Category Archives: 2016 Goals

Proust drops in at 44 Scotland Street

Alexander McCall Smith, 44 Scotland Street series (2005 – no end in sight) If you like your soap operas literate, breezy, quirky, and in book form, then the prolific Mr. Smith* has a few options for you. I settled into … Continue reading

Posted in 2016 Goals, Art, Fiction, Humorous, Roman fleuve, Series, Travel | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Proust, the perfect beach-read

Within a Budding Grove, pp. 534-714 Although I’m not a beach person, a 10-second video online sold me on this place in Mexico. Shade was the key. I can sit on a beach all day, if sun is not involved. … Continue reading

Posted in 2016 Goals, Beach books, Fiction, Memoir, reading | Tagged | 1 Comment

OK, so what’d I miss?

Two months since my last post? How did that happen? Oh, right. Work. I’m at the tail end of my penultimate semester of teaching. My final school task this month is to grade a 3-inch stack of papers. Meanwhile, I’ve … Continue reading

Posted in 2016 Goals, Am writing, reading, short stories | 2 Comments

Re-entry

Within a Budding Grove, pp. 528-533. I still have the 5-year-old notes for these pages, but to ease the task of getting back into reading Proust himself (rather than just my old blog posts and some books about his novel) I’ve … Continue reading

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The center of attention

The final reblogging from 5 years ago.  Within a Budding Grove, 514-528 One of the perks of reading Proust is finding out about obscure personages. Although his main characters are his own creations (albeit based on real people), he sprinkles … Continue reading

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I’m such a demanding reader

Back in 2010-11, while working my way through 500+ pages of tiny print (I’ve just counted — 48 lines per page), I complained a bit about the lack of illustrations in some other books. I’m amused now that I never … Continue reading

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Proust brought forward

One last detour on my journey through past Proust posts, to a novel whose title reveals its relevance. Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen (2003), Kate Taylor, 457 pp. This novel, set in three time periods, is about women and how … Continue reading

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Marcel comments on hotel guests

I’m nearing the end of these posts from the past (I think). However many remain, though, I’m determined to end this week with real-time reading and blogging. Within a Budding Grove, pp. 504-514 The only thing to report about these 10 … Continue reading

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Marcel on the Beach

Warning: I get a bit philosophical here. Within a Budding Grove, pp. 488-504 Marcel has gone off to Balbec-Plage, in Normandy. After, of course, much anguish about leaving his mother. I suppose it’s all meant to be very touching, but … Continue reading

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Romanticism

First week of January, 2011, must have been quiet, for I made wonderful progress in Proust, reading whom is like watching a glacier. Things move too slowly to notice changes over short periods of time (or just a few pages) — … Continue reading

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