This is the story of the first year in Provence of Peter Mayle and his wife, who moved from England to a 200-year old stone farm house in a rural part of this French region. Each month has its chapter. It's definitely well-written and nicely descriptive, and it's an easy, flowing read, but ultimately I found this dull. I couldn't help comparing this to my recent read of Bryson's travelogue about Australia, In a Sunburned Country. By the middle of the first page I was madly grinning, at page 17 for the first--and not last--time I laughed out loud. With Mayle there was only the occasional, and quite suppressible, twitch upward of the lips. Only mildly amusing. And while I felt I learned a lot about Australia from Bryson with every page... well, Mayle spends a whole lot of wordage on the renovation of his house with the biggest drama involving the woes of transporting his stone table. His wife strangely remains a cipher throughout. The most vivid parts were the description of the food. Ah, truffles! If you do decide to read this, I recommend you do so on a full stomach--and not while trying to diet!
