Mayle, Peter

• A Year in Provence

  • This is right up there on my list of best non-fiction books I've ever read. It's total escapist fluff, but it is absolutely hilarious. Mayle is like a very droll Dave Barry, and he paints incredible images (and hilarious charicatures) with words. Now I understand why everyone from the New York Times Book Review to the guy in the used SF/F bookstore raves about him. Mayle's appeal truly cuts across genres, because there is something for everyone. For me, the humor was top-notch. I only hesitate to pick up any of his other books quickly for fear of either burnout or that they won't live up to his first, but I know I will read them soon.

• Toujours Provence

  • The sequel to the excellent "A Year in Provence", Mayle spends another book writing about his experiences since writing the first book. Again, there's plenty here about life in France, and the high quality of writing remains the same. Unfortunately, I saw less of my favorite characters in this book (particularly his neighbors Massot and Faustin) and a little more of Mayle's own point-of-view (instead of the more entertaining mode where he writes his interpretation of a French person's point of view). There was no way to match the first book, though...

• Acquired Tastes

  • This book is apparently the compilation of a series of magazine columns written about the finer things in life. Again, Mayle writes very humorously, but now that he is a bit more constrained in what he writes about, I think his style is slightly cramped. There are some bright spots in the book, such as his purchase of a suit and some shoes, but most of the book is "merely" very interesting instead of both interesting and funny.

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