A supposedly fun summer

I have been out of work for three months. It's been like a summer vacation, albeit a summer vacation in which I can't really go anywhere and I kind of hurt.

Just before I had surgery in July, I realized that post-surgery would be a perfect time to read Infinite Jest. Approximately the size of two bricks, Infinte Jest had been exerting a gravitational pull on me for quite some time. I would wander over to it at the one library that carried it, heft it in both hands, consider my upcoming schedule and the other books I had to finish reading, and reluctantly put it back. This happened numerous times. A couple times I swung by that library with card ready to finally check it out, and it wasn't there. Infinte Jest and I were star-crossed.

But with my schedule pretty much cleared for me, I asked my partner to actually buy a copy. Like at the bookstore. I looked forward to the few ounces the paperback would shave off the library's hardback, plus no due-date stress.

Best. Purchase. Ever.

Getting ahold of it was a little tricky: The puzzled clerk at the first bookstore reported the store was sold out of its normal three copies, adding "we didn't even sell any last year when he [the author] died." I googled the mystery and immediately found Infinte Summer, an enormous group of folks who have depleted bookstores nationwide in order to read the book together this summer. My partner found me a copy, and a month and a half after the other readers had started I cracked open the book. Here is my brief and spoiler-free summary of the reading experience:

First 300 pages: Well, I've heard it's good...
Second 300 pages: Ooh, this is really good...
Third 300 pages: OMG I WANT TO FINISH IT RIGHT NOW BUT THEN IT WILL BE OVER NOOOOO...
(Throughout: furious note-taking and dictionary-wearing-out)