Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Ein Guter Jahrgang
by
Peter Mayle
"Max Skinner is a man at the heart of London's financial universe. He works for the notorious Lawton Brothers at the top end of Threadneedle Street, and his is a life of long hours and fierce competition with Amis, his nemesis and boss. It is a rivalry that continues until the day Max finds the Lawton Brothers doing a little asset-stripping of their own. Himself." "Amid th...more
288 pages
Published
November 11th 2004
by Blessing
(first published 2004)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
Jul 15, 2007
erin
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who read one book a year, people who read bestsellers because they're bestsellers
What a stinker. Mayle abandons his appealing Provence anecdotes and relaxed style in favour of a Novel Writing 101 submission. We get flat, stereotypical characters who predictably pair off around a yawnfest of a "mystery" plot with a dull twist ending.
Mayle claims he was pressured to write it by his pal Ridley Scott. Scott then turned it into a movie (no doubt adding terrible acting and a sentimental score to the book's crimes against sensibility) which - the universe righting itself? - flopped...more
Mayle claims he was pressured to write it by his pal Ridley Scott. Scott then turned it into a movie (no doubt adding terrible acting and a sentimental score to the book's crimes against sensibility) which - the universe righting itself? - flopped...more
The lovely and talented Mr. Russell Crowe was responsible for getting me to read Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander, which began my ongoing infatuation with the Aubrey-Maturin series. When I learned that his next movie, A Good Year, is based upon the novel of the same name by Peter Mayle, I figured what the hell, I should give this book a shot as well.
I am told that this is one of Mr. Mayle's fluffier and more forgettable works. Me, I enjoyed it well enough, though that's about the summary I...more
I am told that this is one of Mr. Mayle's fluffier and more forgettable works. Me, I enjoyed it well enough, though that's about the summary I...more
Reading Peter Mayle’s A Good Year is a little like ambling through your Provençal village’s marché. You marvel at the booths’ bright colors, pungent aromas, and artistic arrangements. Over the weeks, you get to know olives, chèvre, pain de compagne, and légumes vendors’ personalities and stories. Occasionally, when you witness a bit of drama, you learn to discern friend from enemy among villagers. Like other Peter Mayle novels, A Good Year is unabashed paean to life in Provence. I savored every...more
Ho acquistato il libro incuriosita dal film, un po' a scoppio ritardato, lo ammetto. Il film mi è sembrato un po' troppo facilone, speravo che il libro si riscattasse. Innanzitutto, il film è liberamente ispirato al romanzo: personaggi simili, trama parecchio diversa nei dettagli - e qui chiudo la parentesi cinematografica.
***Mini-Spoiler***
Il romanzo è ancora più facilone e scontato del libro: Max viene licenziato; tre ore dopo, toh! una lettera dalla Provenza gli comunica che ha appena eredita...more
***Mini-Spoiler***
Il romanzo è ancora più facilone e scontato del libro: Max viene licenziato; tre ore dopo, toh! una lettera dalla Provenza gli comunica che ha appena eredita...more
A book that was turned into a movie that I didn't see! YAY! This book was so written for the screen tho. I mean, shit, the author thanks some director (Ridley Scott, I think?) It's like this book was made to be a movie. Everyone works out just so as well.
Guy looses high pressure job the same day he finds out he inherited a chateau in the s. of france from a favourite uncle. He goes down there to deal with it. Eclectic cast of towns people. Girl shows up who says dead uncle is her father. Creep f...more
Guy looses high pressure job the same day he finds out he inherited a chateau in the s. of france from a favourite uncle. He goes down there to deal with it. Eclectic cast of towns people. Girl shows up who says dead uncle is her father. Creep f...more
I've been an expatriate, and because of that experience I've come to enjoy the ex-pat novel. The travelogue of the weary voyager, the modern day Odysseus, floating on a breeze, relishing every experience that passes by, not entirely focused on going home (whatever home is).
But while E.M. Forester captures this spirit perfectly, Mayle acknowledges a more complex feeling--the need, the irrefutable, undoubtable need for a link to one's past, in a way deeper than the language that Kipling uses, or t...more
But while E.M. Forester captures this spirit perfectly, Mayle acknowledges a more complex feeling--the need, the irrefutable, undoubtable need for a link to one's past, in a way deeper than the language that Kipling uses, or t...more
После того, как я была в восторге от книги "Год в Провансе", я, конечно же, хотела почитать что-нибудь еще Питера Мейла. Выбор пал на роман "Хороший год", который повсеместно хвалили.
