false 40189 32 Who hasn't dreamed, on a mundane Monday or frowzy Friday, of chucking it all in and packing off to the south of France? Provençal cookbooks and guidebooks entice with provocatively fresh salads and azure skies, but is it really all Côtes-du-Rhône and fleur-de-lis? Author Peter Mayle answers that question with wit, warmth, and wicked candor in <i>A Year in Provence</i>, the chronicle of his own foray into Provençal domesticity. <p> Beginning, appropriately enough, on New Year's Day with a divine luncheon in a quaint restaurant, Mayle sets the scene and pits his British sensibilities against it. "We had talked about it during the long gray winters and the damp green summers," he writes, "looked with an addict's longing at photographs of village markets and vineyards, dreamed of being woken up by the sun slanting through the bedroom window." He describes in loving detail the charming, 200-year-old farmhouse at the base of the Lubéron Mountains, its thick stone walls and well-tended vines, its wine <i>cave</i> and wells, its shade trees and swimming pool--its lack of central heating. Indeed, not 10 pages into the book, reality comes crashing into conflict with the idyll when the Mistral, that frigid wind that ravages the Rhône valley in winter, cracks the pipes, rips tiles from the roof, and tears a window from its hinges. And that's just January. <p> In prose that skips along lightly, Mayle records the highlights of each month, from the aberration of snow in February and the algae-filled swimming pool of March through the tourist invasions and unpredictable renovations of the summer months to a quiet Christmas alone. Throughout the book, he paints colorful portraits of his neighbors, the Provençaux grocers and butchers and farmers who amuse, confuse, and befuddle him at every turn. <i>A Year in Provence </i> is part memoir, part homeowner's manual, part travelogue, and all charming fun. <i>--L.A. Smith</i> 940715 book 1989 A Year in Provence total:4392|5:1096|4:1890|3:1165|2:209|1:32| 4392 16985 5564 591 2 16 false false Sun Feb 01 13:39:53 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 11:56:22 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 01 13:39:53 -0800 2009
1. With enough money you can relocate to Provence and buy a 200 year old farmhouse with mossy swimming pool, problematic pipes, and a wine cave backing up to the Luberon mountains. Wait, it gets worse!

2. Once you do this everyone that has even ...more...]]> 1 2 false false Sun Sep 30 01:08:15 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 30 01:13:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jun 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 23 07:32:32 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 10:34:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Nov 28 16:00:16 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 28 16:05:16 -0800 2007
Well, this was a very charming read. The whole "o hay we moved 2 provence, awesome rite?" thing wasn't nearly as obnoxious as I thought it was going to be, although I still think these travelogues are highly masturbatory in nature. Peter Mayle has a light touch with a...more...]]> 3 3 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 01 19:46:03 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 16 09:27:36 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 1 true false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 26 07:51:55 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 03 08:21:17 -0700 2007
1 week or so later...

So I've finished it, and although it had its moments where I chuckled a bit, ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Apr 09 16:08:50 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 16:10:01 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Feb 10 14:06:14 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 14:18:43 -0800 2009 Even t...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jun 21 10:02:13 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 10:02:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 08:59:34 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 09:08:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Nov 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 01 10:34:26 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 07 07:22:29 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Wed Jun 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 13:06:25 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 13:17:00 -0700 2009 1
I do not believe that the author intended to write a book with a plot. Nor do I believe that he intended to provoke our sympathies by simply recounting the various day to day activities of renovation of the house and exploration of the country. There ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 20 10:06:10 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 20 10:11:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 18:39:15 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 18:44:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Feb 08 08:09:29 -0800 2008 Sat May 31 12:22:26 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Sat May 23 07:38:52 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 06:45:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Apr 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 09:26:23 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 19:26:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu May 14 21:34:48 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 21:35:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 15 04:47:11 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 04:50:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 05 07:42:09 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 07:45:20 -0700 2009 more...]]>