nook so I can just flip over when I NEED A BREAK. And also they're basically porn so automatic interest, you know? Less of that "Am I going to like this story?" Although there is more a breadth of subject matter and style than I expected.