Англичанин, потерпевший крах на работе, приезжает в Прованс, в унаследованный от дядюшки дом, где с воодушевлением вливается в жизнь солнечного французского края. Т.е. в целом, сюжет в чем-то перекликается с "Годом в Провансе", и в этом-то, наверное, и заключалась подлянка. Потому что по сравнению с первым прочитанн...more
Англичанин, потерпевший крах на работе, приезжает в Прованс, в унаследованный от дядюшки дом, где с воодушевлением вливается в жизнь солнечного французского края. Т.е. в целом, сюжет в чем-то перекликается с "Годом в Провансе", и в этом-то, наверное, и заключалась подлянка. Потому что по сравнению с первым прочитанн...more
I picked up the book because I liked the movie so much. Well, other than the location and the names of the characters, there is very little similarity between the two, although both are equally enjoyable. The book is very witty - one funny statement from the book from vineyard caretaker Claude Roussel: "The English murder their meat twice: once when they shoot it, again when they cook it." It brought to mind the time we ate at an English friend's house and she broiled, then baked tenderloin file...more
Ah alors! A book that captivates my attention from beginning to end! For me this is a good find -- something that doesn't happen so often these days. This tale is fun and breezy, like disappearing into an impressionist painting set in Provence.
Max Skinner, practically broke, loses his finance job in London and the same day learns that he's rather fortuitously inherited his uncle's Saint-Pons vineyard in southern France. By next morning Max boards a British Airways flight and abandons the cold,...more
Max Skinner, practically broke, loses his finance job in London and the same day learns that he's rather fortuitously inherited his uncle's Saint-Pons vineyard in southern France. By next morning Max boards a British Airways flight and abandons the cold,...more
Alright....wrote a review, didn't get saved...now here we are again.
I'll k eep this brief considering that I just read through some of the reviews and they seem to echo my sentiments. My unoriginality will be showing so, naturally, I have no desire to expose myself even further.
First, I'll say that I do not like to criticize other people's creativity. The reality is that I have not written a novel myself so I have very little room to start talking about others.
However...
Thought I have not rea...more
I'll k eep this brief considering that I just read through some of the reviews and they seem to echo my sentiments. My unoriginality will be showing so, naturally, I have no desire to expose myself even further.
First, I'll say that I do not like to criticize other people's creativity. The reality is that I have not written a novel myself so I have very little room to start talking about others.
However...
Thought I have not rea...more
Jul 08, 2012
Renata
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorite-authors,
charming-stories
Peter Mayle has written many books about the place he loves most - Provence. I have read most of his books and enjoyed them all as light reading that brings a smile to my face and relaxes me into recalling all of the pleasant aspects of being on holiday. I never did see the movie, just knew I would be reading about sunshine, good wine, delicious food and friends. Even the plot is escapist - Max learning of his inheritance from his Uncle Henry and being given an option to escape the challenges an...more
In A Good Year, Peter Mayle takes the reader back to Provence, this time in a fictional sense. Max Skinner has just lost his high-powered job in London, and doesn't quite know what to do with his life, when he receives an unexpected letter from France. His uncle has just passed away, and Max is to inherit his house and vineyard in Provence, where Max used to spend his summers as a boy. Deciding that a trip someplace warm and sunny is just what he needs, Max goes to the south of France, and is pr...more
A very satisfying book in which all the good people have good things happen to them and the bad people are pretty bad but don't overtly suffer. You can feel benevolent about the bad people; you are so vicariously infused with sunshine and good food and happy relationships you are confident the bads are not enjoying those happy traits. You can share the joy of the good people and look the other way about the bad ones. Here, I am thinking of the like the conniving boss in the beginning who steals...more
The reason I decided to read this book was because one of my favourite films, also called A Good Year, was based on it. There are quite a few big plot differences between the two, but I won't go into the specifics of that now. Let's just say that if you've seen the film before you've read the book, or vice versa, these differences will probably intrigue more than annoy.
