I am participating in a 2020 Reading Challenge. For February – the book theme was memoir or biography. I chose Peter Mayle’s My Twenty-Five Years in Provence: Reflections Then & Now.

I have read other books written by Mayle, including the novel A Good Year, which became a movie starring Russell Crowe {love the movie}. Mayle, who passed away in 2018, writes charmingly about his life in Provence.

So charming in fact, that I try to contrive ways to move there, as I read. Like, maybe I can get a job with the U.S. government in France – searches frantically on USA JOBS website. Okay, yeah – that won’t work. 

His sense of humor is woven throughout his anecdotes on every day life, the passing of the seasons, tourists visiting the region and the village he lives in, and my personal favorite – talk of Provence’s food & wine {Rosé in particular}.

Mayle writes beautifully, but not in a complicated or fussy way. I have longed to visit Europe – France, in particular – all of my life. I hope to someday. But writing like his makes me want to get there as soon as possible. His writing is simple and straightforward. Yet somehow, he is still so artful that I can envision the scenes he describes, as if I were in Provence myself.

He is a delightful writer. And this book is a new favorite.

For March’s book, I will be reading The House on Tradd Street by Karen White. The House on Tradd Street is the first in her Tradd Street Series. I have enjoyed other Karen White books, so I’m looking forward to starting this today.

Here are the themes for the reading challenge:

January: Book Related to Your New Year’s Resolution
February: Biography or Memoir
March: Book in a Series
April: Try an Audio Book
May: Feels Like Falling! (Obviously… Then Join Us May 15 for a FB Live Discussion)
June: Classic Beach Book
July: Thriller So Scary You Have to Read on the Beach in Daylight
August: Historical Fiction
September: Book That Has Been in Your TBR Pile Forever
October: New Release Impulse Buy
November: One of Your Family Member’s Favorite Books
December: Holiday-Themed Book

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