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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 Alexander McCall Smith, Marcel Proust
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
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
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
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
Posted in 2016 Goals
Tagged Charles Ephrussi, Edmund de Waal, Louise Cahen d'Anvers, Marcel Proust, Renoir
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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
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
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
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
