What are you currently reading?

[Brian]

I have recently abandoned Proust. Dreadful nonsense. Cornerstone of literature, maybe, but a tedious and narcissistic mess of drawn out dross.

In the packing of books in crates to move, the entire series of books in his magnum opus is headed for the Charity Shop. Never to return. This was lost time for which I will be glad to not search again.

I'm clearly a Philistine.

I had to read the first volume in college and never picked up the second. Very happy to listen to this instead:



By the way - are you moving far?

[Spotted Horses]

Burnt Shadows, Kamila Shamsie



The story follows a Japanese woman who survived the atomic bomb attach in Nagasaki, and whose family connections lead her through other periods and places of violence and inhumanity, India during the partition, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and New York after 9/11. It contrasts family ties and loyalties with harsh political conditions. I found it a compelling read. (I had previously read another book by Shamsie, Home Fires.)

[foxandpeng]

I had to read the first volume in college and never picked up the second. Very happy to listen to this instead:



By the way - are you moving far?

Has to be better than reading Proust.

25 miles north from where we are now. Not far in the grand scheme of things, but far enough!

[Spotted Horses]

I have recently abandoned Proust. Dreadful nonsense. Cornerstone of literature, maybe, but a tedious and narcissistic mess of drawn out dross.

In the packing of books in crates to move, the entire series of books in his magnum opus is headed for the Charity Shop. Never to return. This was lost time for which I will be glad to not search again.

I'm clearly a Philistine.

I actually made it though the second volume, and my notes said I found it less interesting than Swan's Way. I did find something interesting in the psychological  drama, but I don't have the time or feeling of repose necessary. The third volume doesn't seem to be in my future.

[foxandpeng]

I actually made it though the second volume, and my notes said I found it less interesting than Swan's Way. I did find something interesting in the psychological  drama, but I don't have the time or feeling of repose necessary. The third volume doesn't seem to be in my future.

You are a better man than me 😀

[ritter]

Well, this is the shelf in my library with books on (or by) Marcel Proust (and Reynaldo Hahn). The "canonical" works, in the Pléiade editions --6 volumes--, are elsewhere in my library, as are the oversized items (e.g., facsimiles of the annotated galley proofs of Combray or of the manuscript of the madeleine episode).

25 miles north from where we are now. Not far in the grand scheme of things, but far enough!

Good luck with the move. I hope you get nicely settled in your new home...

[Florestan]

Well, this is the shelf in my library with books on (or by) Marcel Proust (and Reynaldo Hahn). The "canonical" works, in the Pléiade editions --6 volumes--, are elsewhere in my library, as are the oversized items (e.g., facsimiles of the annotated galley proofs of Combray or of the manuscript of the madeleine episode).

Have you read them all in their entirety?

[foxandpeng]

Well, this is the shelf in my library with books on (or by) Marcel Proust (and Reynaldo Hahn). The "canonical" works, in the Pléiade editions --6 volumes--, are elsewhere in my library, as are the oversized items (e.g., facsimiles of the annotated galley proofs of Combray or of the manuscript of the madeleine episode).


Good luck with the move. I hope you get nicely settled in your new home...

I am incredibly impressed! Not just with your ability to read Proust with benefit, but with your commitment to thinking and understanding on more than just a superficial level. I have less patience with this particular author, but wish I could have just motored on through each book and finished them. There is an achievement in scaling a mountain, but this is one peak too far, for me.

Thanks for your kind words - we are more than ready to move now, but are still awaiting a final date due to outstanding paperwork! 

[ritter]

Have you read them all in their entirety?

Several times over... 

No, seriously, I've read many (but not all) of them. Isn't the point of having a library at home the notion that you have books at your disposal, even if you have no concrete plans to read them?

For instance, I recently readd volume 1 of George D. Painter's biography of Proust, and then decided to leave volume 2 for a future occasion.

Some of these books are also simply "browseable", and not meant to be read in one sitting.

[foxandpeng]

Several times over... 

No, seriously, I've read many (but not all) of them. Isn't the point of having a library at home the notion that you have books at your disposal, even if you have no concrete plans to read them?

For instance, I recently readd volume 1 of George D. Painter's biography of Proust, and then decided to leave volume 2 for a future occasion.

Some of these books are also simply "browseable", and not meant to be read in one sitting.

Yes!! Aspirational bookshelves!

My kind of library.

[Florestan]

Isn't the point of having a library at home the notion that you have books at your disposal, even if you have no concrete plans to read them?

Quite. I too have in my library many books that I've never read, or have only browsed occasionally.

Some of these books are also simply "browseable", and not meant to be read in one sitting.

True as well.

I'm curious: what writer, irrespective of nationality, do you have the most books about (about, mind you, not by)?