39-40. The Fugitive and Time Regained by Marcel Proust

 

I began this journey of seven volumes on August 2, 2019, and here I am on my 51st spiritual birthday FINIS with the whole thing. 

It was quite a journey, and I feel like I need to go out and celebrate. I saw an interview with Shelby Foote once. He said this was his favorite novel. 

I started this because I was in bed with a broken leg last year. You can read the humor of my first post on the first book in the saga:

This is Proust. It is considered one of the greatest books of the 20th century. So, I am tackling the whole seven volumes while I am recovering from a broken leg. I wrote this in my review of How Proust Can Change Your Life, but it bears repeating that Proust's brother said, "The sad thing is that people have to be very ill or to have broken a leg in order to have the opportunity to read In Search of Lost Time." LOL! 

I listened to an abridged version of Swann's Way 11 years ago. I wasn't super impressed, but I am older now, and I have done a lot of reviewing of my "Blessed History" through the Spiritual Exercises so this is basically Proust's secular recollections of his history. George and I had such a nice conversation yesterday about how certain things trigger our memory. For me, a ride on a boat (which happened the day of my broken leg) flood my memory of times with my family boating and me singing to the sound of the engine as my dad drove around Lake Millerton or Mohave. This book inspired me in many ways to do more recollections and write about them. I had done a recollection many years ago that made my brother cry, but where did I put that thing?

So, there are seven volumes, and I bought the whole massive thing in one Kindle book for 1.99. So, here I go!

Here is a summary of what this is all about from the "jacket" of the Kindle version:

On the surface, a traditional Bildungsroman describing the narrator’s journey of self-discovery, this huge and complex book is also a panoramic and richly comic portrait of France in the author’s lifetime, and a profound meditation on the nature of art, love, time, memory and death. But for most readers it is the characters of the novel who loom the largest: Swann and Odette, Monsieur de Charlus, Morel, the Duchesse de Guermantes, Françoise, Saint-Loup and so many others — Giants, as the author calls them, immersed in Time.
In Search of Lost Time is a novel in seven volumes. The novel began to take shape in 1909. Proust continued to work on it until his final illness in the autumn of 1922 forced him to break off. Proust established the structure early on, but even after volumes were initially finished he kept adding new material, and edited one volume after another for publication. The last three of the seven volumes contain oversights and fragmentary or unpolished passages as they existed in draft form at the death of the author; the publication of these parts was overseen by his brother Robert.

“In Search of Lost Time” is widely recognized as the major novel of the twentieth century. —Harold Bloom
At once the last great classic of French epic prose tradition and the towering precursor of the “nouveau roman”. —Bengt Holmqvist
I am in a state of amazement; as if a miracle were being done before my eyes… Proust so titillates my own desire for expression that I can hardly set out the sentence. Oh if I could write like that! —Virginia Woolf
The greatest fiction to date. —W. Somerset Maugham
Proust is the greatest novelist of the 20th century. —Graham Greene
Our second greatest novel after “War and Peace”. —E. M. Forster 

41. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

I only registered on this book about 9 years into my 10 year classics journey. They say it is one of the most beautiful books in all of literature. Who knew?

After I saw an old Shelby Foote interview on CSpan2 BookTV, I decided to read (listen to) an abridged version of the first book of the total work called In Search of Lost Time/Remembrance of Things Past. Shelby's mother gave him the entire novel in four bound volumes when he was 17 years. He had read through ALL the unabridged volumes nine times between 1933 and 1993, and the entire work is 3,000 pages! 

I admire Shelby Foote so much (he wrote the definitive Civil War history and was made famous when he appeared as an historian on Ken Burn's Civil War series) that I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  

When asked why he had read them so many times, he said he read them for two reasons: 

"One is pure enjoyment. Proust is one of the most intransient (permanent) writers that ever lived. And the second, he can teach you something, you can always learn. A writer can always learn from Proust, and he can indeed, we were talking about Shakespeare earlier, that's the grand master teacher."

With that glowing recommendation, I listened to abridged version and was pleasantly surprised at how accessible he is. He is a beautiful writer with vivid descriptions that made my walks with Proust enjoyable! The musical interludes on the audio version are also quite lovely. 

