I felt the book started out a little slow, but I'm so glad that I kept reading. Now when I need to zone-out, I picture myself in Provence!!!!

Peter Mayle and his wife bought a house in Provence, a region in the south of France. A Year in Provence is a month-by-month account of Mayle's experiences during the first year they lived there. Mayle's description of his interactions with his colorful neighbors and the daily routine of life in rural France gives the armchair traveler a good feel for Provencal customs and culture. (The descriptions of meals eaten in local restaurants or prepared from local ingredients will leave the reader drooling.) The workmen Mayle and his wife hired to fix up the house, who were as colorful and opinionated as his neighbors, had, as workmen around the world often do, their own schedules for the work, but the Mayleses came up with a brilliant idea that got the work finished by Christmas. During the summer, they put up with freeloading vacationers, some of whom were acquaintances of acquaintances, who expected accommodations for their summer vacations. The book club members voted this a solid 4* selection for book club use. The only thing we found odd is that Peter Mayle's wife is virtually absent from the book. She is never identified by name and her reactions, when different from his, are never acknowledged. We are waiting for her book on the couple's first year in Provence.

A few of us liked the book, the rest thought it had no purpose/point. It didn't seem to spark much of a discussion.

I wasn't really sure how to rate this one. Most of us enjoyed it, but there really wasn't much of a discussion, and we're usually quite a lively group!

This book just seemed kind of pointless and disjointed. There was never any real good flow in the story for me. I had to force myself to finish it.