Rating: 
Summary: A Votre Santé
Review: A Good Year is the first I've read by Peter Mayle. I did not know that it had been headed to Hollywood, but one certainly suspects it. The book reads like a screenplay. Colorful characters, enchanting settings and whimsical plotline set up perfectly for a 110 minute trip to southern France on the big screen. After sailing through a very light 287 pages, I feel I've been 'en vacances.' Descending upon the tiny village of Saint Pons for the summer are: Max Skinner, our hero who has been tossed out of his financial job in London, but immediately inherits a house with vineyard, Le Griffon, in Provence; Christie, a Californian cousin with a possible claim to the beautiful property; and Charlie, brother-in-law and money lender to Max. They join the locals: Monsieur Rousseau, caretaker to the vineyard; Fanny, a temptingly beautiful restaurant owner; Nathalie Auzet, the fashionable local notary; and Madame Passepartout, the matronly housekeeper and village gossip. The storyline bounces from meal to meal, as nothing happens unless accompanied by sausages, paté, tarte aux pommes, pastis, marc and plenty of red wine. Meals at the village café, at the restaurant, at Le Griffon, and most magnificently at the Rousseau home are described in succulent detail. Evidently, someone is getting wealthy from mysteriously grown grapevines at the far, dusty edge of the property, and therein lies the plot. An ex-advertising executive, Mayle pokes good fun at the culture of wine marketing. Further coloring the screenplay are the budding romances and the ultimate question of will Max make Le Griffon his home and livelihood. Hardly suspenseful, but what summer vacation is?
Rating:
Summary: A Votre Santé
Review: A Good Year is the first I've read by Peter Mayle. I did not know that it had been headed to Hollywood, but one certainly suspects it. The book reads like a screenplay. Colorful characters, enchanting settings and whimsical plotline set up perfectly for a 110 minute trip to southern France on the big screen. After sailing through a very light 287 pages, I feel I've been 'en vacances.' Descending upon the tiny village of Saint Pons for the summer are: Max Skinner, our hero who has been tossed out of his financial job in London, but immediately inherits a house with vineyard, Le Griffon, in Provence; Christie, a Californian cousin with a possible claim to the beautiful property; and Charlie, brother-in-law and money lender to Max. They join the locals: Monsieur Rousseau, caretaker to the vineyard; Fanny, a temptingly beautiful restaurant owner; Nathalie Auzet, the fashionable local notary; and Madame Passepartout, the matronly housekeeper and village gossip. The storyline bounces from meal to meal, as nothing happens unless accompanied by sausages, paté, tarte aux pommes, pastis, marc and plenty of red wine. Meals at the village café, at the restaurant, at Le Griffon, and most magnificently at the Rousseau home are described in succulent detail. Evidently, someone is getting wealthy from mysteriously grown grapevines at the far, dusty edge of the property, and therein lies the plot. An ex-advertising executive, Mayle pokes good fun at the culture of wine marketing. Further coloring the screenplay are the budding romances and the ultimate question of will Max make Le Griffon his home and livelihood. Hardly suspenseful, but what summer vacation is?
Rating: 
Summary: No legs
Review: I am a devoted fan of Peter Mayle and always look forward to his next work. I am a frequent traveler to Provence as well and know most, if not all, of the non fictional places he refers to in his books. Reading Mayle is a pleasant reminder of the south of France. In past books, he has excelled in character development, devotion to detail and his obvious passion for his Provencal subjects. Sadly, most of that is lacking in A Good Year. The plot is as thin as a watered-down Rhone, his characters as underdeveloped as June Pinot Noir. His affinity for Provence still shines through but other than a recipe for vinaigrette and a few brief mentions of French food here and there, this tale could as easily have unfolded in Spain or Chile or New Zealand - just rearrange the names. Mayle has enjoyed, at least in my small opinion, a distinct advantage over Frances Mayes and her "Under the Tuscan Sun" series. He understands characters and character development. While Mayes focuses on a sense of place with incidental characters Mayle develops his characters intertwined with a sense of place. None of that development occurs in A Good Year. This ultra light weight novel is so wafer thin from cover to cover one would think that Mayle wrote it in his sleep, it simply has no legs. I cannot imagine this novel being transcribed into a motion picture, yet, apparently, that is what is going to transpire.