I think I got the sanitized version in the abridgement because I guess there is more homosexual undertones in the unabridged version, or maybe I didn't get it in the abridged?  

I can say I read Proust now. WOOHOO!  Not sure if I will read the rest of them, but I did love this narrator!

In fact, here is a video of the narrator introducing Proust. It is excellent!

75. Swann's Way (In Search of Lost Time #1) by Proust

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I tried to post this five times yesterday but to no avail. I also lost the review I wrote on Goodreads. So I will be  brief. This is Proust. It is considered one of the greatest books of the 20th century. So, I am tackling the whole seven volumes while I am recovering from a broken leg. I wrote this in my review of How Proust Can Change Your Life, but it bears repeating that Proust's brother said, "The sad thing is that people have to be very ill or to have broken a leg in order to have the opportunity to read In Search of Lost Time." LOL! 

I listened to an abridged version of Swann's Way 11 years ago. I wasn't super impressed, but I am older now, and I have done a lot of reviewing of my "Blessed History" through the Spiritual Exercises so this is basically Proust's secular recollections of his history. George and I had such a nice conversation yesterday about how certain things trigger our memory. For me, a ride on a boat (which happened the day of my broken leg) flood my memory of times with my family boating and me singing to the sound of the engine as my dad drove around Lake Millerton or Mohave. This book inspired me in many ways to do more recollections and write about them. I had done a recollection many years ago that made my brother cry, but where did I put that thing?

So, there are seven volumes, and I bought the whole massive thing in one Kindle book for 1.99. So, here I go!  I 

View all my reviews

Wednesday Freewrite

Monday was so nice because I got an extra day with George. YAY! I was sad that he was sick, but it was so nice, and it makes us both realize that he needs to come back home. I cannot believe it has been seven years in May. He has loved his job until this recent change. So we are praying for a miracle job close by.

He rested all day, and we went up to Portland for our Type One Enneagram panel. It was amazing how the energy went down after the energy of the Type Three panel two weeks ago! He still wasn't feeling very well. So that also was another reason why it was possibly more subdued. 

I really have loved sitting next to Amy these last two weeks. She is quieter, but she is a Type One, and it has been helpful to get her healthier insights. Her husband will be on the panel for the Type Seven. That will be so nice to hear.  Overall, I think this class has been so helpful for me.

Tuesday in class was a quick class with bands and the other one was an advanced class where we did the high scissors, bicycle, boomerang, compound back exercises, front support, sidekicks to teasers flow, etc. I am even a little sore today! That is very good for me to be sore. I am sure my students were worked harder because of it. 

I am almost ready to teach my Instinctual Variants class. I decided to bring flat page visuals instead of props since I am coming over on a plane and do not want the extra weight. I might bring a few small things. Today will be my day to get all my visuals in order. Then I will practice it.

I am back to reading Proust. After reading Dickens, I realize that classical literature is really where it is at for me. Proust is more difficult than Dickens. So, I broke down and got the next two volumes on audiobook. Audible had a free trial for Prime Members where I got two books. I will probably cancel after 30 days or I may buy the other books (I think there are two more after this) to finish out the whole 3000+ page tome! I had a survey of 125 authors who listed the top 10 books they love, and Proust was the only one I had not finished reading. So, here I go! I made homemade lemon curd (found the perfect Martha Stewart stovetop recipe - tried the microwave one, and it failed every time) and listened to Proust yesterday. 

Today 
1) Finish prep for the Instinctual Variant teaching
2) Upload Summary Reflection and Contemplative Reflection Form to Box for Boise Cohort
3) Have another "Moment" in Moment by Moment: A Retreat in Everyday Life.
4) Do wash
5) Read Proust while on a walk
6) Eat responsibly and not compulsively. It is Lent of no sweets.
7) Go to Matthew's Court of Honor for Scouts
8) Watch Survivor
9) Prepare for Bender Ball class teaching (Big Balls for Pilates II)
10) Correct Extra Credit Papers
11) Prepare Marge's next Spiritual Exercises 
12) Schedule (and maybe see) Cammie for Spiritual Direction
13) Keep house picked up and clean (wipe down bathrooms and sweep kitchen floor) 
14) Read Interior Castle (maybe even finish it) 
15) Finish this freewrite FIFTEEN at #15 on my list. The timer is going off! 

