In Early September

I see that checking in at Blogger I have become lax in writing anything on the web. This blog has remained untouched for at least six months. In regards to Proust I have 500 pages to read in the final volume. I would like to say I don't want to finish, that would not be true, I have become distracted by other things to read and that has pulled me away from completing this series. There is more to tell but I will need to finish that thought as I must go offline until later today. Suffice to say at least I did get something posted.

Changing the blog as I finish Proust

I think this will become my reading blog, as I finish Proust. With that said, I have a comment on the books I have been plowing through - to improve my writing and to enjoy at work. I have been reading Robert B. Parker and Dick Francis, along with a few other things. I have been reading electronic copies of Parker, and used paperbacks of Francis. Other than the obvious, that I personally enjoy reading on the computer over a book format, I have found the cut-off point that delineates Parker's writing. He, Parker, reached a certain point when his writing and plotting did change. Though there are still a few good books sprinkled amidst the remaining Spenser novels, after 1985, and the book _A Catskill Eagle_, his writing took on a much simpler tone, dialogue driven, and much more written to a developing format that would be often repeated (sometimes ad nauseum). Here is a list, courtesy of the fine Mystery genre website stop, you're killing me of the titles in the Spenser series up to the cut-off point:

The Godwulf Manuscript (1973)

God Save the Child (1974)

Mortal Stakes (1975)

Promised Land (1976)
1977 Edgar Award for Best Mystery

The Judas Goat (1978)

Looking for Rachel Wallace (1980)

Early Autumn (1981)
Finalist 1982 Shamus Award for Best Novel

A Savage Place (1981)

Ceremony (1982)
Finalist 1983 Shamus Award for Best Novel

The Widening Gyre (1983)
Finalist 1984 Shamus Award for Best Novel

Valediction (1984)

A Catskill Eagle (1985)
Finalist 1986 Shamus Award for Best Novel

I have just finished _Valediction_ and hope to download _A Catskill Eagle_ today. I will continue to explore the books, but I doubt I will download many more beyond this point.

Slow and slower

To be brief I am having trouble finishing. I have only read a few pages since my last post and I have been off on a reading tear with other things that are directed toward learning to write, in particular learning to write dialogue between characters. I still can't get over how many times, in the modern 20th or 21st century novel (genre based albeit) you need to write "he said" or "she said" - such a burden compared to Proust.

I still have not found anything better than Melville to compare to Proust, not Dickens, or Dostoevsky, or Turgenev, or Tolstoy. I keep searching and have not found anything as readable or as ironic.

Proust is really ripping the cover off of the plot now and giving us the complete and unalterable truth, this is the true heart of this book - this is the true and unforgiving expose of what is happening all comments about the actual plot aside this is Proust's real effort; to show us how we remember and what memory does to thought and what thought does to time. Quotes to follow to support this opinion.

Electronic reading

In thinking about the reading I have done in Proust, I far and away enjoy the electronic time I have spent reading. I have purchased more electronic books and plan to continue to build my electronic library. To the point of getting a separate hard disc to function like a bookcase for ebooks.

Taking a break

I have been taking a break from Proust for the last week or so. My reasons involve being stressed and tired, not wanting the book to end, and my writing project. I have been analyzing R.B.P. and D.F. toward writing style, in particular conversation, as that is hard to get from Proust and is not modern enough.

Pushing and waiting

Now that I approach the end of the book cycle I find myself reluctant to finish as I do not want these books to end. After all of the words and distractions that come from life and interrupt reading I still want more of this beautiful story.

Quotes and stuff

I have been marking pages to post quotes. The book is getting quite introspective after the momentous occurrences. I know that I will need to read all of these books again.

Serious

The fact of the matter is that we as readers do not know who is speaking in the books. There is a brief comment to this end at one point but we are left not really knowing who this is who is speaking to us. Is this an imaginary character or is it the author? Are we being told a fictional story or is this based in fact? Do we clearly see the ambiguity or is the intent to leave us set in the quagmire that is unknowing? I am not sure that any of these questions will be answered.

The final half

Now I am almost exactly halfway through the final volume. Proust is really running hard to wrap up the ideas and expressions. I don't want to spoil the book so I will only comment on themes outside of saying I was stunned by his choices, well worth the push to the end.

He, Proust, has a particular vision that involves how time affects memory and what that means for choices in life. He continues to examine the functions of memory, to a degree that leaves you wondering if in fact he is describing real events or, if in the process of creating the story, and these books are fictional literature, he had such a clear line through the story that he could tell it as a remembrance from a present tense stance. That may sound confusing, it is true that in the story, and throughout the books, he weaves the past present and future indiscriminately and thus you find yourself shifting back and forth, as you have revealed to you the thinking or actions, as if time did not exist, and you never left the room of that invalid, who watched light fade, and struggled in suffering and pain until morning.

A January post

I have been reading so very much, besides the fact that I do not post blog entries, reading has been my main focus. I went back to research when I began reading and I do not know a firm date, as the previous post implies, so I have decided to enjoy the time I have reading Proust and not worry about finishing at a specific time. To that end I have been reading every day.(I did end up reading the first volume twice if I did not get that mentioned here).

I find that when I read Proust my ability to think and analyze problems increases and that it is harder to take the vagaries of life seriously. As a writer the plot and concerns he is addressing have become more transparent. I think I can see that his story arc is two fold in relating his own relationships and comparing those relationships with Swann or others. The second main focus is time, this weighs heavily on his mind as does the interaction of time with memory. I have tried to mark as many places where he references time or memory.

But, most of all, Proust has a beautiful style that I have never seen anyone else even come close to emulating - the books are beautiful.