Words in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France

I'm a fan of Kristin Espinasse's "French Word-a-Day" blog, and so was looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, despite several attempts to make good progress moving from cover to cover, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I have to conclude that what works very well in a blog just doesn't translate (so to speak) very well to a book.

I suppose my attempt might have succeeded better had I tried to read this the way I read her blog: one small section at a time, with a day or so in between samples. If you approach it like that, it's probably not a bad way to pick up some French vocab and get a sense of daily life in the south of France. If, however, you're looking for a Peter-Mayle-esque book *about* living in the south of France, this really is not it: the vignettes of her life are too short -- and, as another reviewer put it, too mundane -- really to illuminate much of wider application. If that *is* what you're looking for, and if you like your reading broken up into small sections, then I much more enthusiastically recommend Mayle's new Provence A-Z: A Francophile's Essential Handbook.

The author may have been trying to create a Pointillist image of Provençal living, but sadly all I could see was the individual dots. Maybe the secret is a little more time and distance? In the meantime, though, it's back to Mayle for me.

This book is a compilation of vignettes on daily life in France from an Arizonan who married a French wine merchant. Her offerings are written in a delightful way, and include her lessons in humility by both being an American living in France and by having French-born children who are willing to correct her mistakes! I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a cross-cultural experience, but especially to those like me who love all things French.

The general notion is excellent, but the vignettes themselves are too mundane to hold the attention of anyone but the most generous of spirit. Simple, pastoral tales can be entertaining--witness "A Year in Provence"--but these ones are almost entirely without interest. Reading this book may be a more boring way to learn French words than simply memoraizing them.

The book was really a series of blogs published on paper. The actual blog is much more interesting because of the photos she includes on her blog. I recommend that next time she publishes her blog that she include the photos.

I do not recommend this book for a bookclub because there is no meat to it. It is light summer fare. Very easy to read in snippets.

The book comes form a popular blog and newsletter written by an American woman living in Provence with her French husband and 'Frano-American' kids. Her long love of all things French led to a fascination by words and phrases which she hadn't learned through schooling - which then led to a lively blog about French culture, language and customs.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch