re: What are you reading?

For any fans of French history (with an emphasis of course on Paris), I just finished Alistair Horne's Seven Ages of Paris and it was fantastic. He gets very much into the guts of French culture and history, so maybe not the best introductory book on the topic, but an incredibly rewarding read for students of or travelers to France that dissects the entirety of its history into seven neat divisions. I'd also add that the Englishman's perspective treats the topic with less wonder than that of an American but without taking as much for granted as a French historian would. It's an outsider's perspective, but not a tourist's perspective, which makes for quite the engaging discourse.