Last night, in search of something to read (I go through books way too quickly for my budget), I pulled Peter Mayle's book, A Year in Provence, out of our stacks.
It's a classic, all sun and pastis and windy winters and long lunches, and even just reading the first couple of chapters, I remembered immediately how much I loved it on my first read, which was sometime during the late '90s.
At that point, I flipped to the front of the book, curious about when it was originally published. What I found surprised me - 1989! Twenty years ago!
Even though it's about a part of the world that's charming specifically because it's not thoroughly modern (though I've heard it's modernized in some unfortunate ways since the book's publication), something about it feels very contemporary - even still. Maybe that's because the world described is so unmodern. My enjoyment of the book isn't hampered by having to imagine everyone in crazy '80s clothes or talking about '80s TV or anything like that.
No matter why, it's a book that's held up very well. So congratulations, Provence!
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