Reading this book again, as I usually do on New Years Day, I started having an ether image of Doctor Faustroll, Poet and 'Pataphysician, meeting Dr. Norem, Personality Psychologist. Not to debate, but to discuss. I feel that Alfred Jarry and the good Dr. Faustroll would both understand and find etherially amusing the absurd title of her book -- the positive power of negative thinking. And they could help explain to the rest of us how psychology works. That would be nice. Or perhaps we need 'Patapsychology to stand above Freud's Metapsychological Papers. In any case, we need Dr. Faustroll to be perceptive.

This is a very great book, but I could hardly recommend it. Would you enjoy it? I think it is skies above the Ubu books in its range of vision, and I certainly didn't see any baboons with gluteal musculature grafted to their cheeks starring as commentator in those more famous works . . . well, I don't know what to say this "sort of thing" is exactly . . . if you are unfamiliar with this man (a drinker in the line of Rabelais, except I would say he was much more sincerely dedicated, a scholar, a scientist, a metaphysical swine, a bicycler, an eccentric above the heavyweights of French nincompoops, a novelist, -- also he did decent woodcuts, too) and his work then I would recommend the Supermale as a better beginning. If that is indeed your brand of entertainment, than hoist this flag up on the mast of your soft and sticky palm that never picked an axe to chop a block or made a fist to fight for your principles nor did anything else in all your life except to pick up another foreign book we can all be grateful for to have been translated, and sail it gently down the seas of your eyes until you land where you were looking for . . . this is a traveler's book.

Faustroll is a Hallucinogenic cross between Lewis Carroll & Jules Verne. Magnificently dense style of a prose poem, images as strange as Lautremont's. It also reminded me of Flann O'Brien's Third Policeman, the only book that has done that.

Simon Leys usually writes histories, but he created an absolute gem in his only foray into fiction--albeit, historical fiction. Death of Napoleon is a simple and spellbinding must-read, a rare thing of masterful beauty from first page to last.

This book is a little gem that examines the different views of people on life. By concentrating wholly on wars and empires, Napoleon "wasted" his life and remarkable mind without ever experiencing the true humanity of exhistence. Love was a complication for him, not a pleasure. To him, what was most important was to make a name for himself, a name that would shine in the annals of posterity. Ley examines the reprecussions of this want of Napoleon. It leaves the "great little emperor" a broken man, a poor farmer, who has never know real happiness. Ley carries his story with color and fevor. I only wish the novelett was longer.

I was given an hardbound copy in 1973. I used several of the recipes for intertaining. My quests were delighted and so was I. As one of your reviewers had said that most recipes were high in "butterfat" content. But that is the way with "French" cooking. I highly recommend this book to all "Francophile" cooks and chefs. It is a pleasure to read and experience.

I just noticed this title while browsing through the Amazon cookbook section. I've owned this book since it was first published maybe 20 years ago. It is one of the most charmingly written cookbooks I've read and the recipes are delicious, though quite high in butterfat. I thinks it's worth reading just for the "charm" aspect.

Simon Spero has done a fine job amassing a catalogue of the Henry & Constance Bowles collection. This book has astonished me with its vivid images and beautiful pieces. I've loved it from the moment I got it. It has served as a wonderful reference as well as an inspiration. I've started my own collection because of this INCREDIBLE beautiful book. I hope every porcelain lover or lover of beautiful things buys at least one copy.

This survey of Gauguin's later work and career provided an excellent complement to Maugham's "The Moon and Sixpence". The book provides the historical background to separate the facts from the rumors that circulated after his death. The excellent reproductions (all in color) are well chosen to complement the text and sequenced so that they are on or near the pages on which they are discussed. The book is an easy read and an excellent bargain for a hardbound book so well illustrated.

I was given a personal copy of Legionnaire by Simon Murray himself. Once I started to read the book, I couldn't put it down. Truly a well-written first-hand account of life under unimaginable hardship conditions. Simon's journey through life has continued to be remarkable since his days in the French Foreign Legion.

Simon Murray's autobiography of his first adult years spent in the wartorn country of Algeria in the sixties, is filled with an amazing understanding of the complexity of issues that surrounds us all in everyday life.

For the ultimate book on the French Foreign Legion - which this is - it may sound borring, but believe me - its anything but. This is simply put the best book ever written on the subject of the French Foreign Legion.

Starting with the end of his teens Simon Murray joins the Legion in a quest for adventure. With a canny ability to describe everyday events, ones imagination otherwise hardly can percieve, the author gives a day-by-day account of his life in the legion.

From the treasured dull moments of barrack-life to the rutine patrol on the border to Marokko that suddenly turns sour. From basic training at age eigthteen to transferral for the deuxime REP where the lure of jump money means a difference to a new sergent. Its all in here and so are you.

