Ermine Herscher

I must have really wanted this book. A family of five, middle class, loud, carrying bags, getting in the way of everybody, stood in front of me in the queue in the Oxfam bookshop in Cheltenham. I flicked through the book and five iconic French objects immediately leapt out at me: Velosolex, La Pleiade - those wonderful Pleiade editions, le couteau d'Opinel, La vache qui rit, and the 2CV. Loud families like that don't exist in France. At first I flicked though the book and thought it was good. Several years later I read it in full and it is 'formidable', comprising history and details of 74 iconic French items and objects, all conveyed in a very humorous style, for instance, describing La Boule Quies that deals with all the 'Vroum, brrr, clang, bing, tap, tac-tac, taut-tuut, plaf, woouah, pan, drink, whit ou boom' - oh to be French.… (més)