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Showing posts from May 31, 2008

Jay Loves A Book #4 - Infinite Jest

I want to move away from the YA for a minute, lest people get the impression that I've never read a book for adults in my life. I have. I do. I think that's one of the impressions a lot of people have about YA writers, is that we only read the stuff we write. Not true (at least not for me). Authors of "adult literature" (by which I mean books for people over the age of 17, not the other kind of "adult" literature), are some of my favorite writers. And my most favorite of all of them is David Foster Wallace. I'm going to talk about "Infinite Jest" here, because that's my favorite of all of his fiction and is sort of the apex of his career (to this point - I expect great things) and is the type of thing I'm most qualified (by my own reading and thinking) to evaluate, but his nonfiction is some of the most entertaining stuff I've ever read. A good place to start with Wallace is his collection of essays called "A Supposedly F

I've been tagged!

by Katie Alender , whose blog is so seriously entertaining that I sent a query letter to her agent just because he was cool enough to rep her. Here's the meme: 1. What was I doing ten years ago? Hmm...1998, what was I doing? Ooh! I was in a PhD program (Victorian Lit), and was months away from deciding to quit and go to law school (that happened in August). I have to say that, while I still miss teaching a little, that was a great decision. So, yay, ten years ago me, for being about to make a good life decision! 2. What are five things on my to do list for today (in no particular order)? finish the laundry; write 2500 words on Electric Boogaloo; walk the dog; straighten up office; read GMAT manual (I'm in training to be a GMAT instructor). 3. What snacks do I enjoy? I'm of the salty persuasion, so any thing made from a potato or corn that is then fried/salted, count me in. I also like fruit, but not nearly as much as I like potato chips. 4. Things I would d