Sunday, January 08, 2017

Dreaming of France -- French Memoir


Thank you for joining 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 started reading a new French memoir last week and wanted to share it with you. It's called A Bull By the Back Door by Anne Loader. It's a British couple, with two grown sons, who decides to buy a home in the Limousin region of France.

There are similarities to A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle as the couple search for a house, taking the reader along, and then buy a house that needs lots of work. The reader gets to know the French neighbors and see (in written word) the sorry state of the old stone house before Anne and her husband Jack get hold of the vines covering the facade only to find as they tear them down that the vines covered doors and windows the couple didn't know existed.
It's fun to imagine the house as it is renovated. This book and renovation took place back in the 90s, so it feels a little bit old fashioned. For instance, the house has a concrete floor in the kitchen, which Anne wants to cover with carpet squares. A concrete floor would be very cutting edge today, maybe some paint or concrete color design could add to it, but I don't think anyone would be in favor of carpet squares.
I haven't finished this book yet, which is apparently part of the "St Paradis" series. The book came out originally in 1997 as a paperback and is now available on Kindle. I even got it as a free download.
Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave your name and blog address in Mr. Linky below, and leave a comment letting me know what  you think about my love affair with France, or your own passion for the country and its people and cultures. Also consider visiting the blogs of others who play along so we can all share the love.

6 comments:

Jacqui Brown said...

Glad you enjoyed the memoir - I downloaded it but haven't read it yet!

Anonymous said...

Wow, it sounds like one of those dreams where you open a door and find a room in your house that you didn't know you had. Did you ever have one of those?
But for these guys, it was real--doors and windows anyway (almost as good as a room).

Esme said...

Thank you for this-I am going to search it out.

Sim Carter said...

Ah! I thought YOU had written a French memoir piece, THAT is something I would truly love to read. Carpet squares!?
Oh mon Dieu!

Paulita said...

Jacqui, Thanks for alerting me to the free download.
Francetaste, Unfortunately, it wasn't a magical door
Esme, Hope you enjoy it.
Sim, I've tried. I don't have a good enough memory for a memoir, but I'm trying to keep track as we move toward our move to France so I can turn it into a memoir.

Just Me said...

Like Sim, I thought you were announcing your memoir! I know we will the story in one form or another as you can turn anything into a story worth telling. Cheers.

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