Swann's Way - Remembrance of Things Past (À la recherche du temps perdu) - Book 1

“The places we have known do not belong solely to the world of space in which we situate them for our greater convenience. They were only a thin slice among contiguous impressions which formed our life at that time; the memory of a certain image is but regret for a certain moment; and houses, roads, avenues are as fleeting, alas, as the years.”

This is probably one of those books you should read at least twice; once to get the overall arc, and then again to appreciate every last detail. Incredible writing. I was surprised at how much Proust's words made me recall my own secret memories of childhood, a world that, looking back at it, seemed extra-real, saturated with meaning and color.

I struggled a bit to get through it, especially near the end, but I'm very glad I read it.

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Second reading: read most of this in a week. Very helpful to read it more quickly, to see the parallels between Swann In Love, and “Place Names: the Name” - the narrators budding attachment to (obsession with) Gilberte

Focused on different things this time around - the anguish of love, the desire to possess someone (which can never be realized) and the madness it can inspire

Really want to finish the whole series