You'll immediately notice a distinct lack of the usual suspects, there's in fact only one book here and it isn't even a genre novel.
It is, however, an important one. Top of its class you could say.
Infinite Jest is one of those big titles that anyone with even a passing interest in modern literature will have heard of: A satirical, Post- (post?) modern, mammoth encyclopedic novel, famous for its length and notorious for its use of end-notes.
So far I've read a little under 70 pages of the main novel, complete with the corresponding end-notes, including the 10 page end-note detailing a fictional filmography of one of the story's characters.
That's not as bad as it sounds, depending on how you are geared, as a lot of information can be gleaned from a careful reading and among the avalanche of clutter there's some genuinely interesting and/or funny stuff to be found, there also was some particular information here that cemented my resolution to continue reading.
It's a bit hard to keep track of though: the narrative jumps from one scene to the other with only the barest suggestion of linearity, the method of dating the years coming across as deliberately obtusifying, and several scenes seem to add nothing to the novel's momentum other than adding more background information to the story's universe.
But, as I said, it's quite interesting.
For the rest, first off, let's not dwell on all the food, candy and alcohol I got. Some of it was missing for the picture already, for some reason.
I got a party-chess set, which, as I don't know how to play chess, is kind of mystifying, but as I know how to drink I guess it does hit 1/2. The board itself is actual glass, which is pretty cool.
In the clothing department I got Rick and Morty socks and a t-shirt with self-drawn art from someone I introduced to the 'Vikings' show.
Really quite sweet, though the smiley face does take away from how bad-ass this shirt could have been.
Orphan Black mug, because tie-in merchandise is always welcome.
And then, at the last; new working out gear.
Which is really nice as I've wanted a weighted vest for ever.
This one allows for a 10 kg maximum and it's good to wear during regular strength training.
I've also gone on my normal running route a few times with 4 kg, once with 5 kg, and then another time with 6 kg.
For now I'm going to keep that at 4 kg maximum whenever I do a run for the foreseeable future.
That 6 kg really wore me out when I did it. It also didn't help that I took that run after a hard day at work.
The yellow resistance band has got 25 kg tension and the blue one 15 kg. Good for relaxation and toning (I guess).
The handles are a welcome addition for doing push-ups as my wrists sometimes give out.
With this I can make my routine more regular.
I requested the vest in particular because I needed something to fill in the void that the reduced interest in reading has given me. If you can't or don't want to read and write, if occasionally you can't even think much at all, you better find something new to occupy your time. From the cerebral to the physical, I'll see how it goes.
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