Infinite Winter 2016 discussion

I am hoping we can introduce ourselves a bit here so we can get a bit more familiar with each other and glean insight into individual reactions/responses to IJ.

I'm Ashlyn, 29yo software dev in Denver, CO. This is my first attempt at reading IJ, and I've never read any other Wallace pieces. I am a member of a couple other online bookclubs, so IJ over 13 weeks is perfect for me. I tend to read a lot of classics and po-mo pieces rather than bestsellers. I'm a pretty critical reader, but I'm open to almost anything.

I'm planning on supplementing the reading with Mike Miley's Filmography Pairings. Is anyone else doing this, or with another set of films/visual media? It would be cool to see a list of music to pair with it as well.

Happy reading, fellow Jesters!

Hi everyone. I'm a 28 yr old Chicagoan in trading who is a huge DFW fan. This is my third read-through and I'm looking to take a more critical, methodical approach after my previous reads.

I use reading IJ to escape. It's a place to feel less alone, to laugh, and a reminder of how much fun a difficult time can be.

I look forward to taking the journey with others for the first time.

Hello everybody.
I'm a 35 yo teacher from central México, first time reader, music lover, will read anything.

Loving the book so far. I had never read anything so intelligently written, so cold, sad and disconnected before and I can only see it getting better. I'm also a big 90s nostalgist, so that's another reason I decided to dive into IJ.

Hope you all have fun and share whatever you feel like sharing while we read together.

It would be cool to see a list of music to pair with it as well.
Here's a quick one I threw together yesterday.

Infinite Winter '16 Vol. 1, the 90s (B.S.)
https://open.spotify.com/user/salvado...

Awesome playlist, Sgossard! I hope you and others will share more as the weeks go on. :)

Hi Everyone, I am reposting part of the introduction that I posted up on infinitewinter.org.

I attempted to read Infinite Jest for the first time during Infinite Summer. I made it about 100 pages in and bailed out. My husband, Jeff, finished and blogged some along the way (https://infinitetasks.wordpress.com).

The following summer, I was one of three guides for a group reading of one of my favorite anarchist texts, Letters of Insurgents (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters...), which we called Insurgent Summer. Shortly after that, I read, finished and enjoyed my first DFW book, The Pale King. Later, Jeff re-read IJ and taught a class on it for the Great Books program at USF, where he is a philosophy professor.

About six months ago, I began writing a novel of my own and uncovered that IJ and DFW influence two of my characters (one based loosely on my husband), so I decided to give it another go, this time with a “Professor of Infinite Jest” at the ready for questions and a pre-highlighted copy of the book. When I heard about Infinite Winter, I thought it would be a great way to keep myself going and I gained a bit of confidence by already having some pages under my belt (twice).

Hello! I am here for my 6th read-through. (The story of my IJ journey is here: http://infinitewinter.org/johanna-sch...).
I'm 43, live in Calgary, work in nonprofit, and once made an offer with my partner that I would read the entire Dark Tower series by Stephen King if he would read IJ. I did it, he reneged.

Hi! I'm David. I am reading Infinite Jest for the first time.
I'm sharing my drawings from the text.

https://twitter.com/infinitejensen

Hi!
I'm italian, and back in 2011 I tried to read the book Himself in english. I had to quit after a hundred and thirty pages 'cause I was jumping too often back and forth between the book and the dictionary (and, still, feel confused about the direction of the plot). So, I decided to take a step back and read it in italian, and for three months I was so addicted to it that, in some ways, it felt like I was actually living in the book (not a great way to phrase it, but it's the closer I can get to describe it).
Then I tried to re-read it in english a few more times but, even if I found the original version way better than the italian translation, I never quite had the perseverance to finish it. Actually, I was waiting for an opportunity like Infinite Winter.
I'm also following Mike Miley's Filmography Pairings, just watched "Videodrome" and it...fits like a glove!

Hi! I'm Esther I'm 22 and this is my first read through of ij or any dfw!
Tried IJ last year and it sent me into a reading slump but this time round im loving it!! :)

Heyo! I'm Tobias, a 28 year old IT sysadmin from Norway. I recently became a dad, so I don't have as much time to read as I'd want, but I've wanted to read IJ for some years (I'm a big Pynchon fan and feel like Wallace hits some of the same notes).

Hi, I'm Maureen, a 30 year old Archivist from Philly. I read IJ once before in two bursts, half in the hazy mornings of summer and half when I was studying abroad in Belgium. That was almost ten years ago! I'm a huge DFW fan, have read his novels, essays, you name it. His writing feels like home. I'm a little late to the start this time, but I can't wait to dive in. Having a community to read it with is awesome!

Hey! Charlie - 62 / NJ by way of Philly and Staten Island. Might be a little late to the party (what else is new?) but going to give it a whirl!

Hi, I'm Spencer, a 43yo educator from Illinois. This is my first run at reading IJ, though it's been on my list for a while. I got a late start, but now am finally on schedule, I think. Now I need to catch up on reading what the group has posted. :-)

Hello! I'm Valentina, 26 yo from Venezuela currently living in Spain. First time reading IJ.