The English Inquisitor

You always go through Hi’s and Lo’s while reading a book. Even if it’s one you really enjoy or are interested in. There are just down periods, or chapters or characters you don’t quite enjoy as much, and that’s ok.

I recently went a reading spree and made a lot of progress in my book. While I find it all a great read, it had gone through a slower period. But it’s picking up and I have a few theories about what’s going to happen, and now I’m in that “can’t put it down” stage. I also still have about 700 more pages to read, so it’s very likely I’ll have at least one more slumpy bit. But just remember to stick with it and usually the interesting parts will come.

[photo by Annais]

After 200 pages I have finally gotten past the exposition!!!!! And now the actual story is beginning. Obviously with a longer book, it would take longer to set everything up. You need to stick with it longer to start getting to the meaty stuff.

Even the exposition is fabulous, but after 200 pages, you still get a little antsy. The appitizer is good, but you’re ready for the main course. But it also shows that you often just have to stick it out.

Infinite Jest doesn’t fall into this category, but I have a rule of reading a book to the halfway point before putting it down. By then, you have a better understanding if the book is something you want to finish. If you want dessert.

Episode 4 – Wordstock

Authors

• Shannon Wheeler works as a graphic artist, producing comics, graphic novels, and other ventures.
• Bonny Becker and Laura Kvasnosky share their passion for writing for children. Bonny has written “A Visitor for Bear” now on the New York Times Best Sellers List and Laura  has written many picture books including the Zelda and Ivey series.
• Ellen Heltzel and Margo Hammond are The Book Babes! They have a new book out, and radio show with WMNF 88.5 FM based out of Tampa, FL. You can listen to them online here!
• John Hodgman plays the PC in the Apple commercials. The man is seriously funny. Don’t discount him for his minor tv commercial fame. He’s an awesome writer.

Literary Events

• Leon County Books Groups
• Moonrise Book Group in Jacksonville
• Florida Writers Conference November 14th – 16th in Lake Mary
• Miami Book Fair November 9 -16

From AlanGratz.com: “Alan is the author of one of the ALA’s 2007 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, Samurai Shortstop (Dial 2006), and a 2008 ALA Quick Pick for Young Adult Readers, Something Rotten (Dial 2007). A sequel, Something Wicked (Dial 2008), is on shelves now. His first book for middle grade readers, The Brooklyn Nine (Dial 2009) debuts in March 2009, just in time for the baseball season.”

Riffing off of Hamlet, Something Rotten is a great read! “A stinking-rich family. A reeking paper plant. A murder most foul. Something is definitely rotten in Denmark, Tennessee, and only 17-year-old etective Horatio Wilkes can sniff out the killer.”

And you can read it for FREE! But only until November 30. Click here, here, here, or even here to read this great book!

“Sovay, Sovay all on a day
She dressed herself in man’s array
With a brace of pistols all by her side
To meet her true love, to meet her true love, away she’d ride.

This is the first verse of a traditional ballad that served as Celia Rees’s inspiration for her new novel. Set at the close of the 18th century, when revolutionary activities in America and France incited a similar fervor in England, SOVAY introduces another of Rees’s captivating, independent, postmodern heroines, interacting with the events of history with a mind of her own.”

This is an excerpt from Teenreads.com. Check it out!!!

Infinite Jest is a book I’m reading for fun. I don’t have a deadline or timeline that I need to have it finished by, I can read it and finish it whenever I want. On average I’ve been reading 2 or 3 times a week. However, since this book is so monstrous, it will take me forever to finish it that way. Plus, because of the way the plot is, I find that long times in between readings is leaving me disjointed and not following it as easily as I would if I were reading it more consistently. So I’ve decided to put myself on a schedule.

I decided that a month to read the rest of it would be a good time frame. I’ve already taken a month to read 100ish pages. So I decided I wanted to read a little each day. 1200, divided by 30 is 40. So my goal is to read 40 pages a day. Not bad, very manageable.

Reading schedules are great things to set up for yourself, particularly with school. Whether it’s a book for English or a textbook for History, if you set up a reading schedule you can finish the book in the amount of time you need to. Schedules can look very different, they don’t have to look anything like mine. For example, if you know you can read Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays because of your schedule, and you have 2 weeks to read a 300 page book, you should read about 50 pages each day, and you’ll have the book done in no time!

After reading this, reading anything else is going to seem so fast and easy!

I never though footnotes could be so fun since starting Infinite Jest. Foster Wallace uses them in such an amazing way. They provide clarification and cite resources just like you would expect. But these are no orginary footnotes.

Foster Wallace takes them above and beyond what you could ever imagine they could be used for. Almost like a third plane of existence that every other author has been missing out on utilizing. His footnotes are anecdotes, inside jokes, calirifiers, and short stories. I just finished one footnote that I was expecting to explain why one character lost his legs. Instead, the footnote is a short story for a second character writing a term paper about the organization that the wheelchair bound character belongs to, and therefore, how he looses his legs. And I haven’t even scratched the surface. I am only on #45 out of over 400 footnotes.

Let the journey continue.

Tall, Dark and Dead, Dead Sexy, and Romancing the Dead by Stefanie Sarros

This is a super adorable series about love, and magic and mystery and all the trouble you get into when you mix them together. You’re really going to love these books. Once you read one, you’re hooked. So beware!

It all started when the most gorgeous man alive walked into her store, Mercury Crossing, one afternoon. He had no aura. This meant he was dead. She knew exactly who he was; a vampire. Her ex boyfriend, Daniel Parrish, was a vampire, but how was this guy walking around in the middle of the day? Now the Vatican assassins are after him, and through him, they find her and all hell brakes loose…again.

This is an amazing series. It’s full of magic, love, zombies, witches, ghosts, jealousy, and humor. The stories are told from the main character’s perspective, Garnet Lacey, and she has the cutest personality.

Infinite Jest is a big book. Pretty much every chapter has a new subplot and characters. Not to mention, each chapter happens in a different year. For crying out loud!! It’s taking a lot of work to make sense and keep track of everything.

But, I’ve found a system that is working for me. Timeline wise, I’ve been keeping track of everything that’s going on. I’ve been using those highlighter tabs you can buy to mark paper. I’ve been using different colors to mark off the different chapters, which indicate the different years within the book. It’s been a great way to quickly revisit information, and remember what events are happening when. Even for a less complicating book, this can be a great tip to use as you read. Just mark pages as you go for quick reference later. You’ll be all set!

One thing I love about the book are the Chapter titles. “Year of the Trial Sized Dove Bar” Amazing!