Rating: 
Summary: A third helping
Review: I am a big fan of Peter Mayle's writings on this brilliant region of Southern France. As a backpacker a couple of years ago, I travelled through France extensively, and have a special fondness for Provence. In Mayle's two previous books, A Year in Provence and Toujours Provence, he captured the essence of the characters and geography of the region beautifully. The reader was captivated by the author's ability to make the smallest occurrence an interesting event. I personally felt that Mayle did an excellent job of describing the cast of characters and their insights into French rural life. Encore Provence does not have the same level of character development and I feel that this is a weakness in the book. I found that in some cases, well known characters from the previous books are either mentioned in passing or totally re-introduced to the reader. This lack of consistency is annoying. One other gripe with the book is Mayle's constant reference to America (No offence to American readers intended). Obviously, this has been done to give a reference point to American readers and is also related to the fact that the author had just returned from the USA, but the cynic in me feels this was also done to boost American sales of the book. Overall though, Encore Provence, is well written and contains enough of the amusing stories and observations that fans and Francophiles alike will enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: I laughed at the shotgun murder ... and felt good about it!
Review: Twelve years ago, Peter Mayle gifted us with "A Year In Provence", an account of this expatriate Brit's plunge into Gallic life, revolving around the pleasures and pitfalls of establishing a residence in rural France in an old country house that was somewhat of a "fixer-upper". Several Provence-related books later, and after a period of time living on Long Island, Peter and his wife return to the land they (and we) love. The result is "Encore Provence". The latest book doesn't hold together as well as "Year", the elements of the latter forming a more cohesive whole. However, "Encore" is certainly much better than some of his other books written in the interim. In "Encore", Peter briefly revisits several topics covered in the original, as well as several more which were apparently overlooked. The range is quixotic: the cultivation of olive trees, an explanation of the three grades of virgin olive oil, the smelly art of selecting fragrances for designing perfumes, foie gras as the key to longevity, discovering the perfect corkscrew, touring Marseille, the almost-underworld of the village truffle market, how to execute the Provençal full shrug, the obligatory elements of the Provençal village, and, umm ..... the shotgun murder of an amorous meat cutter. And, of course, many hedonistic references to the local food and wine. All are treated in the utterly charming and dryly humorous Mayle-style that makes his books so delightful. Bravo and merci beaucoup, Mr. Mayle! You've provided another enjoyable spice to my life.
Rating:
Summary: I Love Peter Mayle, but this was a little thin
Review: I read this on my trip to Provance. I loved his first two books, but this time, I felt as though he was just trying to fill a third book. Still he is a great story telleer and some of them were really great!...I also read while there,and would reccommend, Running in Place: Scenes from the South of France by Nicholas Delbanco.
Rating:
Summary: Peter Mayle is as refreshing as ever!
Review: I don't quite understand why others have given Mayle's most recent book on Provence such a negative rating. I find his prose to be as amusing as ever, and as a francophile myself I enjoyed learning more about my favorite region of France. Mayle always manages to transport the reader with his evocative passages. I particularly liked the chapter where Mayle goes to visit a school of perfumery and instructs the reader on some of the ways of the ancient skill. Even a trip for a corkscrew is a joy for him. I feel transported back to France each time I read his books. Good job!
Rating:
Summary: Running out of steam. . .
Review: "Encore" is the third of Mayle's Provence books, and he's definitely running out of material. This book is much more a collection of essays than "Toujours," and indeed Mayle might be better off publishing similar future work this way. I can envision the chapters of this book appearing as articles in The New Yorker, but I found a whole book a little tedious. Some chapters are fascinating still--I particularly liked "How to Be a Nose," about a school for the blind that trains students to work in the perfume industry, or the chapter on olive oil, "Discovering Oil." Much less interesting is the chapter on the NY restaurant critic, which turns into a guidebook on special shops to buy gourmet items. Mayle is also quite defensive about the criticism he's received that his books have turned the region into a tourist destination, and his final chapter maintains all is as before "A Year in Provence." Maybe true, for a wealthy British writer before real estate prices soared!
Rating: 
Summary: You really have to be a franchophile to love his books!
Review: I read this book when it first came out and loved it as as I have loved his past French writings. I am re-reading it again and can understand how some people may get a negative feeling about his latest piece. But I do believe his French stuff is more for a small niche of readers who either have spent time in France or are serious francophiles. I have lived 5 years in Paris and am a tour guide in France and whenever I read his books, it definitely takes me back to a Provence that I too have known to love. I can understand his chapter when he goes up against the NY Times food critic but it sure sounded like she was one of these people who would also use the old stereotype that the French are rude! Au contraire! And Mr. Mayle doesn't translate his French idioms! This book is for Francophiles and Francophones! So if you love France as much as some of us do, go out and buy this wonderful, delicious book!
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first!
Review: The first Provence book captivated. This one merely reports.
Rating:
Summary: Running out of steam. . .
Review: "Encore" is the third of Mayle's Provence books, and he's definitely running out of material. This book is much more a collection of essays than "Toujours," and indeed Mayle might be better off publishing similar future work this way. I can envision the chapters of this book appearing as articles in The New Yorker, but I found a whole book a little tedious. Some chapters are fascinating still--I particularly liked "How to Be a Nose," about a school for the blind that trains students to work in the perfume industry, or the chapter on olive oil, "Discovering Oil." Much less interesting is the chapter on the NY restaurant critic, which turns into a guidebook on special shops to buy gourmet items. Mayle is also quite defensive about the criticism he's received that his books have turned the region into a tourist destination, and his final chapter maintains all is as before "A Year in Provence." Maybe true, for a wealthy British writer before real estate prices soared!
Rating:
Summary: Amusing yet falls short of the mark
Review: Another success in non-fiction, "Encore Provence" is agile and amusing (aren't all of Mayle's works?). The author takes a bit of an off-the-path route in Encore, opting to focus more on tourist attractions and eating establishments, rather than chronicling his actual experiences with Provençal life. The book ventures beyond the confines of Provence and into the surrounding areas. Suffice it to say, it is more of a lavish tourist guide and less of a novel. Granted, it makes very agreeable reading. In my humble opinion, however, "Encore" doesn't reach the brilliant apex of Mayle's previous two masterpieces: "A Year in Provence", and "Toujour Provence", both of which I found equally enjoying. Regrettably, "Encore" definitely lacks the pinnace of its predecessors. Nonetheless, it's redeeming qualities are still evident in it's many entertaining anecdotes, and it's indisputably informative pages when it came to "touristy" points of interest (to those who long to know the *real* Provence).
Rating:
Summary: More! More!
Review: Once again reading Peter Mayle is the next best thing to actually being there. Most of the book covers brand new territory in the South of France including the perfect corkscrew, an olfactory lesson, and the joys of olive oil, while also revisiting many of his favorite topics including the wonder of truffles and of course the wine and food.In fact my only slight beef with the book is his need to revisit some topics already covered in previous books, but it's so slight it hardly detracts from the overall joy the book manages to evoke.
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