our un/adaptable season draws to a close with infinite jest by david foster wallace. shreds is back, and he’s got a story to tell. we discuss the difficulty of the text (which is baked into the design), a mere fraction of the many things joey missed in his first read, and why you don’t really read infinite jest so much as you re-read it. we talk about the purpose and importance of the endnotes, wallace’s ability to describe tennis, and the prescience of technology in the text. we attempt to parse the most confusing part of the book (found in the first chapter), explore the purpose behind “the entertainment,” and wonder if punters have ever been this cool or admired. we hear from both egg and the honorable judge matt erdely, who drops by to judge a book by its four covers.

reading list for season five
the zone of interest by martin amis
underworld by don delillo
eileen by ottessa moshfegh
speedboat by renata adler
memory by donald westlake
blood and guts in high school by kathy acker
project hail mary by andy weir
the raw shark texts by steven hall
crying in h mart by michelle zauner
wittgenstein’s mistress by david markson
nightbitch by rachel yoder
infinite jest by david foster wallace