This book took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it. The book starts out kind of slow, but once I got around half way through it, it really picked up. A large part of this is that it’s very similar to cyberpunk books, where it just throws you into the setting and very slowly reveals things. Characters will talk about events and things like they normally would. They don’t need to explain these concepts to each other, they’re already very familiar with them. This is disorienting and leads to a slow start, but I think this book will be very rewarding if I ever decide to reread it, since I will already have a good grasp on the setting. Eventually though, you figure out what they are talking about and then the pages start to fly. A lot can happen in just a short amount of time, and because you understand the setting, a lot can be left unsaid. Things will happen and the book expects you to piece together the implications. There are plenty of moments where I would read a paragraph, and then be overwhelmed by ideas of how things were going to play out. And I wanted to keep reading to find out. The book’s strength is easily its world-building, so let’s talk more about that.

This book was… Fuck I don’t know how to describe this book.

It’s partially an exploration in writing. David Foster Wallace is obviously a brilliant writer, and the book contains many scenes that were nothing short of gripping. But it’s also obvious that he was having fun writing this book. He was playing around with it - mixing in multiple different writing styles, the endless footnotes, the odd ways he tells you important information. It’s just… eclectic. And wonderful. And difficult. And funny. And dense. It’s all of these things, and so much more.

Intro

My New Year’s resolution in 2018 was to keep track of everything I read. Context is important when trying to recall how you felt about books, not just the content of the words. Due to different life circumstances, the same book can be incredibly illuminating or insufferable. My goal in keeping track of all of this would be to be able to look back on the year and see how I’ve grown and what I’ve learned from all of my reading.

I can expand more or add to this list later, but here’s a quick list of books I love:

• Albert Camus - The Fall
• Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
• Aldous Huxley - Island
• Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon
• David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest
• Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms
• F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
• Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis
• George Orwell - 1984
• George Orwell - Animal Farm
• George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia
• H.P. Lovecraft - The Colour Out of Space
• Hermann Hesse - Steppenwolf
• J.D. Sallinger - The Catcher in the Rye
• J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter series
• J.R.R. Tolkien - The Hobbit
• John Green - Looking For Alaska
• John Steinbeck - In Dubious Battle
• John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men
• Kurt Vonnegut - Cat’s Cradle
• Kurt Vonnegut - Mother Night
• Lewis Carrol - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
• Mark Z. Danielewski - House of Leaves
• Neil Gaiman - The Ocean at the End of the Lane
• Orson Scott Card - Ender’s Game
• Orson Scott Card - The Worthing Saga
• Oscar Wilde - The Portrait of Dorian Gray
• Philip K. Dick - Ubik