84. Within a Budding Grove (In Search of Lost Time #2)

I cannot believe that I am actually starting to really LIKE this whole thing! It is evoking in me some emotions about my own life that have been really cathartic. I cried like a baby yesterday morning while listening to it (I am combining text to speech with reading the text). So, YAY Proust! I caused George and me to have a very deep discussion about love and loss and life. Good stuff. 

This is about his teenage years. The first is about his love for Gilberte, Odette and Swann's daughter. It is also about his trip to Balbec (in real life, it is Cherbourg). He is a teenager with all his raging hormones when he gets to Balbec and is over Gilberte. The literal translation of this title from French to English is "a l'ombres" [in the shade] "des jeunes" [of young] "illes" [girls] "en fleur" [in bloom]). This quote from it gives you the title:

As a plant whose flowers, open at different seasons, I had seen, expressed in the form of old ladies, on this Balbec shore, those shriveled seed-pods, those flabby tubers which my friends would one day be. But what matter? For the moment it was their flowering time. 

I laughed out loud of this, and it reminded me of days on Manhattan Beach in Southern California in the 70s in our bikinis in our early teens. We were all girls in bloom, melting cocoa butter bars on our bellies until we could smear it all over our bodies as boys hoovered all around us. We are all 60 now, like those "shriveled seed-pods, those flabby tubers" on the beach.  It also made me think of a chapter in a book by Lamont, I think it was Traveling Mercies where girls are laughing at her in a bathing suit (or her friend), and she mused about the fact that we all end up at this place, and their time will come where they will "bloom" and then eventually become a "shriveled seed-pod" too. I wish I could remember where and in what book that I found this. It was a humorous part of book I did not particularly care for (but maybe I would appreciate more now). 

This is the volume that Andre Aciman, the foremost expert on Proust, was encouraged to read FIRST when he was a teenager because his father thought he could relate to it better than the first volume. Aciman loved all of Proust, and I am beginning to understand why it is so great. I think. 

I found it more engaging than Swann's Way, but that might be because I am understanding the purpose behind this whole big TOME. I am letting myself be taken away into my own autobiography in the process. Thus why I was musing about my own time of being a "young girl in bloom." Maybe I will write a TOME on my own life, coming of age in the beach culture of the 70s with Quentin Tarantino as the manager of the video store in Manhattan Beach (he really was). 

I am 45 days into my recovery from my broken leg, but I started weight-bearing on Day 42. So, I may have less time to lazily read Proust. But I am determined to finish all 3031 (some put it at 4000+) pages! I am about 1/3rd of the way through, and I think I can finish it. I will take it gradually. 

Reading is like a big elephant that you eat one bite at a time! 

Munching away. 

60. How Proust Can Change Your Life

I had a Playaway from my library that kept shutting down and repeating the audio over and over again when I went on walks. I almost took it back (or had someone else take it back since I am not able to drive with a broken leg), but I thought I would give it one more try this morning, and it played without incident. 

I read it in hopes of it helping me to want to read the massive In Search of Lost Time. It does give me context. I listened to an abridged version of the first two sections a few years ago and was not greatly impressed, but there is a new unabridged audio version that makes me want to try it. 

I ended up really liking this book. He gives one a background to Proust's life that informs how his classic In Search of Lost Time (or Remembrance of Things Past) evolved. It also helped that I have been to some of the places described now that I finally made it to France in 2019 (I did go to France January of 1983, but that does not count because I was on a train and only saw Paris from mostly underground). I loved the chapter on art and looking at ordinary things in a different way.

I also want to try because of my present situation with my broken leg and the copious amount of time I have at my disposal. 

I laughed hysterically when I read this quote by Proust’s brother, Robert, “The sad thing is that people have to be very ill or to have broken a leg in order to have the opportunity to read In Search of Lost Time.” 

The author adds, “And as they lie in bed with their limb newly encased in plaster … they face another challenge in the length of individual Proustian sentences.”

These days they do more braces than plaster, but you get the irony of reading this quote in light of my situation!

