Sunday, July 26, 2015
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
the pale king by david foster wallace
Chapter summaries
1. Description of Midwestern landscape.
2. Sylvanshine on plane. Thinking about test. Nervous, self-loathing.
3. Masturbation conversation. Characters unknown.
4. Frederick Blumquist has been dead for four days at work.
5. Steyck's childhood. Acts perfectly while mother is in coma.
6. Lane Dean has impregnated Sheri Fisher. She lets him go.
7. Sylvanshine rides to work in a repossessed Mr. Squishee truck.
8. Toni Ware grows up in trailer park, fends off boys, cuts their brake lines and leaves sewage under their porches.
9. "David Wallace" the false author is introduced. Forced to work at IRS after getting expelled from college for writing papers for others. Meditation on memoir v. fiction.
12. Steyck hands out zip code directories in the neighborhood.
13. Cusk's childhood, his neuroses around perspiration.
14. Stecyk initiates a documentary about IRS employees. Description of IRS evolving into a capitalistic, revenue-generating organization.
15. Sylvanshine is revealed as a "fact psychic", a person who can intuit useless minutiae.
18. The Pale King is revealed to be the boss prior to DeWitt Glendenning. All we know is that he was less "agent-morale-oriented".
19. A discussion about the nature of American democracy takes place in a stalled elevator.
21. A business owner commits tax fraud by using the social security numbers of senile old ladies to represent temporary employees.
22. Long chapter about the college years of "Irrelevant" Chris Fogle, his drug use, his self-absorption, the violent death of his father, how he counts the number of words that people say, epiphany with the Jesuit accounting professor that the tedious life is heroic.
24. David Wallace is stuck in a car with Fogle and Cusk. Meditation on the urban planning and construction practices that cause traffic jams. He begins orientation with Chahla Neti-Neti "The Iranian Crisis" who, in a footnote, fellates him.
26. A description of the phantoms that haunt the Regional Examination Center.
27. Cusk sweats during training. David Wallace is mistakenly placed with experts.
32. An examiner has his sister imitate "The Exorcist" on speakerphone.
33. A meditation on boredom and the history of the word.
35. Manshart's ugly infant son is in his office. He turns to the narrator and says "Well?"
36. Growing up, a boy attempts to train himself to kiss every part of his body. His father has serial affairs.
38. Explanation of the computer error that caused David Wallace to show up at the wrong office.
39. Steyck earns the respect of his adolescent peers by administering first aid to the shop teacher's severed thumb.
40. Cusk enumerates his fears in therapy.
42. "Colorado Todd" describes a methamphetamine binge.
43. There is a terrorist attack on another office.
44. The ability to "function effectively in an environment that precludes everything vital and human" is championed. Is this not the thrust of the book?
45. Toni Ware avoids being murdered by playing dead by not blinking for several minutes.
46. Meredith Rand and Shane Drinion have a meta-conversation about physical attractiveness. Drinion levitates towards the end.
47. Toni Ware pretends that she has been assaulted by a convenience store clerk.
49. The story of Merril Errol Lehrl creating the requirement that social security numbers accompany dependents, even though the numbers are never cross-checked. This generates 1.2 billion in revenue the first year.
1. Description of Midwestern landscape.
2. Sylvanshine on plane. Thinking about test. Nervous, self-loathing.
3. Masturbation conversation. Characters unknown.
4. Frederick Blumquist has been dead for four days at work.
5. Steyck's childhood. Acts perfectly while mother is in coma.
6. Lane Dean has impregnated Sheri Fisher. She lets him go.
7. Sylvanshine rides to work in a repossessed Mr. Squishee truck.
8. Toni Ware grows up in trailer park, fends off boys, cuts their brake lines and leaves sewage under their porches.
9. "David Wallace" the false author is introduced. Forced to work at IRS after getting expelled from college for writing papers for others. Meditation on memoir v. fiction.
