My favourite line so far in this magnificent piece: An Attempt At Exhausting A Place (Georges Perec) is the description of a man wearing a coat as long as he is. I cannot this second locate the exact line, which is as it should be. I should have to hunt, I should have to attempt to exhaust this book to rediscover it.

I also treasured the mention of a few people walking and reading, not many but a few (not a direct quote, rather a rustling, vague hustle from memory.

Where has this book been? Why haven’t we met before? Words must be exchanged on this. Georges vraiment!

I was reading it while waiting in a long queue at the supermarket. Behind me a couple exchanged in Spanish, finally he scooped up Family Circle and asked her if she wanted a copy. Non, non, she replied. The cashier’s nail polish was an unusual grey, the colour closely matched the shade of the cover of Perec’s novel. (Wakefield Press. Translated by Marc Lowenthal).