A Good Year is the perfect book to read if you've been dying to escape the never-ending conveyor belt of rainclouds hovering ove...more
A Good Year is the perfect book to read if you've been dying to escape the never-ending conveyor belt of rainclouds hovering ove...more
Sweet wine and those who love it! Peter Mayle obviously can't help but write of the life that so obviously does (and should) revolve around wine. I recall enjoying A Year in Provence much more, but that was a memoir and A Good Year is a novel. So be it! True to form, the novel has to, just HAS to, have a proper peak of drama and Mayle adds a nice twist to this. I felt the characters lacked depth, though this was more than rectified with the wine descriptions, which evoked a sort of literary Pavl...more
The book is better than the film and is the story of a businessman who has inherited his uncle's vineyard. Returning to France brings back memories of the times he spent with his late uncle and forces him to rethink his values and life. As always Mayles' characters are uniquely French and humorous. A fun read, not as good as his previous memoirs.
Summer-reading wish fulfillment for metrosexuals. Urbane London male inherits rundown vineyard in the Bordeaux region of France. Fortunately, he speaks fluent French and doesn't act so English as to be spurned by the rurals. His predictable sexual adventures are not graphic at all, but the descriptions of his meals at the local bistro border on the pornographic. The wine, of course, is a topic of infinite variety. I am familiar with rhapsodic descriptions including tastes of chocolate, berry, an...more
2 likes
·
like
· see review
Feb 06, 2011
Cball
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
wine lovers, travelers, setting lovers
Shelves:
adult-fiction,
audio
A wonderful "palette cleanser" of a tale. You know the kind: a beautiful setting (South of France), a bit of interesting information (wine industry), a hapless main character who improves over time, a bit of romance, a bit of mystery and voila: an excellent book to read with no emotional attachment necessary.
Max inherits his Uncle's wine "estate" in the South of France. Having nothing holding him back in London (freshly fired), he hops on the the nearest plane and is instantly at home with the...more
Max inherits his Uncle's wine "estate" in the South of France. Having nothing holding him back in London (freshly fired), he hops on the the nearest plane and is instantly at home with the...more
Received this book in an exchange. I gave her "Jane Eyre." I was definitely the loser here.
This book reads as a middle-aged white man's wet dream. All of the women sashay through the text (I think he even used that word), swinging their hips all over the place. They are sex objects first, human beings second (or maybe even third).
Highlight: Main character Max rules out a newly met attractive young woman as a prospect not because she is his first cousin, but because he prefers brunettes.
What?!?
As...more
This book reads as a middle-aged white man's wet dream. All of the women sashay through the text (I think he even used that word), swinging their hips all over the place. They are sex objects first, human beings second (or maybe even third).
Highlight: Main character Max rules out a newly met attractive young woman as a prospect not because she is his first cousin, but because he prefers brunettes.
What?!?
As...more
In una sola parola: squisito.
E' l'elogio di una vita fatta di piaceri semplici - la vita di campagna, il buon vino, la buona cucina, la compagnia di chi sia ama - che si svolge nella soleggiata Provenza francese, contrapposta alla vita frenetica di una metropoli grigia e piovosa come Londra. Il nostro protagonista si troverà proprio di fronte alla scelta tra uno di stile di vita e l'altro, ma nello stesso tempo anche di fronte ad una serie di sorprese da affrontare.
I personaggi sono splendidi,...more
E' l'elogio di una vita fatta di piaceri semplici - la vita di campagna, il buon vino, la buona cucina, la compagnia di chi sia ama - che si svolge nella soleggiata Provenza francese, contrapposta alla vita frenetica di una metropoli grigia e piovosa come Londra. Il nostro protagonista si troverà proprio di fronte alla scelta tra uno di stile di vita e l'altro, ma nello stesso tempo anche di fronte ad una serie di sorprese da affrontare.
I personaggi sono splendidi,...more
Lighthearted ex-pat adventure. The story is a nice escape to a small town in Provence, France. Reminiscent of Frances Mayes' "Under The Tuscan Sun". Bilingual, unemployed Brit, Max Skinner, returns to inherit his uncle's vineyard, embarking on a bit of an adventure to turn its poorly produced wine into a profitable, more palatable variety.
