Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
Sometimes I get confused which Peter Mayle book I've read and which ones I haven't. He's been writing a series with a detective and an insurance adjuster who frequently have to travel to Marseille where they stay in luxury with a really rich man, as we all do! Anyway, I haven't read this one The Diamond Caper.
Here's the intro:
Why is it that bad news so often arrives on Monday mornings? The call came at 6:00 a.m. local time, waking a reluctant Elena Morales from a deliciously deep sleep. It was her boss, Frank Knox, founder and CEO of Knox Insurance, and there was an undercurrent of tension in his voice. There was a problem, he said, and it was urgent. Despite the early morning Los Angeles traffic, Elena was with him in his office by 7:30.
Guess what? The urgent case was in Nice, France, so Elena is off to France where her boyfriend Sam meets her. There's sure to be French fun to follow.
I look forward to seeing what everyone else is reading.
Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
I won't say that Peter Mayle sparked my France dreams, but he definitely helped seal them with his book A Year in Provence. I'd already developed a passion for France when I discovered his memoir about moving to the Luberon and renovating an old house. I loved everything about the book -- the quirky characters, the detailed setting, the scrumptious food. The book, with nearly 300 reviews on Amazon, still pulls a 4.4 out of 5 star ranking. I'll have to say that none of his other memoirs, Toujours Provence or Encore Provence have been quite at the same level. Mayle has also moved into novel writing. His novels all have a similar feel, and dare I say it, plot. The next step is usually fairly obvious; the resolution of the plot just a bit too easy. But they are set in lovely places like Marseille and Corsica, so I get to live there vicariously for a little while.
I'm almost finished with Mayle's latest novel The Corsican Caper. The 162-page book is so similar to his
previous books that my husband swore he had read this one already, before I pointed out that it was just released here in May. This novel has 3.3 stars out of 5 after 45 reviews. I'm afraid it may only get worse for Mayle, but I probably won't be one of those people giving him a low review. I just love the journey too much and always enjoy traveling with him, wherever he goes in France.
Have you read any books by Peter Mayle? Do you have a favorite?
Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I'm excited to start this one, even though some of the Goodreads reviews have not gushed over it -- The Marseille Caper by Peter Mayle. Of course, I've never gotten over his book A Year in Provence. Here's the intro:
Shock has a chilling effect, particularly when it takes the form of an unexpected meeting with a man from whom you have recently stolen three million dollars' worth of wine. Sam Levitt shivered and pulled his terrycloth robe closer around his body, still damp from an early morning dip in the Chateau Marmont pool.
Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Open to a random page of your current read and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers. Here's my teaser from chapter two:
"Elena," he said, "are you wearing anything under that dress?"
"Not a lot," she said. "A couple drops of Chanel."
Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading. Here's mine for this week Anything Considered by Peter Mayle:
Something would turn up, Bennett kept telling himself. On the good days, the days when the sun shone and no bills arrived, he found it easy to believe that this sudden poverty was a temporary blot on the landscape of life, a hiccup of fate, no more than a passing inconvenience. Even so, he couldn't ignore the facts: his pockets were hollow, his checks were prone to bounce, and his financial prospects generally -- as his bank manager had pointed out with the gloomy relish that bank managers convey when imparting bad news -- were vague and unsatisfactory.
Peter Mayle, of course, is the author of A Year in Provence and this is a novel he wrote back in the 1990s, when France still used the Franc rather than the Euro. Still, since my life is a bit stressful right now, I'm running everyday and searching for some escapism in my reading material. Earl read this book and enjoyed it. If it can transport me to Provence for a few hours, I'm there. What do you think? Would you read it?
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