|
I'm very satisfied with my purchase. I have been interested in Peter Mayle's writing since reading A Year in Provence several years ago. Provence is a part of France that I find beautiful and interesting, and I like his style of description and storytelling.
Lots of information of out of the way places, generally not visited much by tourists.
Great way to keep a smile on your face when all you have are fragments of time for reading. The mini-essays are presented alphabetically, each defining or explaining something wonderfully French in Mayle's beloved style. This is not a book to read from cover to cover, but one to enjoy in snippets of time. Mayle always provides a 'vacation in France' in his charming, witty books, but this one provides sound-byte sized vacations as you wait in line for school pickup, at the drive-thru, in the doctor's waiting room, or even when you mute the annoying commercial on TV.
Some of the included listings were of interest to me; others were received with my version of a Gallic shrug.We begin with "Accent" and learn that French is not truly the language spoken in Provence as we might expect but what is spoken is "a rich, thick, pungent verbal stew, simmered in an accent filled with twanging consonants." The closing listing is "Zingue - Zingue - Zoun," which we are told is used to describe the sound of a violin.Yes, there are frequent flashes of the Mayle humor throughout. Beware all who begin reading this: I'm totally incapable of writing an unbiased review of anything authored by Peter Mayle. - Gail Cooke But, for this reader, Provence A - Z is adulterated Mayle, and I much prefer him pure - straight, if you will, without soda or water simply because he is one of the world's premier raconteurs, an amiable travel guide, and blessed with an unerring eye for humor in the most improbable situations.If you've not read Mayle, I encourage you to let your introduction be A Year In Provence or Encore Provence - both are pure Mayle, pure pleasure. I'm a dedicated Mayle-ite, unabashed, unrepentant, and completely under the spell of this witty, charming chronicler of his Provencal experiences.Thus, it is with the greatest reluctance that my comments re Provence A - Z are less than laudatory. For me it is precisely what the title implies - an alphabetical listing of words with each followed by a brief definition, description or explanation.
I love Provence now, too. But Mayle's great gift is the fun he has with the language, and the obvious pleasure he has writing about the area he loves. Thanks, Mr Mayle. I took Peter Mayle's book Provence A-Z with me when I travelled through the region a few months ago, stopping at the places he seemed to highly recommend and rereading passages pertaining to what I saw. My trip was tremendously enhanced.
|
