Read As Much Or As Little of Proust As You Like

I have read numerous articles about how to approach Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

Now that I am into Volume III, I wanted to add something.

I honestly feel that there is NO right or wrong way to read Proust's masterpiece.

my digital copy of Volume III by Modern Library

Whether one inhales each volume and then goes back slowly through thumbing along the chapters and pulling out more of the essence. Or, whether one goes so slowly that the melodic trance like way Proust writes lulls you to sleep each night. Each is valid. Each is fine.

I believe that more people don't approach Proust (or most of the great works of literature) is because of the "this is the ONLY and RIGHT way" to do so. It excludes large groups of people, and I'd like to be a part of that change.

Rereading is a gift and I am a huge fan of returning to text that moved and inspired me. I am a fan of letting literature provide insights into the great human condition.

With that in mind, it's fine if someone spends 6 hours straight reading Swann's Way only to emerge from the text and stumble into a bright reality. It will take the person some time to adjust to the current world and that experience seems like a glorious one.

Simultaneously, I can see the benefit in the reader who after a few pages, stops to remember their childhood bedtime routine. The reader who reflects on how their mother's presence was a constant comfort at bedtime and how dismal it was to be forced to fall asleep on one's own.

Proust's great work has room for every type of reader.

I honestly believe when it comes to In Search of Lost Time a reader can

1. Read it one page or 10 pages at a time
2. Inhale it over the course of 5 hour stretches
3. Read each volume back to back
4. Reach each volume and then take a break to let it digest
5. Journal throughout in a reflective manner
6. Skip journaling and sit and contemplate each section read over coffee
7. Read it digitally or physically (I am not a fan of audio personally)
8. Do it with a group or in a solitary manner as I am doing it

There's no right or wrong way to consume this massive tome. 

This work is so powerful that readers feel the need to share how THEY read it and offer that up as THE way to read it. While some do so from an elitist "this is the absolute only way" standpoint, most just want to share the way that worked for them.

I only want to add that it's okay to ignore ALL of it- and ignore me if that helps.

Just don't stay away from this novel because of all the directives on how it is to be read.

Start with volume I- Swann's Way. 

Approach it at a time in your life when you could benefit from reflection. From "me time". From a slowing down of sorts. 

Don't expect anything. Make a cup of hot coffee. Let the text take you away. Let it help you remember what it's like to truly remember.