12. Steyck hands out zip code directories in the neighborhood.
13. Cusk's childhood, his neuroses around perspiration.
14. Stecyk initiates a documentary about IRS employees. Description of IRS evolving into a capitalistic, revenue-generating organization.
15. Sylvanshine is revealed as a "fact psychic", a person who can intuit useless minutiae.
18. The Pale King is revealed to be the boss prior to DeWitt Glendenning. All we know is that he was less "agent-morale-oriented".
19. A discussion about the nature of American democracy takes place in a stalled elevator.
21. A business owner commits tax fraud by using the social security numbers of senile old ladies to represent temporary employees.
22. Long chapter about the college years of "Irrelevant" Chris Fogle, his drug use, his self-absorption, the violent death of his father, how he counts the number of words that people say, epiphany with the Jesuit accounting professor that the tedious life is heroic.
24. David Wallace is stuck in a car with Fogle and Cusk. Meditation on the urban planning and construction practices that cause traffic jams. He begins orientation with Chahla Neti-Neti "The Iranian Crisis" who, in a footnote, fellates him.
26. A description of the phantoms that haunt the Regional Examination Center.
27. Cusk sweats during training. David Wallace is mistakenly placed with experts.
32. An examiner has his sister imitate "The Exorcist" on speakerphone.
33. A meditation on boredom and the history of the word.
35. Manshart's ugly infant son is in his office. He turns to the narrator and says "Well?"
36. Growing up, a boy attempts to train himself to kiss every part of his body. His father has serial affairs.
38. Explanation of the computer error that caused David Wallace to show up at the wrong office.
39. Steyck earns the respect of his adolescent peers by administering first aid to the shop teacher's severed thumb.
40. Cusk enumerates his fears in therapy.
42. "Colorado Todd" describes a methamphetamine binge.
43. There is a terrorist attack on another office.
44. The ability to "function effectively in an environment that precludes everything vital and human" is championed. Is this not the thrust of the book?
45. Toni Ware avoids being murdered by playing dead by not blinking for several minutes.
46. Meredith Rand and Shane Drinion have a meta-conversation about physical attractiveness. Drinion levitates towards the end.
47. Toni Ware pretends that she has been assaulted by a convenience store clerk.
49. The story of Merril Errol Lehrl creating the requirement that social security numbers accompany dependents, even though the numbers are never cross-checked. This generates 1.2 billion in revenue the first year.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Books we have read
Let's create a list of the books we have read over these past 20+ years - WAY before Oprah made bookclubs the fashion.
Click on the Comment link below and tell us the titles you remember.
After folks have had a chance to chime in, I will compile a master list.
Click on the Comment link below and tell us the titles you remember.
After folks have had a chance to chime in, I will compile a master list.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
there but for the
Pose questions and comments as you read our next book by Ali Smith.
Click on the link and tell us how the reading is going.
Beth is hosting on Thursday, November 17.
Click on the link and tell us how the reading is going.
Beth is hosting on Thursday, November 17.
brave new world
What did you think of the book? What's the best dystopian novel you have ever read? Read recently?
Share an anecdote about a time when real events seemed futuristic, surreal, or otherwise foreign.
Post it by clicking on the link below.
Share an anecdote about a time when real events seemed futuristic, surreal, or otherwise foreign.
Post it by clicking on the link below.
Monday, March 28, 2011
finn by jon clinch
Did you read Huck Finn in high school? Recently? Ever? Tell us about your impressions of the original Twain novel, by posting a comment on the link below (click on comments)
This summer, we will be reading Jon Clinch's first novel, Finn, which looks at Huck's adventures from pap's perspective. Check in here for what your bookclubmates are thinking of the book.
Follow the link below to see what next year's AP English students have to say about the book.
AP English blog
This summer, we will be reading Jon Clinch's first novel, Finn, which looks at Huck's adventures from pap's perspective. Check in here for what your bookclubmates are thinking of the book.
Follow the link below to see what next year's AP English students have to say about the book.
AP English blog
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