As the new year begins, my mind is naturally drifting towards what my life should look like next year; and Swann’s Way—the first volume of the revered In Search of Lost Time—has been instrumental in focusing what was a nebulous image. Proust has inspired me to continue to change the way that I live, so that I can increase my powers of observation, so that I can connect more with nature, so that I can exist more and more in a relaxed, dreamlike state. I want to give myself the time for long walks. I want to spend more of my life blissfully watching it go by. In 2023, I want to live more like Proust did in the 1900s.
As I’ve said before, it is not enough to recount, ad infinitum, the ills of technology in the modern world. Instead, we should strive to take advantage of what is useful while discarding the futile. We must not only know what to avoid, but more importantly how to replace. And so, the Proust-inspired image in my mind is of a life in which mornings are used creatively, and afternoons are spent going on long walks with books, and evenings are spent with friends and family.
When people who don’t run meet marathoners, they are often confused by an enthusiasm and a joy that is so separated from their experience of an activity they find torturous. At one point, I felt that way about running, and it was only after three months of daily practice that I began to love it, and it is now something that I cannot live without. Similarly, reading—which can start off tedious and painful—often blossoms into a practice more rewarding than most others that are on offer on Earth.
In 2023, it is a worthwhile goal to develop a deeper reading routine, one in which we spend more mornings in cozy bookshops with hot coffee; or more afternoons with books, in parks, on the grass, in the sun; or more evenings curled up, with a paperback, near the fire. Novels are capable of eliciting a singular joyous relaxation, one that expands our understanding of self, of language, and of the world. They change the way that the French countryside looks; they change the way that food tastes; they are amongst humanity’s greatest triumphs.
To encourage this habit of reading, I am starting a book club for the next twelve months. Each month, I will publish an in-depth guide for each novel that will give background about the book and the author, as well as provide a detailed analysis of the characters, the plot, and the language. Simultaneously, I will create a space for us to share our ideas with each other, so that we can take part in this great joy together, and rediscover the beauty of reading. All you have to do is subscribe:
The following list was created in an order that will ease us back into the practice of reading, while also including essential novels and more modern ones. Even if some of you have read these books before, I would encourage you to re-read them because I’ve found that good books can become great the second time around, and that great books can become ethereal, and that they always change based on when and where you read them.
So, without further ado, here is the list:
January: The Trial by Franz Kafka
February: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
March: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
April: Post Office by Charles Bukowski
May: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
June: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
July: The Sea by John Banville
August: Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
September: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
October: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
November: The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
December: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
By making our way through this list, we will traverse some of the greatest fiction ever written, and 2023 will become even more beautiful and magical than it would have been otherwise. I’m really looking forward to it. Happy New Year, everyone!
Arjun: What is the timing of your reading guides for this series of books. I'm in the middle of "As I Lay Dying" and wondering when I can expect to see something from you and/or the group. -R
Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment are supposed to be two of the best books ever written. both of them are on my list this year. excited to give them a read.