Book Reviews: Book Review of A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle -- Blue Rectangle

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A Year in Provence

Peter Mayle

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""This book was given to me by a boyfriend at the time that I read the book, and I actually thought that it was called A Year in Provence. I was so un - not ready for this book. So then I figured out that it was A Year in Provence. He gave me the book to read probably because he had heard it had gotten rave reviews as a good traveler's book, and he knew I liked to travel. A Year in Provence is about an Englishman's time in France. He interacts with the locals as an Englishman, and he learns then the ways of the French. It's a humor that is maybe sweet and refreshing; maybe that's how I would describe this, or - and sometimes it can be punchy, but not always. It's definitely for a reader who is interested in travel or interested in encountering other cultures and respecting those cultures while also maintaining the sense of your own, and perhaps at the time that I read it, I didn't appreciate that as much. I think now - I read it about five years ago, actually maybe ten years ago - and I re-read it recently. And it struck me very differently than it did ten years ago, and that's probably because I have come to appreciate that kind of thinking and that kind of writing. I would also recommend this book to people who like maybe just light-hearted writing; but there's a part of it, too, that's poignant, so it's not simply light-hearted. Ten years ago, I probably would have given this book maybe a two or a three based on my own - just based on how I understood the world at that time or what I was interested in. Now, though, I think I would probably rate it at least a four. It's good writing, its smart writing, it's funny; and if you're interested in travel and the lessons that we can learn from other people as travel, it's definitely a good book."