Freewrite on a Monday Morning

I am on Day 18 of this newest trial. My Enneagram Thought this morning was about Type Twos usually having a "positive outlook" on things, and that is me. I have been looking on the bright side of all of this, but the Enneagram Thought encouraged me to express my real feelings. This is hard because I really do, with all my heart, not denying, see that this has been a good thing for me! I love reading all day and not feeling guilty about it. I usually feel like I "should" be doing something. But doing something doesn't always have to be WORK. Part of it is that I am saying to myself, "You need to move to keep your muscle loose and 'motion in the lotion' for my pain management." That is "body-work" to avoid the consequences. I also count meeting with friends as part of my mental health work. So, it isn't all "work, work, work" (I feel a Rhianna song coming on). 

George is staying home for at least the morning because Paul has his one year follow up appointment for his teeth reconstruction. I think my accident was on the anniversary day of his final procedure. What a long endurance test that was.

OK, is this leg thing just another endurance test? George keeps on telling his friends that I am "tough," and years of pain in my back has made me pretty resilient. And being a college-level athlete helps too. It is amazing what you can do when you get in the right mental space. I loved that about what sports taught me about life endurance.

I don't know if I am so tough as that I am resilient and dependent. I hear that Type Twos have a hard time receiving help, and I don't have any problem with that. I have so appreciated all the meals that have come our way because I cannot cook. I so appreciate people's offers. I do have a hard time asking when others are all around me and having a good time, and I don't want to stop the fun by asking the obvious, "Could you get me some food?" It was interesting last Monday to have everyone around me eating their breakfast as I sat in the chair, and no one asked me if I wanted something to eat. I finally asked for a nectarine. I think a Type Two would ask a person who cannot walk if they could get them something, but I was the only Type Two in the room. LOL!

I have liked all the reading I have been getting through. I am trying to read 31 books in August. I don't know if that will be possible with all the books on my list that are quite long. I have also decided to read Proust. The comment by his brother that only one who is ill or has a BROKEN LEG could get through Proust's seven volumes. Well, that is me! I still laugh about that, and getting through Proust would be a life goal. I bought all seven volumes in one Kindle book for only 1.99! Can you believe it? I am reading but also listening to it on the text to speech feature, and I am tracking just fine with the digital voice (that I have turned to a British accent that makes it more fun). I listened to much of Nabokov's autobiography this way too, and that story was fascinating. I also have enjoyed listening to Shakespeare and Pygmalion. It is just nice to be reading some classics again after reading many of the Book Dames choices which where mostly non-fiction and more modern. They were actually quite good this year, but there is something about the classics that just sets my soul on fire.

I want to say that God has continued to speak to me about strengthening me with POWER through his Spirit in my inner being (Ephesians 3:16). I really believe He has met me very powerfully during my occasional low points on this journey. I just had a time of centering prayer as I meditated on POWER of the Spirit. It was great. Focus on the Lord. Draw from resources in the Spirit. That is what life is all about. 

42. Swann in Love by Marcel Proust

So I continue with the soap opera! I am addicted to this great narrator and the beautiful classical music between each section. 

I guess I am not in for tackling a long Dickens audio right now (even though I have 36 hours and 33 minutes of Our Mutual Friend loaded and waiting for me on the iPhone). These abridged sections of Remembrance of Things Past by Proust are only 3-4 hours long and are nice for a couple of days of walking. I know I am not getting the full effect, but maybe I will tackle all of Proust when I am retired. 

Remember I said that I must have missed the homosexual undertones. Well, I do not think they were in the first audiobook. They were in here, but they were tastefully done. The French aristocracy seemed to be pretty lose in their morals back then. I will have to learn more on that front.

This is about Swann who falls in love with a woman who is really more of a "tart" than a dignified woman. She is not intelligent, but he is in "lust" (but again, the lust is tastefully done to the point where I wondered if they were really sleeping together or just flirting). 

I will probably listen to the whole series. I am such a silly girl (but not a tart). 

This narrator really is one of the best I have ever heard.

35. The Captive by Proust

 

The Captive by Marcel Proust
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The quickest I have ever read any of the books in his series! This was more about the relationship between Albertine and Marcel than French aristocracy droning on and on. So I liked it more.

