Contemporary books I’d consider — there are several books I wandered into while on break from Proust: Vendela Vida’s “Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name” (set in Finland); Per Petterson’s “Out Stealing Horses” (Norway); and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Armageddon in Retrospect.” If there is a connecting thread, it’s that each book is a kind of way for the narrator to deal with post-traumatic stress of one kind or another — war, being abandoned by a parent, or both.
A contemporary list would include:
Salman Rushdie, Kenzaburo Oe, Gao Xingjian, A.S. Byatt, Anthony Powell, Doris Lessing, Cormac McCarthy.

They’re all writers I’ve heard, but not read, much of; and I think it would be another “round the world” trip to places I’d like to visit. I considered adding some of them to my original “seven summits” but decided that I wanted to stick with classics for this first ring of books.

I did enjoy Alain de Botton’s book about 10 years ago myself. I think some of his background details about Proust’s life and writing habits have filtered into my perception of “Swann’s Way.”

And as far as the contradiction in style (or in my description of his style): I think that it’s possible to be intentionally sloppy, like the person who is meticulous in seeming casually dressed. Kind of like a Wes Anderson film, where the character has taken great pains to create the impression that they couldn’t care less about their appearance or their belongings.

Thanks again for responding. Look forward to more posts & comments.

Ben