This is a book club. It is also a support group. Our simple goal? Get through the 3000+ plus pages of "In Search of Lost Time" (Remembrance of Things Past) by Marcel Proust.

I'm a practical reader; I know that I need a plan in order to have any hope of getting through a novel like this. I also know that I need accountability, so that I won't end up just skimming Swann's Way to say that I've "read Proust."

So here's my plan:

1. Spread it out over a year. Think of it this way - my version has about 3200 pages, meaning I can read about 9 pages a day to finish in a year. Now, that's not so bad, right?

2. Read each volume over a two-month period.

3. Meet once a month with a like-minded group of other diligent readers to talk/whine/gush about it (because this is a book club).

So, dear friends in the Meetup world, are there others who have never gotten around to picking up this light reading material because it sounds like anything but fun? Do you want to prove/disprove the claims made by the five people who've finished Proust and said it was the greatest, most beautiful novel THAT THEY'VE EVER READ? Proust may not be everyone's cup of tea, but he may be yours.

Some advisories/clarifications about the group:

1. This is a year-long commitment, starting in January 2012. Yes, I used the "C" word. My hope is to create a consistent, supportive environment for our journey, and I personally believe that a once-a-month commitment is not too much to ask in order to facilitate that.

2. That said, there will be a first-month trial period for you to decide if you really want to be in for the long haul. Please make a decision after that. (And before we even start the new year, please take your happy holidays to track down the books, find a reading guide or two, google "how to read Proust", etc. to see if you want to get yourself into this at all)

3. Our center will be in the North Oakland/Berkeley area - most likely within 1-2 blocks of the Rockridge BART station for the sake of ease.

4. I'll just say it - this is not a group for intellectual snobs. I'm a mediocre reader at best and have a grand total of zero degrees in literature. It's a bummer when you go to a book club, and it turns into a philosophy lecture led by the one random person in the group who has read the book twelve times, wrote a peer-reviewed article on how the author's perspective shaped modern society, and is (self-labeled as) better-read than 99% of the population. So please don't be that person.

This is the general schedule of reading for the year:

January - Vol. 1 "Swann's Way" - Overture and Combray

February - Vol. 1 "Swann's Way" - Swann in Love and Place-Names: The Name

March - Vol. 2 "Within a Budding Grove" - Madame Swann at Home

April - Vol. 2 "Within a Budding Grove" - Places-Names: The Place

May - Vol. 3 "The Guermantes Way" - Part I

June - Vol. 3 "The Guermantes Way" - Part II

July - Vol. 4 "Sodom and Gomorrah" - Part I

August - Vol. 4 "Sodom and Gomorrah" - Part II

September - Vol. 5 "The Captive"

October - Vol. 5 "The Fugitive"

November - Vol. 6 "Finding Time Again" - Parts I-II

December - Vol. 6 "Finding Time Again" - Part III and Reflection