Infinite Jest

I’ve tried, but after 150 pages I’m giving up — first I just tried skipping all of the parts that I found tedious, but then I discovered that if I skipped those parts (alcoholism sections, drug addiction sections, tennis sections) there wasn’t much book left. I found the first chapter incredibly captivating, was occasionally intrigued by the Quebecois separatists (and anything about US-Canada relations), and want to know more about Hal and the rest of the Incandenza family, not to mention the Entertainment, but I just can’t wade through another 850 pages to get there. If you’re going to give it a try, though, this Amazon review (spoiler free) is going to help you, along with the advice that you need three bookmarks (place in the novel, place in the endnotes, and page 223) and might want to take some notes as well. Also, Kottke has some good stuff about the book.