What are you currently reading?

[lennytheweedwhacker]

about to eat some pineapple

[Simple Torture]

Hurricane Season is great.

[Mickey]

I read Hurricane Season in like two or three sittings but it also made me physically ill. Great book.

[Simple Torture]

This book made me puke--5 stars!

[Mickey]

Have you eaten tamales since you read it?

[epilogue]

Have you eaten tamales since you read it?

Ummm....

[epilogue]

Finally wrapped up Swann's Way.

I'm not sure it was for me, ultimately. But there were some wonderful pieces/passages. Either way, I'm sure I'll think about it a lot in the future and I'm so glad to have finally read the thing. I've heard so much about it for so long now. Feels good to be done and to have it under my belt.

Now, on to the new Maggie Shipstead!

[Mickey]

Okay but the Vinteuil's phrase passage

[epilogue]

Okay but the Vinteuil's phrase passage

absolutely

[epilogue]

I was under the impression that the reason the book was such a struggle for people -- or why it has that reputation -- was that it was philosophically and sociologically dense. I thought it was a philosophy text dressed up as a purposefully meandering novel. As such, the passages that lean most into ideas or explorations (like Vinteuil's phrase) were the most powerful and memorable for me. I do think Part One overall is a bit much. As my group of friends likes to say, it's a long walk for some soup.

[Mickey]

That's interesting. That's not how I would characterize Swann's Way but I can see it having that reputation. I think the difficulty comes from both the scope of the project and Proust's sentences. In effect the first section is just set-up for the next six volumes, so it can give a sense of meandering and declining returns. I love that, but it's probably not for everyone. But I also think his sentences are so complex, so many subordinate clauses and internal negations, that it makes the actual reading experience more demanding. Not conceptually--I think conceptually the book is relatively simple, actually--but in terms of attention.

[epilogue]

That's interesting. That's not how I would characterize Swann's Way but I can see it having that reputation. I think the difficulty comes from both the scope of the project and Proust's sentences. In effect the first section is just set-up for the next six volumes, so it can give a sense of meandering and declining returns. I love that, but it's probably not for everyone. But I also think his sentences are so complex, so many subordinate clauses and internal negations, that it makes the actual reading experience more demanding. Not conceptually--I think conceptually the book is relatively simple, actually--but in terms of attention.

100% agree with your characterization here. That's exactly what the book is. I was totally wrong about what the book is before I read it. And I'm not sure why I had the impression I did. But for some reason, I had it in my head that it was something different. I think that's part of my own struggle with the beginning section -- it took me a minute to get that my previous understanding of what the book is was wildly mistaken.

[Mickey]

My margin notes from the first time I read it are all like "EXISTENTIALISM??" because I was in college and suffered the same misapprehension.

[epilogue]

My margin notes from the first time I read it are all like "EXISTENTIALISM??" because I was in college and suffered the same misapprehension.

That makes me feel better.

But, yeah, I do wish I'd read the book in class. It seems like the something I personally would have gotten much more out of in that setting. Discussing a book like this while reading probably goes a long way.

[Simple Torture]

[lennytheweedwhacker]

I wish I were smart enough to read DFW

[dad]

I wish I were smart enough to read DFW

me too.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

I wish I were smart enough to read DFW

me too.

at least we have R.L. Stine

[dad]

I wish I were smart enough to read DFW

me too.

at least we have R.L. Stine

not smart enough to read him either, sorry.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

I wish I were smart enough to read DFW

me too.

at least we have R.L. Stine

not smart enough to read him either, sorry.

well where the hell do we go from here