Hi friends!
January flew by, in part because of my daily dose of Proust. I’m happy to report that I finished Swann’s Way a few days ago, and that I more than averaged 10 pages a day. It’s not too hard after all with a couple of hacks.
—Keep a bullet journal of your daily reading (see above). I write down the date, the day of the week, which pages I started and stopped on, and a few words that evoke that day’s passage. You’ll have more than enough whimsical descriptions to make your entries funny (see “caressing the bronzes,” from a scene in which a society hostess made Swann touch the statuary in her parlor)!
Also, I want to recommend these guides:
—A Reader’s Guide to Remembrance of Things Past by Patrick Alexander. This provides summaries of each book in good detail, along with some essays on the importance of Proust to Alexander personally.
—Paintings in Proust by Eric Karpeles. This is a glossy art book that shows dozens of paintings that Proust mentions in his prose. There are a lot of art references in his work, and many of them flew right over my head until I opened this beautiful, full-color illustrated guide.
I’m now on to James Grieves’s translation of volume 2, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower (known as Within a Budding Grove in the Montcrieff translation). Budding, get it? Get it?
I’ve been exceptionally distracted lately, in part because I’m pulling together a full draft of my own manuscript, and if you’ve ever heard that writer’s block is simply fear of messing up one’s book, I can confirm it. I wonder if literally binding myself to the chair with the belt from my waffle robe would keep me in place? I’m so proud of what I have so far, and I’m sure I’ll finish soon, but working with 50K+ words all at once is a difficult maneuver. I’m using excel spreadsheets and lists to their full potential, thanks to my Ph.D. training.
Last night, I had the great privilege to hear my friend Amanda Henke read her children’s book. It’s available in all the usual spots, including locally in St Paul at Red Balloon Bookstore or here. It’s delightfully written by Amanda and illustrated by Anna Daviscourt, who were funny and earnest and every thing you’d want in a children’s book team! Congratulations!
Liz and I have been watching ALIAS after dinner and chores. I’d never seen them all, and I’d like to tell you that JJ Abrams really put together a great family show. Oh, sure, there’s some blood, which we’ve decided is actually ketchup, but overall it’s uplifting and fun and has enough fashion to keep us both interested.
How are you faring, my friends? Please comment if you’re reading or watching anything interesting!
xoxo
Jess
Hooray for finishing Swann’s Way, and a bigger yay for getting that first draft done!! Please let me know if and when you need beta readers? I’m finishing a great book by a novelist new to me, a former Joffre ballet dancer named Meg Howrey. The book is The Wanderers, about three astronauts training to go to Mars. So well researched - but it’s the characters who matter most.
Love the photos and bullet points! I use highlighters and add tons of marginalia. Good stuff. I own Swan’s Way and have read chunks but never read it all. I need to. I recently started War and Peace. Also been on a Dostoevsky kick.
The Black Snake of Wounded Vanity
https://blacksnakeofvanity.substack.com/