The clock ticking away, in this case a serious illness, does focus the mind on what you read in the time you have left. I liked the early chapters on French bookshops, books and places to read, for instance, page 4 'We had coffee among the fallen leaves in the Luxembourg Gardens', Our favourite Paris bookshops include the small L’arbre du voyageur on the rue Mouffetard...and the larger La Hune in Saint Germain, page 4, - sadly no longer there, their plain covers and red bands (Gallimard) and shiny Livre de Poche covers. I have made a list of several books Reyes recommends, e.g Gare du Nord by Djemai and Wolf's Proust and the squid. The more that one gets into the book the more it becomes a list although there is not much harm in that.

She’s cracked it in one - bookshops in France are not like the supermarket style of Waterstones etc

Thise plain paper covers page 5

The red paper band

Livre de Poche with shiny, colourful covers page 6 ( )