Foreigners, who are writers, often capture the details and nuances of other cultures that locals don't explore. Peter Mayle has that eye for detail in both cha...more
Foreigners, who are writers, often capture the details and nuances of other cultures that locals don't explore. Peter Mayle has that eye for detail in both cha...more
I read this simply because I so adored the film. it seemed obvious to me that the book would be better because, well, this is planet Earth. But the rules of the universe didn't apply here. I was so sad to see that this was so ... elementary perhaps? (Not that I expected literary fiction, mind.) The strength of the film, and, well, duh, any film or book, lies in not only the characters' relationship with him/herself and others, but also, the characters' transformation. There was no change here. A...more
A gender-neutral chick-lit novel. Mayles writes beautifully about food and the pleasures of a beautiful woman or a great class of wine.
But it's a frothy story with no real conflict outside of a contrived disagreement between Max and Christie, as well as a tacked on tale of some conniving wine-peddlers that serves only to create some false suspense and allow Mayles to poke fun at the culture of wine snobbery (the Russell Crowe movie wisely leaves out this aspect). Like chick-lit, this one has we...more
But it's a frothy story with no real conflict outside of a contrived disagreement between Max and Christie, as well as a tacked on tale of some conniving wine-peddlers that serves only to create some false suspense and allow Mayles to poke fun at the culture of wine snobbery (the Russell Crowe movie wisely leaves out this aspect). Like chick-lit, this one has we...more
1 like
·
like
· see review
Ridley, non mi fare scherzi
Romanzo breve che restituisce un acquerello della campagna francese, con le sue colline coperte di viti, le feste paesane ed una umanità locale stereotipata che come unico tributo alla modernità si concede i telefoni cellulari. Sebbene decisamente ben scritto, leggero e brillante, "Un'ottima annata" rimane comunque poco più di una cartolina, nella quale i protagonisti non possono che sorridere, vista la buona sorte che li accompagna ininterrottamente dalla prima all'ul...more
Romanzo breve che restituisce un acquerello della campagna francese, con le sue colline coperte di viti, le feste paesane ed una umanità locale stereotipata che come unico tributo alla modernità si concede i telefoni cellulari. Sebbene decisamente ben scritto, leggero e brillante, "Un'ottima annata" rimane comunque poco più di una cartolina, nella quale i protagonisti non possono che sorridere, vista la buona sorte che li accompagna ininterrottamente dalla prima all'ul...more
I just loved this book. A perfect escape to the sun drenched region of Provence. Makes me want to move to the South of France and drink wine and ride in the car with the top down.
This book was made into the movie with the same name, starring Russell Crowe. This author also wrote "A Year in Provence", and after reading this book, I sought out the book Mayle had written previously, "A Good Year." This novel tells the story of a man who loses his financial job in London, and then discovers that he has inherited his late uncle's vineyard in Provence, France. The descriptions of the wine-making process are enlightening, as well as descriptions of local residents, customs and...more
My book didn't have this cover. I didn't even know it had been turned into a movie until I read other reviews.
I read this book shortly after reading the author's "A Year in Provence" which was based on his real life story of leaving England and moving to France. This book is basically the same story only with fictional characters and a little bit of a plot. It was a good read but I have to admit I was surprised to find--when I had finished the book--that I was missing the characters in my life f...more
I read this book shortly after reading the author's "A Year in Provence" which was based on his real life story of leaving England and moving to France. This book is basically the same story only with fictional characters and a little bit of a plot. It was a good read but I have to admit I was surprised to find--when I had finished the book--that I was missing the characters in my life f...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I always enjoy reading stories set in France, especially Provence, since it is such a lovely part of our world. In this book, I did enjoy the descriptions of the area, its people & the food. The story started out enjoyable enough - about a young man who is fired from his London job in the financial world and moves to Provence when he inherits property from an uncle. A mystery develops concerning the wine that is made from vines on this property. It is simple story that was enjoyable for the...more
I heard the movie was awful. The book had to be worse. Don't do it!
1 like
·
like
· see review
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Peter Mayle (born June 14, 1939 in Brighton) is a British author famous for his series of books detailing life in Provence, France. He spent fifteen years in advertising before leaving the business in 1975 to write educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people. In 1989, A Year in Provence was published and became an international bestseller. His books have be...more
More about Peter Mayle...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Jun 16, 2012 01:35pm