Rating: 
Summary: More! More!
Review: Once again reading Peter Mayle is the next best thing to actually being there. Most of the book covers brand new territory in the South of France including the perfect corkscrew, an olfactory lesson, and the joys of olive oil, while also revisiting many of his favorite topics including the wonder of truffles and of course the wine and food.In fact my only slight beef with the book is his need to revisit some topics already covered in previous books, but it's so slight it hardly detracts from the overall joy the book manages to evoke.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as the first!
Review: The first Provence book captivated. This one merely reports.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first!
Review: The first Provence book captivated. This one merely reports.
Rating: 
Summary: Please-may Provence remain as long as this planet.
Review: The observations of Monsieur Farigoule are themselves worth the cost of this wonderful book but Mayle has peppered this vision of Provence with many personalities, each with their own insights into life-as led by themselves and life as led by we who are not lucky enough to share their little bit of peace.
Encore Provence began slowly and like a good lecturer, warmed to his topic until the beauty, complexity and warmness of what he saw in Provence opened like a blossom on one of the perennial lavenders that are so prevalent in the countryside. Mayle writes lovingly of the Mellon King, the organic gardener, the truffle grower, the many builders he encounters and of course Monsieur Farigoule-who alone in this Free Market world has his finger securely in the dyke trying, against all odds, to maintain France and Frenchness.
Mayle's book is redolent with stamp-sized mental images of a life that we should all view with an intense envy. I can only but wish that French frigate would have arrived a day before rather than a day after Sterling's First Fleet arrived here in Australia. Vive la France!
Rating:
Summary: I laughed at the shotgun murder ... and felt good about it!
Review: Twelve years ago, Peter Mayle gifted us with "A Year In Provence", an account of this expatriate Brit's plunge into Gallic life, revolving around the pleasures and pitfalls of establishing a residence in rural France in an old country house that was somewhat of a "fixer-upper". Several Provence-related books later, and after a period of time living on Long Island, Peter and his wife return to the land they (and we) love. The result is "Encore Provence". The latest book doesn't hold together as well as "Year", the elements of the latter forming a more cohesive whole. However, "Encore" is certainly much better than some of his other books written in the interim.In "Encore", Peter briefly revisits several topics covered in the original, as well as several more which were apparently overlooked. The range is quixotic: the cultivation of olive trees, an explanation of the three grades of virgin olive oil, the smelly art of selecting fragrances for designing perfumes, foie gras as the key to longevity, discovering the perfect corkscrew, touring Marseille, the almost-underworld of the village truffle market, how to execute the Provençal full shrug, the obligatory elements of the Provençal village, and, umm ..... the shotgun murder of an amorous meat cutter. And, of course, many hedonistic references to the local food and wine. All are treated in the utterly charming and dryly humorous Mayle-style that makes his books so delightful. Bravo and merci beaucoup, Mr. Mayle! You've provided another enjoyable spice to my life.
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