Art Garfunkel famously keeps track of the books he has read since 1968. As of writing this, the count is 1327 (he does not add a review). I thought I could do something similar but I am adding short reviews of books as I read them, and I rake my brain over what I read over the last decades. This is, evidently, a work-in-progress: there are 645 reviews so far. Titles marked with a * are particular favorites.
Graham Robb: The Discovery of France - A Historical Geography
Quite a conundrum. Clearly, Mr Robb has some experience with France, but it does not seem to be a loving affair. Judging from this book, France was — up until the years just before WWII — an underdeveloped swamp, populated by swarthy and barely literate midgets. It is a strange book. Postscript: My view is vindicated, it seems: Bicycle History — although, it seems, the “popular press”, especially in Blightey and the Anglosphere, liked it well enough: The Discovery of France. Hmmm: perhaps it simply certifies the prejudices they had anyway?