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The Discovery of France.....


Patf
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by Graham Robb. Picador £9.99. I saw a review of this book in the Sunday Times this week and it looks interesting. Seems like a historical review of the various areas of France and their languages. People knew little about other parts of France beyond their own boundaries until the 2 world wars.  I think I will order it.
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I recommended this earlier as my best Christmas present last year. It is a brilliant book and a fascinating history of rural France. We also bought some of the books he quotes from as source material, such as Arthur Young's travels in rural France, at the time of the revolution.

regards

Lisa

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I've just bought it - arrived a few days ago (courtesy of Amazon you know), and I took a peek at it this morning, then thought - no - never get any work done .... so on back burner for now, though it does look fascinating.

If you like that, you might also like Three Rivers of France by Freda White, who describes her travels in the Dordogne, Lot and Tarn, in the years immediately after the war (WWII that is).  Originally published in 1952 by Faber and Faber (a name to conjure with!), it is long out of print.  I managed to obtain a second hand copy, which I read avidly at least 10 years ago, and thought, wow, this is exactly the characteristics of these people I still see and love.  At the time we were visiting 47 where we had (and still have) a family maison secondaire) so it was describing an area I knew well.  The descriptions are superb - she is still regarded as one of the best writers on France.

Originally I had borrowed the book from the library, and had then bought a new edition, which included colour photos and updated the recommendations of places to stay, but it does not have the same feeling as the original, which is all text and no pictures.  I can't give you the bibliographic details for the new book as it is already in our house in France, whereas the old edition is still with me in London.  It'll be joining its sister edition soon, with luck.

I've yet to find any book which so describes the old way of life in the department I'm about to go and live in.  Perhaps Robb's book will do that - we'll see!

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No need to apologize Pat  - just enjoy it, it's a great book and so different from the genre "I've moved to France and I'm going to try and make some money by turning out a load of stereotypical rubbish without any research"......

regards

Lisa

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm about half way through the book now and although it's very interesting, I find it heavy going. There are so many facts that they need to be digested, so I can only read a little at a time.

Normally I read a book very fast then go back over it in sections. You can't do that with this book.

On the other hand it gives insight into some french characteristics, such as their different attitude to the work ethic. Just guessing, but perhaps something to do with agricuture being more widespread here than in the UK. Farming work comes in fits and starts, rather than constant plodding on.

And the sections on maps and roads explain a lot too.

 

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