Heh heh... no probs. I'm very good at spending other people's money for them. *grin*

I like the Picano, I admit, because - to me, anyway - it's a concept book, and I enjoy the darting between time periods, and the evocative prose. If you haven't already, I also recommend looking at Edmund White. Admittedly, I find some of his stuff very pretentious but, again, it's interesting and frequently very well put together. I read Le Flaneur for some Left Bank/Lost Generation research a while back, and rather liked it.