Rating:
Summary: A GOOD MELLOW READ
Review: I enjoyed this one. It was very uncomplicated, the syntax was interesting and the story line, while simple, was fun. I do agree with some of the other reviewers in that the author probably let down just a bit on his character developement in this one, but what the heck, you cannot hit a four bagger each time up. All in all I enjoyed it. Loved reading through each and ever meal and descriptions of the country side. Recommend this one highly. Thank you Mr Mayle.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I found Peter Mayle's latest effort to be boring, predictable and rather juvenile. The Provence well seems to have finally dried up.
Rating:
Summary: Head Off to the South of France Sans Luggage This Summer
Review: If a trip to the South of France doesn't fit into this summer's budget, head to your bookstore instead, for copy of Peter Mayle's latest look at the charms and the foibles of the French. Max Skinner, a thirty-something Englishman struggling to make his way in London's shark-like financial world, loses his job and conveniently receives a surprise inheritance. Max's elderly English uncle, Henry has died bequeathing to Max a modest and somewhat decrepit chateau and vineyard. In his childhood Max had spent summers with good old uncle Henry, and now as Henry's supposedly only heir, Henry has left it all to Max. And just in time too to head off financial disaster after Max is fired, and to rescue him from the ghastly London weather. Max heads off to the south of France to check out the state of his inheritance, and along the way meets a taciturn farmhand, a lovely notaire, a gorgeous local restaurant owner, and a California Napa valley girl who may or may not be Uncle Henry's love child, thus complicating the inheritance picture. Max wants to get the vineyard up and running, and to add to the fun encounters a vineyard mystery. Someone is hiding the fact that a portion of the vineyard produces outstanding wine. But where are the profits going? Who is covering up the fact and cooking the books? All gets unraveled in the end, and we are treated to a charming look at the French and their habits (descriptions of wine tastings and local cuisine abound), and some well-placed jibes at the English and the American character as well as the wine industry. Light-hearted, charming and fun, a perfect novel to enjoy this summer.
Rating: 
Summary: 'A Good Year' a delicous read
Review: If you've read A Year in Provence, then you're familiar with the wonderfully witty and entertaining style of ex-pat-Brit, Peter Mayle, a former Madison Avenue ad exec who escaped the rat race of New York by moving his family lock stock and barrel to France. His fifth and newest novel, A Good Year, is part romantic comedy and part mystery as the plot takes the reader through several twists and turns of a complicated boutique wine industry with a disillusioned investment banker, who just lost his job but inherited a vineyard from his uncle, a distant cousin no one knew about, who turns out to be a wine expert, and the hilarious residents of a charming town in the Provence.
If it's any indication of how entertaining a read this new novel is, I finished it in the time it took to fly from Austin, TX to South Bend, Indiana!
Rating: 
Summary: Good light reading
Review: Peter Mayle's novel about a man who leaves his high-stress job in London for an inherited vineyard in southern France is not a great book, but it is a good enough story to enjoy, especially for light summer reading. Max Skinner has had enough of the rat race in London and quits his job in the financial world. Conveniently enough, his uncle has passed away and left him a small vineyard in the south of France. Max heads south to check it out, and finds a small chateau with a small vinyard that makes terrible wine. Or does it? A second heir suddenly arrives, and the plot thickens when it is discovered that a second wine is made from a small patch at the vineyard. The story is hardly a thriller, it simply meanders along lazily, much the same as the days and the lives that Mayle describes. I have no complaints about this book. I enjoyed it, and didn't take long to finish. This certainly isn't a dissertation on life's meaning, and everything in the book falls together just a little too conveniently, but Mayle's manner of writing about Provence conveys just the right tone; the kind of laid-back life in paradise that makes the region such a popular destination. It's not a thrill-a-minute, but it is a good, relaxing read.
Rating:
Summary: Same character...different name.
Review: Repetitious character...bordering on unemployment, single, loves wine, ends up in Provence. Sluggish plot. What a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Book on CD
Review: This is another great Peter Mayle book. While the characters are familiar, pretty girls with great legs, loveable locals, a snoppy housekeeper, cautious neighbors etc., the plot has many unpredictable turns. All in all you are left with a wonderful tale for great arm chair adventurering. It will bring many smiles to your face.
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