Finding time for Proust

About this blog
This blog is going to be about books. More specifically, it is going to be about the books that I read. I write about almost every book I take in. I have always kept reading journals, and some of my more loved paperbacks are mercilessly marked up. But there is only so much paper I can justify using in a year, plus the idea of tagging my thoughts for later access really appeals to me, and so I am starting this blog. I am not a writer, I did not study English or literature in college, and I am not a book critic, but for me reading is like eating, where ingesting a good book nourishes me and leaves me energized for the other parts of my life. And, like some foods, some books demand more attention, more enjoyment, than others, and some need to be chewed really, really well before anything can be gotten out of them at all. I like to do that with the books I read—to really chew them up and really taste them, and in doing so I write about them.

Reading 52
I set a goal for myself this year. Starting in March, because I'm always behind, I set out to read 52 books, an average of one book per week. I was once a voracious reader, and years ago this would have seemed like not much of a goal, but now I am a wife and a mother, I am homeschooling my five year old, and my time seems too often not to be my own. I read a lot with my son, and we review the books we read on our blog, but only too rarely was I reading for myself. So I set the read 52 goal to make myself take the time to read, even if sometimes that means less sleep, or a late dinner, or a messy house. Thankfully my family is understanding.

About the blog title
This isn't to be solely about Proust, but I just started reading In Search of Lost Time and, because I could already see the large volume of notes I'd be taking, it was my impetus for starting the blog. Proust isn't the beginning or the end, he's just where I happen to be right now.

9/1/2011—I have now added all my book reviews from earlier in the year to this blog, dated accordingly, so that I'd have them all in one place. Organization is good.