This book takes advantage of the authority and impact a diary can have, and although this is not the diary of Anne Franks - which in context may be a poor comparison - the impact of this book it just to great to be ignored.

Where Anne Franks Diary sqeezes your heart and leaves you wondering what kind of human being your really are; Simon Murray hits you in the teeth and pulls the rug from under you and as the drillsergent tries to stomp your head in, you wish you had the same integrity and strength Simon Murray displayed throughout his years as a Legionaire and later at the Legions Sergent School.

This review is committed from memory as I read this book 18 years ago. I then made it the cornerstone of my bookcollection on The Legion. I have never read one better. Neither will you.

A wonderful read no matter how many times you go through it. Mr. Murray has painted a picture, in words, of his experience with the 'Legion Entrangere' that no hollywood studio could ever dream up. The poingnant moments and thrilling exploits of Simon Murray's experience are detailed here in a wonderful package and tied up with a touching and memorable epilogue that makes whole thing work. A charmed soul, Murray has provided us with an outstanding story and an intriguing look inside his experience of service. Indeed a book for the ages. Vive la Legion!

I like the Pimsleur system. I have used it with Traveler's Spanish, the Spanish I, and this set for French. I prefer the cassettes to the CDs becasue of they are easier back up so as to retrace areas. The concept of listen/repeat in your car on the way to work without alot of book-study at the lower levels is effective, easy, fun.
The purpose of this particular French set of 4 cassettes is to provide an introduction into the Pimsleur system to see if you like the system and want to move directly up to the larger Level I set.
If you are planning to use this set to get ready for a trip to France, this may not be the correct set for you. If you will only be in Paris two days or less, this might be OK. But if you are going to be there 3 days or longer, or if you want to brush up on your high school French, then pass over this set and go for the Traveler's Edition set, which is specifically designed for those purposes.
It works, its fun, get the right one.

The Pimsleur tapes do an outstanding job of ingraining the language so that it can subsequently spew forth naturally. However, it does this at the expense of teaching a more extensive vocabulary. It is an excellent introduction to the language, in particular the sound of the language. But if you want to really be able to communicate, you will need a much larger vocabulary than provided by these tapes. Though they are excellent in and of themselves, these tapes were probably designed to be "teasers" to entice learners to buy the comprehensive Pimsleur tapes.

Pimsleur's "Quick and Simple French", really lives up to it's name. Until recently, I didn't understand a word of French. A friend bought my copy for me at a local bookstore. When the narrator stated that the listener would eventually understand the conversations, I thought to myself "yeah right". But after listening to the CD's one time, I was able to retain most of the information. It's such a joy to be able to learn with the Pimsleur method. One can accomplish so much in such a short period of time. The method used is definitely effective. What I liked about the program is that it helps increase your confidence in learning. I also like the fact that you don't have to read or write anything. Just sit back relax and listen. I'm really sold on this program and would like to purchase the comprehensive set in the future. My suggestion is that if you're contemplating on buying Pimsleur's language courses, start off with the "Quick and Simple" courses first. you won't regret it.

This massive, exhaustively researched history reads more like a novel than an academic text. Schama has turned to the good old-fashioned style of narrative history in the tradition of Carlyle and has made his chronicle more than readable by the layperson.

I have only a few minor quibbles with this tour de force: Schama does make some minor errors of fact (errors which should have been caught by a copy editor, such as making not one but two mistakes over the age of one of the players); and he spends so many pages in exploring prerevolutionary France (over a third of the book!) that the crucial years 1793-94, in the final fourth of the book, seem to get short shrift. My guess is that Schama intended to spend more time with the Terror but was rushed to press by his publisher, who wanted to get the book in print in time for the July 1989 bicentennial.

Quibbles aside, a breathtaking and splendidly written history of the French Revolution.

It is fashionable in America to presume that the American Revolution marks the fault line between the dynastic regimes of old and modern governments. The backwoods colonists of the New World handily defeated the trained soldiers of the Old and so liberated the world, paving the way for modernity.

Thankfully, this is not so.

Thankfully, because the responsibility for the curse of absolutism and the rise of oppressive, autocratic states so endemic in the 19th and 20th centuries falls squarely on the revered sans-culottes of France.

Reactionary, you say? Perhaps. But as Simon Schama demonstrates ably in this account of the French Revolution, the cry "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" so beloved of the Birkenstock Left first erupted from bloodthirsty mobs calling for their fellow citizens' heads.

The schoolboy believes the French Revolution was an inevitable reaction to its American counterpart, and to the coldheartedness of the French nobility. The Terror which followed, while regrettable, was wholly necessary to purge France of its old oppression. Like so much of history being taught today, this is simplistic tripe.

