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Barnes & No-fault

By Damin J. Toell, Esq.

According to the sidebar on David M. Gottlieb, Esq.'s blog, No-Fault Paradise, he's currently re-reading David Foster Wallace's 1996 novel 'Infinite Jest'. I admire that Mr. Gottlieb is still able to get any reading done; I have had a tough time of keeping at it since law school. I also admire that he has been able to finish 'Infinite Jest' (more than once?) and wants to go back for more. I tried starting it a few times, the most recent being August 14, 2003, when the Northeast had a blackout. Somehow it fails to grab me enough. I found Wallace's debut novel, 1987's 'The Broom of the System,' to be a bit more agreeable. I think I finished it, or at least came close.

As to my avoidance of 'Infinite Jest,' I would confess that I am afraid of Big Important Novels, but I don't think it's true. I spent much of my law school years (and tapering off thereafter) chewing up books like 'J R' and 'A Frolic of his Own' by William Gaddis (I think I got through the first chapter or two of 'The Recognitions' at one point), most everything by Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon's 'V.', most of the core works of Thomas Bernhard (which I guess don't quite qualify as 'big'), and even wannabe fare like Jonathan Franzen's 'The Corrections.' Then again, despite owning perhaps several hundred books, I can no longer seem to sit down and actually read any. Oddly enough, the subway commute I had during most of law school (Williamsburg<-->Greenwich Village) provided an ideal, structured time for plowing through books at a decent pace.

Full post as published by It's No-Fault of NY on July 18, 2007 (boomark / email).