Lost Time Thursday: In Search of Lost Proust

[evelyn_b]

I have one major resolution for 2016, and that is to read In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. Why haven't I read it already? I started a couple of times, back in the Nineties, but always stalled out. Now I'm about a hundred pages into Swann's Way and it's completely intoxicating, in the now-established tradition of books I put off reading for

Comments

[osprey_archer]

Ooh, I think this is a marvelous idea! I've never read Proust so I may not have anything to say about these posts, but I will look forward to them nonetheless.

And I think it's fairly common for children to latch onto the idea of something - like Proust and the theater - without having any real experience of it. I was horse-mad right up until I met an actual horse, at which point I felt quite alarmed and dwarfed.

Maybe when I start my War & Peace read, I should set aside a day each week just to post about that.

[evelyn_b]

Horses are gigantic! :O Especially if you are small.

I've been trying to think of an example all weekend, because this is definitely something that feels familiar to me -- I mean, latching onto something I have no experience of and getting really into it without any actual experience, but I'm having trouble. A lot of old movies, in the days when old movies were much harder to come by and my only source was stills from Life Goes to the Movies. Probably several other things I can't think of.

Proust is really good about all those little weirdnesses.

Maybe when I start my War & Peace read, I should set aside a day each week just to post about that.

I hope you do! :D

[silverflight8]

I feel you on the books I am still too intimidated to read. There are a great deal of books to get to. (Plus I keep getting sidetracked by new books coming out.)

[evelyn_b]

I wish I were a little more easily sidetracked by new books! I keep missing the party. But then, I like my old books, and the nice thing about writing having been invented is that the party is never really over.

I think I've gotten a little less alarmed in general, as I sidle up to middle age, about the tremendous number of books I'll never get to. But my reaction when I read a really good book is still, "Why didn't I read this ten years ago? What's been wrong with me all this time?"

Are you planning to read something that intimidates you this year?