Book # 48 Remembrance of Things Past (Part 1 of 7)- Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

When we started this project the only book I was dreading was Remembrance of Things Past; not because of the topic or anything, but because it is over four thousand pages. The book is divided into seven volumes, with the first one being Swann's Way. I read some overviews of the book and I still couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be about. So after reading this first volume I now have some idea... it is about remembering the past.

This first book is divided into a few different parts. The first half of the book is mostly about the narrator telling us about different things from his childhood. There really isn't any plot and nothing that interesting happens... but it was still a fascinating read. Even though I'm reading a translation, it shows that Proust knew his way around words and is excellent at describing different emotions and sensations. He seems fascinated at how memories are triggered by random things. It is kind of like reading a really well written diary.

The second section of the book has the same narrator, but instead of talking about himself he tells a story from the past about a family friend, Charles Swann and his love affair with Odette de Crecy. Basically Swann becomes obsessed with Odette and they start a relationship together. However Swann suspects that Odette is unfaithful to him and he keeps hearing rumours about Odette's crazy past. There really isn't too much plot for a section that takes 200 pages, but again it is very fascinating. It really lets you get into Swann's deepest emotions and how he analyzes what he is feeling and trying to put things together. One five page sequence is just about the emotions and thoughts Swann has while hearing a piece of music.

The final section of the book goes back to the narrator's past as he tells about his childhood crush Gilberte Swann who is the daughter of Charles and Odette. Basically the narrator had fallen completely in love with her and details the many ways that he would try to alter their relationship.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book and look forward to the rest of the series. I found the reoccurring theme of how memory works to be fascinating and it made me think about my own past and how I often remember things that I hadn't thought of in years for some unknown reason.

This is how the first volume ends  "The places we have known do not belong only to the world of space on which we map them for out own convenience. None of them was ever more than a thin slice, held between the contiguous impressions that composed our life at that time; the memory of a particular image is but regret for a particular moment; and house, roads, avenues are as fugitive, alas as the years."

A

Book #72 Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Progress Book 21 of 100

A few years ago I finally sat down to watch the most recent BBC version of Bleak House starring Gillian Anderson.  This was a title I knew nothing about and keep passing by every time I saw it in our Netflix queue.  A few hours later I realized by passing over the movie, I was just missing out.  I was immediately drawn into the film and it quickly became one of those few that I remember standing out above the rest.  When I saw that it was on our list of 100 novels I looked forward to reading this.  The novel takes place in England, from the countryside to London and all around.  There are so many characters, after all it is a big book, so I’ll just touch upon a few.  The main central theme of the novel was to take on the English court system.  The characters we meet along the way are all tied together by a lawsuit Jarndyce Vs. Jarndyce.  This is a lawsuit that has lasted years.  People hoping for settlement have let it run their lives, lawyers have used it to take advantage of those waiting for funds, and the courts seem to be find spending day after day arguing and making new issues to keep the case going. 

My favorite character is the orphan Ester Summerhouse.  With her are two wards of the lawsuit Ada and Richard.  Taking care of all three is their appointed guardian Mr. Jarndyce.  Mr. Jarndyce is a kind man who is happy to take care of those around him, but one of his friend’s Mr. Skimpole brings a lot of pain to their family.  Mr. Skimpole claims to be a baby with no knowledge of money or how to run a house.  He lives on other people and places ideas into Richard’s head about riches from the lawsuit.  A complaint I have of the novel is I just don’t understand how Mr. Jarndyce can consider him a friend and invite him into his life.  The novel is broken up into chapters and every time we got back to “Ester’s Narrative” I got really happy to continue along with their story. 

Another lesson and common theme of Bleak House revolves around the Jellyby’s.  The matriarch of the family Mrs. Jellyby uses all of her time and resources to earn funds for her  philanthropic cause in Africa.  Her daughter Miss Caddy Jellyby spends her time dictating all of Mrs. Jellyby’s correspondence.  There are piles and piles of letters everywhere.  Their house is a mess and the rest of the younger children are not taken care of and unhappy.  Mrs. Jellyby is more concerned about charity to people in Africa she cannot see that her family needs her.  Luckily Caddy befriends Esther and is able to improve her life and finds happiness.   

