![]() It’s the book of life and the book of a lifetime. You, yes, you, must read Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. There are three different translations of In Search of Lost Time, four different biographies, collections of letters and several works of literary criticism. Now we have less a shelf of Proust than a bookcase devoted to him. “For a long time, I used to go to bed early…” That was it. I got on the downtown 1 at 110th and flipped the book open. ![]() ![]() But if it got Linda talking, I was intrigued. I’d heard of Proust, but aside from nominal recognition, I had little else. I put down $5, squeaked out a “thank you” and walked away with a bright-red cloth-covered volume of Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust. I reached for something, and then I heard a girlish voice say, “This is the one for you.” ![]() But I hadn’t yet felt the significant pull that one can only experience when having discovered what to read next. ![]() There were tables of books, all in pristine condition and all for $5-exotic, colorful and inviting. Linda was large, pale, and managed to look perennially exasperated. It sagged and creaked and scraped against the concrete. July, 2006: At the corner of 114th and Broadway, Linda the bookseller held court in a deck chair that seemed somehow aggrieved by the role it played. ![]()
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