View all my reviews

Madeliene Moment Questions

This is from: http://www.read52booksin52weeks.com/2019/09/bw38-proust-invokes-past.html

In 1886, when Proust was 14, he was asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding his writing. The original manuscript was recovered and in 2003, it was sold at auction for $120,000. Below are the questions: 

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
What is your greatest fear?
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Which living person do you most admire?
What is your greatest extravagance?
What is your current state of mind?
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
On what occasion do you lie?
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Which living person do you most despise?
What is the quality you most like in a man?
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
When and where were you happiest?
Which talent would you most like to have?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Where would you most like to live?
What is your most treasured possession?
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
What is your favorite occupation?
What is your most marked characteristic?
What do you most value in your friends?
Who are your favorite writers?
Who is your hero of fiction?
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Who are your heroes in real life?
What are your favorite names?
What is it that you most dislike?
What is your greatest regret?
How would you like to die?
What is your motto?

9. The Guermantes Way by Proust

I am into Proust now. There is something whimsical about his LONG musings, but the guy is so obsessed with Madame Guermantes!

It was hard to listen to this man's obsession with people of French society when modern-day France is in the throes of the coronavirus. It seemed so insignificant in comparison. I think it is also difficult for an American to truly understand the hierarchy in a society that has Dukes and Princesses. America has never had that, and we never will, and I am so thankful for that. Such social games! UGH!

It was nice to be able to have a visual picture of the places in Paris mentioned in the book because I have finally been there!

This was my least favorite of the three books I have read so far. I will say that Neville Jason's narration was perfect, and it made this much easier to get through.

I am now 52% of the way through this total tome! YAY!

Monday Morning Freewrite

I have decided to not feel guilty for not planning a big agenda for the summer. For more summers than I care to count, we have always had something. For a couple of summers it was me teaching on storytelling. Last summer it was that huge reunion that took more time than I even realized. It was also finishing up with Renovare. I also taught at TAC all last summer. So to not have any agenda at all other than the shower for Madina (that got canceled due to her C Section) seems so weird for me, but I am managing to get so much done around the house. I have gotten through so many cupboards and drawers. Right now, it is working on the kitchen. Today I think I will tackle underneath the sink. This seems so mundane, but I sure like being able to have the time to make my home neat and clean. I usually have reserved August for that in the past, but July seems to be fairly clear. So I am "striking while the iron is hot." 

I am going to contact Lori and see if she wants to meet in Hillsboro. I would love that and it is part of my "I will" for our missional community last Thursday. Have I mentioned how much I love this missional community? I think this is my favorite one so far. In the past, they have not always flown. I think the first one after that large training group of 17 was also quite good if not logistically overwhelming because there were so many of them! I liked that group, but this group is only 8-10, and we are doing a Bible story, DBS, and prayer. It is very simple, and I like it. I am also not in charge of it which makes it very nice. So YAY to this group.

I am trying not to eat as much today. I lost all the weight I had gained during injury and Renovare last year, but it slowly creeped up on me during Spring term during the allergy season that ended up being prolonged because, for the first time in my life, I had grass allergies! Indoor exercise was always accomplished, but I never burn as many calories working out inside. I also eat more when I am taking medicine. Blah blah blah. Excuse excuse excuse. So, I am trying not to eat as much now that I am able to go outside now and ride my bike and go to cardio weight training. All is better. I think it was many 8 pounds at the most which can be gotten off in a month. I am still not overweight, but I like to be lower on my range. 

So Paul stayed home today, and I get to take him to his dental appointment so I will walk around for 45 minutes while he is in there. That will be my outdoor exercise. I have not walked in that neck of the woods for a while. So it should be quite fun. I love helping Paul this way. I am praying praying praying he finds a job in his field. I am also praying that for Michael, but he is being a little bit more dogged about finding something. He has an interview with a vitamin company in Oregon. Much of the job is doing what he did for his old job. So, that is good he has 1 1/2 years of experience. He responsibly applied for unemployment too. What a guy. 