This novel even has a murder and an inspector on the hunt to solve everything.  With romance, mysteries and more happiness than Wuthering Heights I’ll give this novel an A+ 96%

Book #16 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Progress Book 20 of 100

Main point-Heathcliff is mean.  Emily Bronte knew how to write a character that is completely unlikeable.  This was the first time I’ve read this book and I think I’ve only seen a few scenes of the Laurence Oliver movie, so I didn’t really know much about the story.  It’s called a gothic novel, and it’s easy to see why.  There are many dark scenes and it seems like all the characters are unhappy for a majority of the novel.  The story centers around two main characters Cathy and her adopted brother Heathcliff.  They live isolated lives in the moors of Northern England.   Other main characters include Cathy’s biological brother Hindley and their neighbors the Lintons.  Cathy and family live at Wuthering Heights and the Lintons live at Thrushcross Grange. 

The novel is told almost completely as a story by Cathy’s housekeeper Nelly.  Luckily she always seems to be present when everything is happening. The beginning of the novel starts with Mr. Lockwood calling upon his landlord Mr. Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights.  He is met with the proud and powerful man, living with two younger adults, Catherine and Hareton, who are very unhappy.  They seem to have no manners and he is not used to meeting people like this.  Although he wants to get away a big storm arrives making him spend the night in the dark cold unwelcoming home.  Tucked up in a room he finds Cathy’s diary and reads about her adventures as a young girl.  Once asleep he is awaken to sounds of a ghost calling Heathcliff.  Scared out of his wits he is determined to get as far away from Wuthering Heights as possible and have as little to do with Heathcliff as possible.  When he returns to Thurshcross Grange the current housekeeper, Nelly, starts to recite the story of Catherine and Heathcliff and their families.

I enjoyed reading this novel, but it was very dark.  To have so many characters unhappy out of spite and lack of being unable to forgive was pretty gloomy.  This type of sad story isn’t the type of book that would be on the top of my list to read.  I was satisfied with the ending, but feel like overall I enjoyed her sister’s novel Jane Eyre more.

This title will still get an A- 92%

Book # 27 The Chronicles of Narnia (Part 5 of 7)- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Much like the Prince Caspian movie, I remember almost nothing from the film version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader... and I'm sure I watched it less than two years ago. I remembered the character of Eustace and thought he was a funny addition to the story... and pretty much nothing else.  I was slightly let down after reading Prince Caspian so I tried to lower my expectations for this one.

The story starts with Lucy and Edmund staying with their cousin Eustace when all three are transported back to Narnia. They find Price Caspian and he tells them that he is on a sea voyage to try and track down some lords of Narnia that were exiled by the previous king. They join him and they have a series of adventures exploring the islands of Narnia. There are merpeople, a sea serpent, deadly magic islands, slave traders, a dragon and all kinds of weird stuff.

Unlike the other Narnia stories, this one doesn't really have any major villians and is just a fun adventure story with a lot of exploration of the unknown. I thought Eustace added some humor that was lacking in the previous book and I liked how he starts out always complaining about stuff and slowly matures through the story. It might not be a classic like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but it is one of the better ones of the series. A

The Scarlet Plague by Jack London

 On Monday Lucinda and I visited the Jack London State Historic Park. Since I was visiting where Jack London had lived and is buried, I figured the best thing to purchase in the gift shop would be one of his books. At the small museum I learned that he had written over 50 novels and died when he was only forty. That sounds like an impressive number of novels... but then I picked up The Scarlet Plague. I guess he was able to write so many by keeping them so short. Calling it a novella would be generous... It was just over 100 pages, had a huge font, and giant margins on a pretty small page.

The story is told by an old man in the future who was a professor at Berekeley when in 2013 a plague wiped out most of humankind. I found it interesting because London had written it back in 1912. He got some things right (like UCB and Stanford still being around) but it is funny when the narrator tells about how their airplanes could go almost 300mph and how newspapers were still the only way to get worldwide news. I'll give it a B.