Alain de Botton combines two unlikely genresliterary biography and selfhelp manualin the hilarious and unexpectedly practical How Proust Can Change Your Life. Who would have thought that Marcel Proust one of the most important writers of our century could provide us with such a rich source of insight into how best to live life Proust understood that the essence and value of life was the sum of its everyday parts. As relevant today as they were at the turn of the century Prousts life and work are transformed here into a nononsense guide to among other things enjoying your vacation reviving a relationship achieving original and unclichd articulation being a good host recognizing love and understanding why you should never sleep with someone on a first date. It took de Botton to find the inspirational in Prousts essays letters and fiction and perhaps even more surprising to draw out a vivid and clarifying portrait of the master from between the lines of his work. Here is Proust as we have never seen or read him before witty intelligent pragmatic. He might well change your life. show more