Slowly, I'm working my way through Peter Mayle's books though these books could more rightly be described as his love letters to Provence.

Toujours Provence begins where his first book A Year In Provence ended. Now a seasoned resident of this region of France, he broadens his view to give us an affectionate portrait of the French in all their regional peculiarities.

At once amusing and educational, this book gives the reader the sense of what it would be like to see France as a resident, not a tourist.

I know I've entertained daydreams of living in France of Italy, at least for a summer. Mayle's books make me want to act upon that fantasy.

This book is my perfect choice for bedtime reading. Not because it's boring and makes me sleepy. Not because it's easy to put down when sleep calls. Reading this book is a calm interlude in my busy life. Mayle has a droll humor and a flair for understatement of the incongruous situations that develop. I find myself smiling, and I can feel the stress melting away.

Toujours Provence, like its predecessor A Year In Provence, is the perfect armchair vacation.

Slowly, I'm working my way through Peter Mayle's books though these books could more rightly be described as his love letters to Provence.

Toujours Provence begins where his first book A Year In Provence ended. Now a seasoned resident of this region of France, he broadens his view to give us an affectionate portrait of the French in all their regional peculiarities.

At once amusing and educational, this book gives the reader the sense of what it would be like to see France as a resident, not a tourist.

I know I've entertained daydreams of living in France of Italy, at least for a summer. Mayle's books make me want to act upon that fantasy.

This book is my perfect choice for bedtime reading. Not because it's boring and makes me sleepy. Not because it's easy to put down when sleep calls. Reading this book is a calm interlude in my busy life. Mayle has a droll humor and a flair for understatement of the incongruous situations that develop. I find myself smiling, and I can feel the stress melting away.

Toujours Provence, like its predecessor A Year In Provence, is the perfect armchair vacation.

Having survived French bureaucracy, endless home improvement, goat races, hunters, Massot's dogs, summer visitors, and other hazards during A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle brings us more of the same in Toujours Provence.

This time Mayle takes a more illustrative approach. Beginning with a pharmaceuticals marketing brochure that depicts a snail whose "horns drooped" and whose "eye was lackluster," Mayle educates us about health concerns and approaches in Provence--including house calls. Anecdotes relate Mayle's love of picnicking Provence style (with chef, wait staff, and linens); his quest for singing toads, truffles, and napoléons (the coins); his pursuit of Pavarotti and pastis; and, of course, his passion for the region's fresh foods and fine vintages.

With a few exceptions, such as the history of pastis and the more sobering story of summer drought and forest fires, much of Toujours Provence will seem familiar territory to readers of the first book. For the most part, Mayle is in fine form, writing that Bennett, "looking like the reconnaissance scout from a Long Range Desert Group . . . had crossed enemy lines on the main N100 road, successfully invaded Ménerbes, and was now ready for the final push into the mountains." Some anecdotes, like "No Spitting in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape," end brilliantly, while others, such as "Napoléons at the Bottom of the Garden," fall a little flat.

Judith Clancy's delightful artwork is back, but what is missing from Toujours Provence are the quirky characters we came to love or at least wonder about. Most are mentioned or make a brief appearance, but mainly they are relegated to the background. Even Mayle's neighbor Massot (". . . it would be difficult to imagine a more untrustworthy old rogue this side of the bars of Marseille prison"), to whom half a chapter is devoted, is here more caricature than character. We know no more about him, or Faustin and Henriette or Monsieur Menicucci, than we did at the end of the first book. By now, Mayle's circle has expanded , but no one he meets, from the toad choir director to the flic, is nearly as interesting as his neighbors or his builders from the first book.

Like an adequate movie sequel, Toujours Provence carries on in the same vein as its predecessor, with a slightly different or reduced cast and a little less originality and wit. Perhaps more appropriately, I should say it's like a wine slightly past its peak--still worth drinking, but somehow not quite as enjoyable.

Peter Mayle is a great writer in his descriptions and the way he makes you a part of his life in Provence, specially if you don't understand the language or the habits of the «Natives»!
The best book I ever read!
Doris Veillette Hamel, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada

Peter Mayle is a great writer in his descriptions and the way he makes you a part of his life in Provence, specially if you don't understand the language or the habits of the «Natives»!
The best book I ever read!
Doris Veillette Hamel, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada

Mayle's style is light and breezy; he does the joie de vivre thing as in his first Provence book. This book is really an elaboration of the episodes in A Year in Provence. Mayle does insert new characters and gustatory adventures that keep the reading lively however.

There are many charming anecdotes in this book. Mayle is a first-class storyteller who drops alot of French words throughout his narrative in English. This, along with his modest humour, really make this a decent read.

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

Mayle's style is light and breezy; he does the joie de vivre thing as in his first Provence book. This book is really an elaboration of the episodes in A Year in Provence. Mayle does insert new characters and gustatory adventures that keep the reading lively however.

There are many charming anecdotes in this book. Mayle is a first-class storyteller who drops alot of French words throughout his narrative in English. This, along with his modest humour, really make this a decent read.

I enjoyed Mayle's first book A Year in Provence a lot better than this book. If you want to learn about French food and meals then this book will help you. But it is not as funny as his first book.

Pete Mayle does it again. Experience Provence through the poetic, visual style of the expert. Who needs to travel when you have Peter at hand?

I knew we were in trouble when Mayle's sequel to his delightful "Year in Provence" opened with vignettes on constipation and suppositories. Oh, Mayle's fresh and breezy style is here, and he still has an eye for small but telling details, but this is mainly a retread of the same ground he worked in the much more cohesive "Year in Provence." We are told, yet again, about annoying guests, fraud in the truffle trade, and the arrogance of outsiders who are invading Provence and turning it into a playground for the rich, which is rich coming from a man who has plenty of money to finance his enviable lifestyle and quests to discover the origins of pastis!
All that said, Mayle has a talent for evoking place, and his descriptions of memorable meals will leave you salivating. But you can get all that, in better form, in A Year in Provence.

I knew we were in trouble when Mayle's sequel to his delightful "Year in Provence" opened with vignettes on constipation and suppositories. Oh, Mayle's fresh and breezy style is here, and he still has an eye for small but telling details, but this is mainly a retread of the same ground he worked in the much more cohesive "Year in Provence." We are told, yet again, about annoying guests, fraud in the truffle trade, and the arrogance of outsiders who are invading Provence and turning it into a playground for the rich, which is rich coming from a man who has plenty of money to finance his enviable lifestyle and quests to discover the origins of pastis!
All that said, Mayle has a talent for evoking place, and his descriptions of memorable meals will leave you salivating. But you can get all that, in better form, in A Year in Provence.

Toujours Provence is Peter Mayle's delightful continuation of his bestselling memoir, A Year in Provence. In this "sequel," so to speak, we become privy to he and his wife's further adventures in their subsequent years in Provence. Perhaps moreso in this book than in A Year in Provence, we begin to see how the Mayles are becoming much less English and more Provencal in their lifestyles. Full of little joys in each chapter, more truffles, dogs, annoying tourists and/or visitors, singing toads, buried treasure, and delectable food and wine, this memoir is certain to suit those who enjoyed A Year in Provence!

Toujours Provence is Peter Mayle's delightful continuation of his bestselling memoir, A Year in Provence. In this "sequel," so to speak, we become privy to he and his wife's further adventures in their subsequent years in Provence. Perhaps moreso in this book than in A Year in Provence, we begin to see how the Mayles are becoming much less English and more Provencal in their lifestyles. Full of little joys in each chapter, more truffles, dogs, annoying tourists and/or visitors, singing toads, buried treasure, and delectable food and wine, this memoir is certain to suit those who enjoyed A Year in Provence!

This book did not live up to Mayle's first book. It's like he's trying to cash in on that fame.

I loved nearly every page that I read. The chapter about Vogue and real estate didn't hold my interest quite the same as the other chapters but I won't fault the book for one off chapter.

Anyone reading this series looking for another similar and equally good book to read, I highly recommend Driving Over Lemons.

i love everyone of peter mayle's books! If you like travel books, and havn't checked him out - you should!

I actually read Toujours Provence before the first of the series, A Year in Provence, and loved it! I hadn't ever thought of throwing it all in and moving to the South of France but after reading this book it seems like a wonderful idea. Mayle makes even the frustrations in Provence sound romantic and wonderful. This is a great book to read if you are in need of a vacation but just can't get around to it. You'll be dreaming of vines, Pastis, wonderful food, and the French. Eh oui. A great travel book!

I am surprised and delighted to say that I enjoyed this even more than the first book in the Provence series. Perhaps the familiar, breezy writing and characters just transported me to a lush, easy life. I also think some of these stories are hysterical! From singing frogs to the aquisition of their new dog there is just pure joy in these pages. A great, quick read. Can't wait to go on to Encore Provence.

Like Provence, Mayle continues to charm with further adventures from the land of food, wine, and sunshine. If you haven't read "A Year In Provence", I'd suggest starting with that as many of the "characters" he introduced make return visits here. Less structural than his first book, these chapters come off as varied meditations on random events that occur day to day; A birthday picnic, a new found pet,the search for gold in his backyard, and of course the various gastromical pleasures to be found throughout the region. I didn't find it quite as good as the first book, but still he has a way of making you feel like you're sitting down with an old friend.

Now this is a book to take in the car! Mayle returns to Provence and, unconfined by his self-imposed chronological organization of A Year in Provence, which went month-by-month, produces a delightful, anecdotal account of life in his adopted country. We get to hear about singing frogs, an attempt to train a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig to hunt truffles, as well as various wine-tasting festivities, and particularly a special party for Mayle's birthday that changes his mind about picnics once and for all.

It's a delightful book, great for listening to in the car and almost certainly an entertaining light read.

If you've ventured through my reviews previous to this you know of my deep seated love and enthusiasm for Mr. Mayle's first novel " A Year In Provence". Being such a big fan I was more than slightly apprehensive when his second installment was released. I had prepared my self for a huge letdown!

Fortunately, once again, I was wrong. Don't misunderstand me...while I enjoy this book immensely it simply doesn't match up to his first novel. The "flow" of the first novel isn't there and some pieces feel as though they've been plastered together. That being said...WHO CARES!

Mr. Mayle's talent in story-telling is still with us and some of his chapters, such as hunting the elusive tuffle, attending a Pavorotti concert and digging up gold Naopoleon's in his own yard make for a wonderful adventure which I greatly enjoyed.

Overall, the book has the same cozy, warm feeling that his first novel so vividly captured and I now have my own hardbound copy as well. But, than again, I'm biased! I tend to enjoy his novel's due to their naivete,innocence and of course his tendencies to expand upon French culture. What's not to like?

So, if you enjoyed his first you will undoubtably like this as well. And if not....well, you wish to stay away. Overall, I think Peter Mayle has done us, and his bank account,a very big favor by letting us enjoy he and his wife's misadventure's in Provence and here's hopeing they'll be many more!

Another "le home run" by Peter Mayle. He makes the reader feel that he or she is right by his side as he discovers new restaurants, goes to market, or takes part in a fantastic experience tasting wines in a local cave. After two of his books I feel like I know the locals and could feel right at home in his village. His books are difficult to put down. I found myself looking forward to "going to Provence" for a few chapters every evening. Thank you Peter.

Peter Mayle has written a very entertaining view of rural French people and life in Provence. His view contrasts sharply with the idea most Americans have of that region -- very glitzy and refined. Instead he paints a picture that pretty much excludes the tourists that flock to the area in July and August. Very humorously and quite accurately, he paints a charming picture of people who lead pretty plain lives that seem driven mostly by pleasures of the palate and a lack of concern for problems of the world. His verbal renditions are packed with French, which adds a lot of flavor but might turn off those who speak no French. This book is most delightfully enjoyed as a book on tape, read by a Brit, who also has command of French. It will be enjoyed by anyone who has traveled to and through Provence. Those who have not been there, may or may not appreciate his very colorful, wry, and vivid British descriptions.

A beautiful follow up to A year in Provence. Continues on the hilarious insights into French country life. It inspires to the point that you want to brush up on your school french, eat baguettes and brie, and pack up en route to a new life in the south of France.

A good but not exceptional effort from Peter Mayle. Lots of fun, but a very light read. He obviously still loves Provence! One for the South of France travel fans.

Don't ask but I read this book first and it's the second intallment in the series. I bought it because I was waiting at the airport and liked the cover. What a surprise that I actually found myself laughing at several of the chapters! My husband would want to know what was so funny, but it's just one of those things that to tell him, he wouldn't get it or see the humor. My favorite chapter and the one that still makes me giggle was the dinner date with Pavarotti!! You know, it really did make sense!! (will mean something only to the person who read the chapter)

My best suggestion: BUY A FRENCH DICTIONARY. I found myself constantly looking up words. Enjoy!

A series of pastiches of life in Provence. If you don't speak French, a lot will be lost on you. If you do because you have spent time in Provence, the characters will appear familiar.

However, the tales are not that funny or even amusing. In addition, they're from the point of view of an Englishman, so it has a twist that at times really doesn't work for American readers (comparisons of school food in France and Britain, etc.)

My wife read "Une annee en Provence" and felt the same lack of interest in this volume as I do.

It is redeemed mostly by Mayle's talent as a writer. Some of his descriptions and meals are very, very well done. But again beyond painting the picture, it's not funny or insightful.

I did not enjoy this book as much as others from Mayle, including A Dog's Life and Hotel Pastis. A year in Provence was also better. This one did not flow well and it seemed like I read many chapters that could have come from different books. Read his other books first.

This book provides a vehicle to escape to the sunny south of France without leaving your house. The characters and setting are richly described, and you can almost smell the aroma of country provencal cooking (don't read the book on an empty stomach) Very humerous. A great escape!!

This book is charming, funny and heartwarming. I have never read A Year In Provence, but I recomend you do--most people who have read both say you should. It also helps to know some French.

The is primarily independent chapters each with their own story of life in Provence. The chapter on 'Boy' the dog was very good as were a few other chapters.

I didn't think that this book was quite as good as A Year in Provence. But it was still very amusing. I'd recommend reading A Year in Provence first before reading this book so you better understand everything he is referring to.