I think my time will soon be running out. Oh, cardio weight training is run by my coworker, Nikki, now. She is tough. I am never sore! My buns were SO SORE I could barely walk. I love that. I need to sub more because I have to stay in Pilates shape because I don't do it at home if I am not forced to teach it. I know myself so well. 

Well, off to work on the kitchen and listen to another Gaskell book recorded by Librivox. I am guessing the alarm is going to go off any second. I usually am pretty good about time, but it has not gone off yet. Hmmm. Let me check then. 

I have 2:48 to go. What else? I am going to talk to Elizabeth tonight. It will be good to catch up. 

My 29th wedding anniversary is coming up very soon. I am so happy. So very happy.

What else is up with me? I thinking this 1000 Books to Read Before You Die has been fun, but I have to not be so goal oriented, and I don't know if I can ever read ALL of Proust. Can you believe this author thinks you should read ALL of Proust? I read two abridged versions of his first two books, and I thought, "WHY IS HE CONSIDERED SO GREAT?" I am especially wondering as I am listening to a book about his life, and he was a lazy person who lived off his parents' money. 

There we go. Bye! No proofreading here for a freewrite.

116. The Uncommon Reader

 This book was a delightful surprise on my reading list! I laughed out loud so many times. (It does have one very off-color phrase about halfway through the book that does not characterize it and was totally unnecessary and totally improper!) Queen Elizabeth II is on the verge of her Golden Jubilee, 50th anniversary of her ascension to the throne, and she has discovered READING!  This new discovery even has her talking about Proust which made me laugh since I am about 30% of the way through his book, In Search of Lost Time.

Reading opens her eyes to a whole new world and causes great consternation with those around her. An avid reader would love this delightful book. 

Thursday Examen Freewrite

I pray for light on my day. Help me to see it through your eyes.

Things I am grateful for:

• Warmer temperatures for a nice walk 
• Getting through many things I needed to do
• Sitting with a directee and seeing her load lightened on this journey
• Matthew's Court of Honor - Boy Scouts have a beautiful ceremony.

Morning - I meditated in Moment 8 BLINDED BY SIN. Sin is never a fun subject, but it was so life-giving. When we realize our blindness, then Jesus can come and heal that. I started a load of wash.  Ate responsibly. Did my Summary Reflection and chose my Contempletative Reflection and Dialogue for the Boise Cohort. Went to print out the copies for my observers, and I was out of ink. So I went to the store and then stopped and got a quick pedicure as I read Interior Castle and You Are What You Love notes in preparation for Boise Cohort. Printed dialogue and CRFs for Boise. Scheduled impromptu spiritual direction appointment for 2:30pm. Folded wash load and went for a walk listening to The Guermantes Way. I wrote Cammie about spiritual direction, but she could not meet so I scheduled something with Sister Joan for Monday. 

Mid-day - Graded extra credit papers. Picked up the house, swept kitchen, cleaned bathrooms. Put in another load of laundry Worked on Marge's weeks of the 18th annotation. 

Afternoon - 3  1/2 hour spiritual direction/listening prayer session. I watched part of The Five evaluation of the debate. Paul finished up the second load, and it was waiting for me when I got out of direction. Folded it and got dressed for . . . 

Evening - I went to Matthew Court of Honor and ate dessert (forgetting I was giving up sweets for Lent - oh my). Paul had taken my car to work. So I dropped it back off at his work and walked 12 minutes back home and closed my Exercise Ring. Watched Survivor. Moment 9 - The Lesson of Death. Worked a bit on Marge's remaining exercises. 

Bed at 11:15pm

Regret - Not keeping a reign on my eating in the evening with dessert. Sarah and I shared a slice of cheesecake so it was small. I just forgot to skip it. 

Life-giving - It was good to drop everything and have a session. I did not get to my Bender Ball prep and finishing up my Instinctual Variants talk, but this was way more important, and it is life-giving to me and most meaningful to sit soul-to-soul with someone. Much more important than tasks, but I realize I need to balance that because I have tasks that need to get done. Actually, I think I am pretty good at balancing those things. It was a life-giving day of integrated my instincts! :) So I may not have gotten the talk done, I lived the talk, and that is very life-giving!