Schama explains the origins of the Revolution as no other, weaving the strands of the narrative together into a mighty torrent. Far from being unavoidable, the French Revolution was eminently preventable--if only the King took swift, decisive, and brutal action to deal with the revolutionaries before the famous Tennis Court Oath, or if he had reined in his imperial ambitions, or his incompetent ministers who bankrupted the Empire.

Schama punctures other schoolboy myths. The Bastille, long a symbol of monarchial tyranny, actually housed only a couple of bewildered old men, quite surprised at the row made over them. Queen Marie-Antoinette, far from being the viper who told starving peasants to "eat cake" if they could not find bread, went to the guillotine with a nobility the tyrant Robespierre could not match when his turn came. And there are countless other surprises in store within these pages.

Schama has an eye for detail. Were you ever morbid enough to wonder whether the victims of the guillotine were conscious as their heads were raised to the cheering throngs? It's in the book. Interested in the role figures of the American Revolution played in the French? Then you'll follow Thomas Paine, the Marquis de Lafayette, and others through the tumult.

Most importantly, you'll understand exactly how the Pandora's Box opened during the French Revolution drove the rise of fascism and communism, and why contemporaries the world over viewed it as the signal event of their time.

If there's one book you read on this fascinating era, read this one.

The French Revolution is one of the decisive landmarks in human history. Though feudalism was long past much of it's vestiges (social, political and economic) remained in some form or other in Western Europe. By the end of Napolean's reign it had all been swept away. Even Metternich couldn't put Europe back together again.

For better or for worst the French Revolution set the tone for much of what would follow in Europe. At its worst the Terror was a glimpse into the horrors of the Nazi's and Stalin's great purges. At its best the ideals of the revolution set the tone for free elections, representative government and constitutional law. For revisionist historians it's the former that is the great legacy while for those of the old school it is the latter that is the primary message.

Schama's "Citizens" is above all a great narrative history well documented and thought out. Like most who lean toward the revisionist side he is somewhat sympathetic to the regime and the nobility. That information should certainly aid the reader while navigating this well written work.

You can't help but admire the combination of writing and research that marks this great book. One note, Schama's area of expertise was not originally the French Revolution but rather the Dutch trading empire and it's aftermath. The strengths of Citizens is non stop chronicle of the actions and interactions of the key members of the revolution's story, from Louis the XVI's incompetence to Robspierre's chilling demeaner.

This is an almost epic narrative of the age. It unfortunately, but because of its size, understandably ends far too soon for a complete grasp of the whole era and its aftermath. Definately recommended for students and casual readers of history.

In its roughly 50 parts, all written by experienced cooks and cook book writers, HP Books' "The Book of ... Cooking" series takes you to the cuisines of various regions of the U.S. and around the world; all in easy to follow, well-explained recipes.

This installment, the Book of French Provincial Cooking, starts with a brief introduction into the basics of the French regional cuisine, and then presents recipe suggestions for all major courses, from soups to desserts and patisserie. Special chapters are dedicated to fish and shellfish, poultry, (red) meat, and vegetables and salads. Classics such as boeuf Bourguignon, cassoulet, coq au vin, creme caramel, croquet Monsieur, entrecote Bordelaise, gratin Savoyard, lamb with rosemary, leek tart, Madeleines, Mediterranean fish soup (bouillabaisse), moules mariniere, oeufs a la neige, omelette aux herbes, onion soup, pork with cider, poulet Basquaise, ratatouille, salade nicoise, sole meuniere, steak with bearnaise sauce, tarragon lamb noisettes and tarte tatin appear next to unique dishes such as creamed cauliflower soup, eggs in red wine, mackerel and gooseberries, mussels with cream, pate de champagne, roast garlic monkfish, salmon in red wine, skate with brown butter, and warm spinach salad.

From anchovy spread to zucchini gratin, this collection of recipes, while not all-encompassing, is a great introduction to the richness of the French provincial cuisine - and at a relative bargain price, to boot. Also recommended: This series' installments on North African, Mediterranean, Spanish and Greek cooking, on fondues, and on crepes and omelets.

Without any preamble, this little book dives right into an array of tasty provincial recipies. With the sole exception (so far) of the trout with watercress, everything I've made from these pages has been right on the money. Buy it.

I've recently become interested in French cooking and have purchased several cookbooks. I especially like this one because of the clear instructions, photos, and the authenticity of the recipes.

I read this book by Peter Mayle before I discovered any of his previous writings and was hooked immediately! French Lessons is the latest by this engaging author on his life and experiences in the South of France and is necessary reading for anyone interested in French fare, life in France or just an incredible experience (vicarious or literal) in International travel. I love this book, as I did all others by the same author, bought many copies this last holiday season for all of my friends and family and Everyone felt the same way as I! You really need to read this book, as well as "A Year in Provence" and all the other wonderful editions by Peter Mayle. The only complaint I can voice is that there are not enough other volumes available today, as this is one of those books that you do not wish to ever end and you just can't get enough of Peter Mayle!

