I’m trying to locate a book published a while back that is essentially a crib sheet for Proust’s RoTP — I can’t remember the title or the author — so of course I head over to the internet. Here’s what I find:

A French mystery writer, and devotée of Georges Simenon, dissing Proust’s massive work. She tempts me momentarily to put RoTP back on my shelf — but, no. I actually want to do this.

James Camp’s 2014 New Yorker article about speed reading, with some fabulous quotes, including Anatole France’s famous reaction to Proust: Life is too short, and Proust is too long. Thank you, Mr. Camp, for giving me permission to take my time with RoTP.

The Proust Society of America, housed in the Center for Fiction, aka the Mercantile Library of New York, created in 1821 as an organization “devoted only to the vital art of fiction.” Cool. They have reading groups, two of which focus on books I hope to read this year (Moby Dick and The Brothers Karamazov). But you have to be a member (annual dues aren’t cheap) and pay even more to join the reading groups; also, I need to take two trains to reach its midtown location. I’ll stick with the free public library and reading at home, where I can easily make myself a cup of tea.

A 2013 interview with US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, conducted in French but translated into English, about his experiences reading Proust. This just made me feel inadequate. I know I’ll never be a judge, much less one serving on the Supreme Court, but is there still time for me to prepare myself to be interviewed in French?

Dozens of blogs narrating the experience of reading Proust, including some that are quite good. (These don’t deter me. It seems to be human nature, version 3.0, to want to expose one’s shortcomings in the electronic public domain.)

Finally found the title/author of the book I’m looking for, but not through a general search — had to go to Amazon. Now let’s see if my local libe has it.