Famous First and Last Lines

“For a long time, I went to bed early”

• Swann’s Way
• The author’s full name was Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (1871-1922). He was born in Paris and raised during the French Third Republic. Proust was raised with his father’s catholic beliefs.
• Published in 1913.
• In the beginning of the novel, the narrator talks about how sleep alters our surroundings. It then goes on to describe the narrator’s life as aristocracy and the middle classes change during the Third Republic.
• To be completely honest, I don’t think I would ever read this. I have trouble following along with historical books, and just reading the summary of this one I was completely lost.

“But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing”

• Winnie-the-Pooh
• Alan Alexander Milne (1882 – 1956) was born in London and went to a school run by his father.  He joined the British Army during WWI, was an officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later the Royal Corps of Signals. After being discharged in February of 1919, he settled in Mallord Street, Chelsea. He married in 1913.
• Published in 1926.
• First volume of a series. Follows the tale of a teddy bear, a pig, a donkey (all toys), an owl, and a rabbit (both living).
• I think I would read this. After watching Winnie the Pooh as a kid, I would be interested on going back and reading where a good portion of my childhood came from.