A year of reading Proust
Next year, I’m going to read Proust. I’m going to tackle In Search of Lost Time (AKA Remembrance of Things Past, or more precisely “À la recherche du temps perdu”), from beginning to end.
I say next year because I’m still working my way though this year’s reading plans. I’m made some progress, especially when I was stressed out, since I tend to read more as a coping mechanism.
I have strayed pretty far and wide from the list though. Although I planned not to buy any books, I have picked up a few things here and there. And I just put a bunch of books on hold at the library. And then there’s Stephanie’s library, currently being unpacked and placed on shelves in our new home, which opens a whole new world of reading options for me.
But I really want to read Proust. I’ve read a few reviews from people who’ve tackled the seven-volume set, and they are glowing — according to some people, Proust Can Change Your Life. Even if you don’t buy that, some people maintain that Proust’s book changed Paris. Dan Ford, one of many prolific Amazon reviewers, has an entire site about his project of Reading Proust including recommendations of the best translations to get – he recommends the more recent Penguin translations, published in the U.S. by Viking.
Either way, it sounds like a challenge I’d like to tackle.
Right after I finish this other challenge that I’m not even halfway through.