Read: 11
BOTM: E. Ladurie, Montaillou
C. Bourret, Un Royaume transpyreneean? La tentative de la Maison Foix-Bearn-Albret
E. Brockes, What would Babra do?
M. Dobbs, House of Cards
W. Fotheringham, The passion of Fausto Coppi
E. Ladurie, Histoire du Languedoc
H. Mount, A lust for windowsills
E. Waugh, Brideshead revisited
P.G. Wodehouse, Something fresh
P.G. Wodehouse, Leave it to Psmith
[the name isn't important, what is is that it was in comic book format], Henri IV
Something of an inevitability in the BOTM this time. Ladurie's Montaillou is a classic of medieval history, concerned with the complex networks of individual relationships in a heretical town - what is not to like? It's a pioneering work that really uses the almost unique source material to really reconstruct a fascinating account of medieval life in Occitania. I wish I had read it as a undergraduate, and everybody should. If ever there was an antidote to 'olden days' thinking, this is it. It's not perfect, and could have been a bit shorter, perhaps with some diagrammatic representations of the relationships in the village, but otherwise ace.
Elsewhere, don't read Harry Mount's book on architecture - it's patronising and annoying, and reads it a bit like he's typed up the notes from his Masters in the subject, and added some silly conversational asides. On reflection, one suspects that is exactly what he has done. Lazy.
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