Today I will do a Bender Ball class for the first hour (so I will prepare this morning since I did not get to it last night) and Big Ball class for the second hour. Then I will bike home and finish that class! I also have Book Babes and can walk to that since it is two streets up from me! 

YESTERDAY I got all these things on my list done:

2) Upload Summary Reflection and Contemplative Reflection Form to Box for Boise Cohort
3) Have another "Moment" in Moment by Moment: A Retreat in Everyday Life.
4) Do wash
5) Read Proust while on a walk
6) Eat responsibly and not compulsively. It is Lent of no sweets. (just forgot about the sweets)
7) Go to Matthew's Court of Honor for Scouts
8) Watch Survivor
10) Correct Extra Credit Papers
11) Prepare Marge's next Spiritual Exercises 
12) Schedule (and maybe see) Cammie for Spiritual Direction
13) Keep house picked up and clean (wipe down bathrooms and sweep kitchen floor) 
14) Read Interior Castle (maybe even finish it) 
15) Finish this freewrite FIFTEEN at #15 on my list. The timer is going off! 

Not done:
1) Finish prep for the Instinctual Variant teaching
9) Prepare for Bender Ball class teaching (Big Balls for Pilates II)

2020 Reading Wrap Up

 These are a combined list of questions from Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks. She changed it this year. 

How many books did you read? 68

Which book would you recommend everyone read: 

How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People - No matter how much prayer experience you have. This book is so good to read. It led me to some life-changing decisions. 

I also posted all my answers to the study guide questions and have the study guide in a PDF or a Word Document if you want it. I did this with six other people, and it was really a great experience. 

Did you discover any "new to you" authors? 

Frank McCourt. Loved his writing. 

Tell us about your reading year? What was your goal this year and did you have a plan, and/or follow rabbit trails or wing it? 

My goal was to get through all the book lists for the Book Babes Book Club, the Renovare Book Club, Spiritual Direction tests, and last but not least, the 1000 Book to Read Before You Die list.

I also accomplished the big goal of finishing Proust: In Search of Lost Time! WOOHOO!

Where did your armchair travels take you? 

Moscow, Russia, England, World War II Europe, France, Japan, Ireland, Central Valley California, Texas Samoa, All over America with John Steinbeck, Interior Castle of the Soul, Canada

Which books stood out, made an impression and/or stayed with you the longest? What did you learn from them? 

Interior Castle - I had read her autobiography several years ago, but this is her seminal work, and it encouraged me to go on a deeper adventure in Centering Prayer, and I am glad I did.

The Critical Journey - This was a reread as we went deeper into the book for the second year of Spiritual Direction training. It is such a good base for evaluating where a person is in their journey with God. I have it in the back of my mind with my directees. 

Spiritual Direction - I think this is my favorite of all the books on the subject. It is so thorough and practical.

The Golden Compass - So well written and finally read it for me after so much hub-bub about its anti-Christian undertones.

Silence - Jesuits in Japan. Gruesome. So hard to read but SO well-written!

Friday Night Lights - Such an interesting look into life and values in Central Texas. Mesmerizing. (Caused me to watch the movie and the entire TV series.) 

Angela's Ashes - Totally understand why this is on every classics list. WOW! Such a good memoir of poverty in Ireland. 

Bleak House - This might be my favorite Dickens. And the central characters are women. That is unusual for Dickens.

Open Mind, Open Heart - I finally really "get" Centering Prayer as a result of reading and discussing this book with others. 

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - So a lovely classic. "Wisdom of born of wonder." 

How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People - No matter how much prayer experience you have. This book is so good to read. It led me to some life-changing decisions. 

Hardwiring Happiness - I learned so much from this book that I apply daily. 

Remains of the Day - Delightful. I saw the movie years ago, but the book is so worth reading. 

Travels with Charley - What a wonderful insight into America in the 60s. 

Which book had the most original, most unique story?  

The Golden Compass - So unusual. The writing is near-perfect.

Which book made you laugh? 

Travels with Charley - Steinbeck is so clever. 

Which one made you cry?

Bleak House

Jude, The Obscure


Which book did you like the least and why? 

The Buddha in the Attic - Just a running list of all these Japanese immigrants to California. NO character development. I am so surprised by anyone who would like this book.

Favorite Cover: