Toujours Provence (Paperback)

~ (Author) "I had been to a pharmacy in Apt for toothpaste and suntan oil, two innocent and perfectly healthy purchases..." (more)
Key Phrases: Monsieur Salques, Mont Ventoux, Monsieur Gregoire (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Mayle shares his adventures in France's Midi in an enchanting book that stayed on PW 's hardcover bestseller list for 19 weeks. His new book, Acquired Tastes , will be published by Bantam in May.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

For fans of his A Year in Provence ( LJ 4/1/90; "Best Books of 1990," LJ 1/91), Mayle is back with more amusing tales of "la vie en rose" in the south of France. Writing with affectionate humor, he recounts such adventures as sneaking through British customs with a suitcase full of expensive truffles and digging for gold coins in his backyard with his wily and greedy neighbor. He encounters truly French eccentrics like Regis, the athlete gourmet who wears a track suit to enjoy his meals, and the ambitious Monsieur Salques, the choirmaster of the singing toads of St. Panteleon who plans to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution with an amphibian rendition of the "Marseillaise." Describing a memorable 50th-birthday picnic that ends in a sudden rainstorm, Mayle conjures up hilarious images in vivid prose: "Showing through a pair of once-white, once-opaque trousers, red-lettered knickers wished us all Merry Xmas." Recommended for all travel collections.
- Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (June 2, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679736042
• ISBN-13: 978-0679736042
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #37,692 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pas mal, mais...., February 26, 2005

By	Annie M. "Annie M" (Concord, NH USA) - See all my reviews

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.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simply delightful!, January 31, 2002

By	Kevin W. Parker (Greenbelt, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Toujours Provence (Audio Cassette)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost As Good as Being There., June 13, 2002

By	Brett Benner (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.