It's my favourite novel: I've read the whole thing three times and I hope to get in another couple before I die. Nothing much happens across 3000 pages, which is not what everyone wants from a novel, but suits me. There's a great summary of the plot by Roger Shattuck, which goes something like: "La Berma plays the role of Phèdre; the Duchess of Guermantes wears red shoes; Odette addresses a letter to M. de Forcheville; Albertine opens a window."

It's interesting that there are two famous examples of people reading Swann's Way and not thinking much of it, then changing their minds. André Gide rejected the book when Proust submitted it for publication, and later wrote Proust a letter saying that had been a terrible mistake. James Joyce met Proust at an unsuccessful dinner in Paris when he had only read Swann's Way and (according to Richard Ellman's biography of Joyce) couldn't see the talent in it; after Proust's death he read more of the series, changed his mind and said, "I wish we could have talked for hours."