192 Books, Chelsea, New York by Marion Vitus
I am so jealous of this event – 192 Books in New York is doing a twenty four hour public reading of Proust’s Swann’s Way on Wednesday to celebrate the book’s 100th anniversary.
The store will be staying opening for the whole time so people can come by and join in the fun. Each reader will be doing about 20 minutes. They’ll be serving champagne and madeleines!
Full details here.
This is just the best way to celebrate any lengthy novel that scares people, making it warm and inviting, a bit geeky but not excluding anyone, an event to sweep people up in the enthusiasm… I’d love to go to something like this. :)
Since I can’t get to New York though, I’ve been inspired to take the day off on Wednesday and have my own little readathon… Below is a picture of my own copy of Swann’s Way. It has been languishing unread on my shelves for a shamefully long time and I have never quite got round to it. Until now!
Thanks 192 Books (I think) for encouraging me to pick it up at last. :)
February 16, 2013 at 11:23
I love that you’ve taken a day off just to read fiction! I’ve been reading Proust as part of a year-long schedule (from the Goodreads Year of Reading Proust group) and have 100 or pages to go before I finish the first volume.
Really enjoying it, but think I’ll move away from the year-long schedule and take the books in at a more natural pace for me, i.e. read each volume over a couple of weeks rather than a couple of months. Mind you, a day-long readathon would be quite an experience! Will be interested to read what you think of it.
February 17, 2013 at 10:37
I don’t actually take many days off, the curse of being a freelance is you always end up tinkering with something or *just* sending a couple of emails…
I didn’t know there was a Proust GR group but I like the idea of reading it as an extended book club. I’ll be honest though I’d struggle to stop at each catch up point and not race ahead! I’ll be live-blogging on Weds and tweeting so you can see how I’m getting on. I’m a little nervous about not making it through the first fifty pages. :)
February 17, 2013 at 13:59
Look forward to seeing the live-blog & tweets. Absolutely agree with preferring to race ahead, that’s definitely what I’m going to do with the rest of the volumes.
Once you get over the initial ‘argh, I’m actually reading Proust’ feeling, the prose is actually moreish (I read a piece by Chris Power at the Guardian where he says this and it was my experience too). Good luck!
February 16, 2013 at 14:39
Arti of Ripple Effects and I are reading Swann’s Way in April if you’d care to postpone a bit and join us. I’d love to have you!
February 17, 2013 at 10:39
Aw, lovely offer but I rather like the idea of this one day readathon. It just feels so deliciously decadent to do it on a whim and in the middle of the week. I’ll be sure to mention your April event in my liveblog though in case others are persuaded to pick up a copy. :)
February 16, 2013 at 16:23
I’m working my way through Balzac but Proust comes after that.
February 17, 2013 at 10:40
Sounds like an interesting back-to-back. :)
February 19, 2013 at 01:20
It took me about 3 years to get through Zola’s 20 volume Rougon-Macquart series. Read them slowly.
February 16, 2013 at 23:05
What a cool idea, and you are so right – it makes a big book approachable. I love the madeleines too, nice touch! I don’t own a copy – I once did, long ago, and it’s gone now from one of my moves. I’ve always wanted to read him. *sigh* another classic to get to one day…..I hope you enjoy reading it on Wednesday.
February 17, 2013 at 10:42
Thanks Susan! I’m wondering whether I can veganise madeleines easily, if I can I will have to try making them. Hopefully they’ll power me through the (reportedly) difficult first 50 pages. :)
February 16, 2013 at 23:14
You took a day off to read? That’s pretty cool. I like the bookshop’s idea, and I suppose that 24 hours being a very long time would make people interested in picking up a copy and reading it themselves when it was time for them to leave. Interesting!
February 17, 2013 at 10:45
I know, normally my days off are spent gallivanting around the countryside but I rather like the idea of one day to get to grips with a book that makes me slightly nervous. :)
February 19, 2013 at 15:42
What a fun event! I like the idea of following along at home, even though you can’t make it to NY. I hope the day is/was amazing and filled with literary awakenings :)
February 20, 2013 at 09:26
I started about an hour ago and so far, so good… ;)
February 21, 2013 at 08:53
Oh, I missed this…. should have been an interesting way to spend my birthday tackling Proust! ;)
I’ve been wanting to pull it off the shelves for some time now. Looking forward to your thoughts on it. :)