I read it over a period of 4 months before my first trip to Paris 30 years ago. I had a temp job where I was the onsite temp agency rep/coordinator at a hospital so I literally had no work unless a dept called requesting a temp. Memory is sketchy but I do recall thinking that the quality of the writing and the storytelling declined quite a bit in the last couple of volumes. I suppose I could Google it but IIRC, some of the later volumes weren’t completely finished before Proust died.

Their smaller, bit more casual sister restaurant Bantam King, has a tightly curated menu with ramen or fried chicken. The ramen is good but I love their Nashville fried chicken. It has a communal table, doesn’t take reservations and is just enough off the beaten path that you can often get in when you can’t get a table or find a spot at the bar at the larger restaurants in Penn Quarter.

Getting into the Smithsonian is tough, at least for arts and humanities. I worked there briefly in a trust position that was funded by a grant and still didn’t couldn’t make the interview stage for permanent federal jobs that were basically the same job that I had done successfully as trust employee for a couple of years. I met people who finally got positions after working for years as contractors without benefits. It’s still worth applying to everything but it’s easy to get discouraged and they’ll be competing with people with a lot more experience who are willing to take an entry level job even mid-career to get in the door.

Do not apply to History Associates even if desperate; you’d be better off changing careers. Purportedly they are marginally less horrible than they used to be but I still would not recommend.