It's an assignment that would make even the most jaded writer pick up his pen: Travel around France and report back about the oddest, most unusual ways that it celebrates its cuisine. Frog legs, snails, truffles, poultry, and, of course, its wine. Sheer heaven!

Peter Mayle accepted the challenge and here's the perfect book for curling up on the porch alongside a glass of cool refreshment. "French Lessons" charts a year in Mayle's life as he travels across France, describing with a combination of droll wit and wine-soaked facts (many times, he couldn't read his notes the day after some festival) how a country blessed with not only a variety of climates and cuisines, but also a people willing to spend large amounts of money on their enjoyment thereof.

I am a longtime fan of Mayle's writing, back when he was writing about pastis and other subjects for "European Travel & Life" magazine, but I hope not an uncritical one. I was disappointed in his account of his return to France in "Encore Provence," and "Hotel Pastis" did not engage me at all. Sometimes, I wonder if, with skills learned in the advertising trade, where he was an executive, he doesn't succeed in giving the French a gloss it doesn't otherwise deserve. Certainly, when discussing chickens from Bresse, the only poultry to have its own label (called appellation contrôlée), he touches only in passing, how most chickens we eat are raised (if we may call it that) in horrible conditions. Not for nothing is it called factory farming.

But "French Lessons" went down like a lightly garlic-flavored escargot. This is a book which celebrates eating and drinking well, and is a balm to the soul as well as incentive for the appetite. Needless to say, it should only be taken in short dollops, after a good meal.

Not everything has to do with cooking. There's the Le Club 55, a restaurant in Saint-Tropez where the Beautiful and mostly undressed people meet to eat and be seen, where an expert on plastic surgery was able to tell which surgeon worked on which lift ("Cosmetic surgery has its Diors and Chanels, and when looking at a suspiciously taut and chiseled jawline or an artfully hoisted bust, the informed eye can identify who did what.")

Then there's the Marathon du Médoc, where, amid the serious runners, jog several thousand more in fancy dress amid the châteux of Bordeaux, where wine is offered at the refreshment stations, and the winner earns his weight in wine. Rounding out the book is celebration of frog's legs on the last Sunday in April in Vittel, where 30,000 people will eat five tons of the stuff. If you want to know what they taste like, Peter will inform you down to the last bite of the marrow.

And if you wish to attend these fetes, addresses and other notes are listed at the back of the book.

"French Lessons" represents a return to form for Mayle. So long as he is willing to go out and hunt up new stories to tell, he'll remain an entertaining and informative writer.

Last year I was lucky enough to take a month long holiday in the south of France. Naturally, "French Lessons" is one of the books I chose to take with me.

"French Lessons" is vintage Peter Mayle. While I enjoy Mayle's fiction as a light and fun change of pace, I really think he is at the top of his form when writing non-fiction. "French Lessons," like the classic, "A Year in Provence," is simply charming. There is just no other way to describe it. The book charms and beguiles you; you lose yourself in it and time just flies. No one seems better able to describe the "real" France than Peter Mayle. And it shows. Most definitely.

Just as with Mayle's previous non-fiction books, I found I could relate to just about everything he wrote in "French Lessons." I had had similar experiences in Provence, in Paris, in the Loire, in Burgundy. One can learn about more than food in this book; Mayle also details the social customs of the areas and the idiosyncrasies of the people. I learned there are people who attend Mass to give thanks for the truffle, a festival where snails are eaten by the dozen and washed down with Gewurztraminer, and an actual "cheese hall of fame" in the town of Livarot. The person honored with the award from this particular hall of fame is expected to eat as much livarot cheese as possible. In another such festival, frogs' legs are the celebrated foodstuff. The annual celebration of the bleu footed poulet in Bourg-en-Bresse and the Marathon du Medoc made for especially hilarious reading.

Mayle takes us from region to region and from town to town...all in the name of great food. We visit festivals, restaurants, chateaux and so many town squares, I lost count. Mayle's descriptions of the festivals and his historical notes are particularly interesting, especially to anyone who is planning to visit France. After reading this book, he or she will surely come away knowing what is, and what isn't, authentic French food.

Throughout this book, Mayle writes in his characteristically charming, witty and urbane manner. His is a style that suits the subject matter of this book perfectly.

I do think that those readers who have actually traveled to the south of France at least once, will find more to love in this book than those readers who are unfamiliar with the area. But familiar or not, Mayle and this book will certainly charm. "French Lessons" is a witty, and sometimes hilarious book that is guaranteed to ensure an enjoyable afternoon in the sun.