Comments on: Reading is not a vice; fake-complaining about all the books I have to read is the vice. http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2017/12/20/reading-is-not-a-vice-fake-complaining-about-all-the-books-i-have-to-read-is/ Personal blog of Jessica Zafra, author of The Collected Stories and the Twisted series Tue, 26 Dec 2017 03:37:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.15 By: Angus http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2017/12/20/reading-is-not-a-vice-fake-complaining-about-all-the-books-i-have-to-read-is/comment-page-1/#comment-704383 Tue, 26 Dec 2017 03:37:07 +0000 http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/?p=34729#comment-704383 Orgasm!

I also ordered the Grossman novel from TBD but my copy hasn’t arrived yet. Regarding the remaining volumes of In Search of Lost Time, the deluxe editions are supposed to come out in 2018.

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By: allanrvj http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2017/12/20/reading-is-not-a-vice-fake-complaining-about-all-the-books-i-have-to-read-is/comment-page-1/#comment-704374 Fri, 22 Dec 2017 09:44:25 +0000 http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/?p=34729#comment-704374 Thank you.

The Penguin translations are complete. It’s only the first four that got the pretty Deluxe Editions because the last two (The Prisoner and The Fugitive, Finding Time Again) are hit by the Sonny Bono Act in the US, so they did not make the cut. The paperbacks are printed on ordinary paper, instead of those creamy, acid-free ones used for the Deluxe Editions.

Since you’ve finished Swann’s Way, give the second book a chance; maybe it will inspire you to finish the entire novel. It’s translated by James Grieve, who I think is a far better translator than Lydia Davis. He translated Swann’s Way during the 80’s but it’s out of print now (though available in specialty book stores in Australia).

—–
Lydia Davis’s Swann’s Way:

For many years already, everything about Combray that was not the theatre and drama of my bedtime had ceased to exist for me, when one day in winter, as I came home, my mother, seeing that I was cold, suggested that, contrary to my habit, I have a little tea.

James Grieve’s Swann’s Way:

One winter’s day, years after Combray had shrunk to the mere stage-set for my bedtime performance, I came home cold and my mother suggested I have a cup of tea, a thing I did not usually do.
——

The second book is also Alain de Botton’s favorite in the series. Speaking of de Botton, I found out that his book How Proust Can Change Your Life was made into a BBC documentary and is available on YouTube. Proust is played by Ralph Fiennes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9dwwVvGfVQ

I don’t keep a reading journal but maybe I should. I’ll let you know.

Enjoy your new books!

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By: jessicazafra http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2017/12/20/reading-is-not-a-vice-fake-complaining-about-all-the-books-i-have-to-read-is/comment-page-1/#comment-704373 Fri, 22 Dec 2017 02:15:55 +0000 http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/?p=34729#comment-704373 In reply to allanrvj.

allanrvj: Congratulations! This is the best use of unemployment time. As a bonus, you’re rewiring your brain for deep reading. Get to the end!! If the Penguin translations are not yet complete, go to the CK Scott Moncrieff that all the translations are based on, anyway.

Yes, I read Julian Barnes’s criticism of the Davis. I’ve only read Swann’s Way, and it took me ages. I hope this means the next volumes will be “easier”.

Any time you want to talk about what you’re reading, leave us a note. Post your reading journal. And thank Scandinavian social welfare for making this possible. Enjoy the winter!

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By: allanrvj http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2017/12/20/reading-is-not-a-vice-fake-complaining-about-all-the-books-i-have-to-read-is/comment-page-1/#comment-704372 Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:05:17 +0000 http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/?p=34729#comment-704372 I’ve stopped buying books because I told myself I’ll just buy new ones once I finish In Search of Lost Time, Penguin edition. Also, I’m unemployed (but enjoying Scandinavian unemployment benefits) so it’s not like I have the capacity to go book shopping.

I’ve been reading for a little more than a month now, and currently I’m on the 4th book, Sodom and Gomorrah. I’m a slow reader: I can only read about 20 pages an hour, I need long breaks in between, and my limit per day is about 50-60 pages. After that I don’t understand the sentences anymore, so I stop and turn to Netflix.

I think if I hadn’t been unemployed, I wouldn’t have gotten this far. It’s not that it’s boring (sure, the dinner parties on the 3rd book are super boring and excessive; I know they’re meant to be boring but Proust could’ve used an editor). It’s just taxing on the brain to hold on to those long and winding sentences.

But I love it. Proust is really a genius. I like how he describes emotions: like that moment when you get what you want but not in the way you want to get it; like how Swann fell in love with Odette, though she isn’t his type in the beginning; like how it is to be obsessed/infatuated with someone and knowing that the other party isn’t feeling the same way for you, etc. Also, like Tolstoy, there’s so much wisdom in the book, about friendship, love, trust, honesty, habit, how people see you, how you see people, etc.

I still don’t have a job prospect at the moment, so I expect that I’ll still be unemployed in January. I plan to finish it by then.

Sorry for the long comment. I have no one to talk to about these things in my near vicinity. :)

P.S.
I think the Lydia Davis translation is the worst so far in the series. Prose glides more smoothly on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th books. I read somewhere that Lydia tried to sort of translate word for word, that’s why the syntax is weird on Swann’s Way.

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By: jessicazafra http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2017/12/20/reading-is-not-a-vice-fake-complaining-about-all-the-books-i-have-to-read-is/comment-page-1/#comment-704371 Thu, 21 Dec 2017 02:50:20 +0000 http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/?p=34729#comment-704371 In reply to Chus.

Chus: Since you’re in LA, why not read books set in LA, like Slow Days, Fast Company by Eve Babitz? When you’re through with it, you can pass it on to me haha.

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By: Chus http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2017/12/20/reading-is-not-a-vice-fake-complaining-about-all-the-books-i-have-to-read-is/comment-page-1/#comment-704370 Wed, 20 Dec 2017 16:52:50 +0000 http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/?p=34729#comment-704370 Sarap lang magbasa nang magbasa ng libro at sana mabasa ko lahat ng libro na yan.

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