Travelers' Tales France: True Stories (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This newly designed edition of Travelers’ Tales France celebrates the culture, history, and joie de vivre of one of the most beloved — and most visited — countries on Earth. Acclaimed writers, including Peter Mayle, M.F.K. Fisher, Jon Krakauer, Mort Rosenblum, Alice Kaplan, and Jan Morris, who have fallen in love with France — with the food, the land, the irrepressible French people — provide a mesmerizing literary tour of this special place. Opening many windows onto France, this collection reveals the most important reason to visit: to experience life as it should be. “Pays homage to the good life, as defined by the French.” — Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

France is, of course, the heart of Western civilization. The French know it, the rest of the world knows it (even if they pretend not to), and the British, well, they will never, ever, admit it. And much as the heart gives life and meaning to the rest of the body, so France gives life and meaning to what we call culture, history, and worthwhile experience; France is the loyal guardian of civilization with a capital "C," despite the constant assault from the electronically induced world-monoculture. Travelers' Tales France will open a series of anecdotal windows to life in France -- the life of centuries, but more important for the traveler, the life of the day. For while you can indeed go to France for art and museums until you are sick of them, stuff yourself with foie gras and wine and river barges, or go to Paris to experience snobbery the likes of which you won't find anywhere else in the world -- these aren't the real reasons for going to France. The real reason is to experience Life As It Should Be. And then, in your own way, you can go home and set about making your life The Way It Ought To Be. Titles include: Let's have a Party, Road Scholars, Excusez-moi, Je Suis Sick as a Dog, Rebuilding the Middle Ages, Merlin's Magic Shore, I Was Really Very Hungry, The Mystical Scarf-Tying Gene, The Cave Where it Lives, Three Women of Nice, Alone Among the Angels, Jo's Dog Has His Day, White Valley-Sea of Ice, A Question of Water, No Spitting in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Service Non Compris, Metro Metaphysics, Patissier's Apprentice, White Nights at St. Denis, The Duty to Remember-The Need to Forget, Taste for the Abyss, A Lovely Day for a Miracle, Tour de Fantasy, Confessions in Fractured French, A Memory in Three Parts, Dining with the Corsican, Love Among the Apples. Authors include: Simon Loftus, Mort Rosenblum, Ina Caro, Peter Mayle, M.F.K. Fisher, Pam Houston, James O'Reilly, Donald W. George, Clive Irving, Lawrence Osborne, Jo Yohay, Richard Goodman, Rex Grizell, Alice Kaplan, Jon Krakauer, Sophia Dembling, David Roberts, and Julia Wilkinson. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Travelers' Tales; 2nd edition (February 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885211732
• ISBN-13: 978-1885211736
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #996,653 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Travel Companion, October 18, 1999

By	Andrew Czernek (Mukilteo, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Travelers' Tales France (Paperback)

Both TT: France and TT: Paris are perfect companions on a trip to France. They put you in the mood to experiment when you travel and provide an eager anticipation of French culture. I've read both and will probably take them on an upcoming trip to France as pleasant refreshers. They're good enough that I've written to James O'Reilly and asked for sequels to both books, hoping to deepen exposure to things French.

This book is truly eclectic -- stories about French waiters; demolition teams working on removing explosives from the two world wars; the Celtic stones in Brittany; the Wild West atmospher of l'Ardeche; and stories of invasion and Normandy. Just about all of the stories have been published in newspaper or magazine articles, but are very carefully selected to show a new dimension to France. You'll recognize a few of the authors (Jon Krakauer, 'Into Thin Air,' and Peter Mayle, 'A Year in Provence'). The margin notes are also a great addition to the flavor of the book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars same old tourist-y banalities, January 18, 2004

By	S. Clark - See all my reviews

I'm a little emabarrased that I actually plowed through this book after having been mostly disappointed by their books on Turkey and Paris.

This book wasn't completely useless. The M.F.K. Fisher piece was really first rate, and there were a couple other items that were pretty solid, but overall, this was just the same old stuff that gets written about tourist experiences that one reads in those little magazines that the airlines publish and put in the pockets in the back of airplane seats for passengers to read.

A more useful book, in my opinion, would be one that collects anecdotes from people native to France talking about their lives. Books like the "Traveler's Tales" series just end up seeming like a glorified trip to a theme park that just happens to have some really convincingly mocked up French countryside and cuisine offerings. All these traveler's tales come off as people who are terminally on the outside looking in.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nicely edited to give one a good feel of French culture., May 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Travelers' Tales France (Paperback)

We found this book very enjoyable in preparation to spending 2 months in France. Good cultural introduction. We read it out loud to our kids and found that it was a good jumping off point to other books and authors excerpted in the book. Best read before you go. Don't carry it with you.