see if i like swann's way as much as i like tea and madeleines

Proust and I may share a love of tea and madeleines, but I couldn’t consume enough caffeine to keep me awake through this tome.

i think i need the structure of a reading group to pull me through this rhapsody! still, i can’t shake the feeling that i’m giving up too easily…

so this book begins with an “overture”. in my experience, that cannot be good. and i am completely serious (unfortunately) when i say the sole subject of this overture is, in essence, sleep or the inability to achieve it. sometimes proust enthralls us with an account of the magical state of half-sleep, or rooms in which he has slept (or not) and fearsome upholstery or deceptive slants of light. this goes on for 16 pages. i’ve renewed this book twice so far and have only now made it to page 19. he is no longer speaking of sleep, but the reader cannot cease to think of it…

this book is *&% huge. and it’s just one of many in what looks to be a formidable series. it’s going to be a part of my life for a while, looks like. apparently, i am not the only one so obsessed. here’s an amusing musing on the subject: http://www.slate.com/id/2118443/