Théière Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 Has anyone read this? Just ordered it to have a read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard51 Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Here are a few comments that seem very positive https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35059009-my-good-life-in-franceI may be unduly cynical but what turns me off at the moment is that 1) I don't know may people who can just do things at a whim as the author suggests and 2) I have read too many of these stories which turn out to be a list of local artisans coming and going and taking the authors money whilst poverty is claimed.Perhaps Chancer should write a book. ATM I will await your comment rather than paying for the authors lifestyle.NB1 I remain aware that you, Chancer, do carefully consider before doing things.NB2 Please don't fly in and say how you just "did it at a whim". Go write a book at a whim! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted November 5, 2017 Author Share Posted November 5, 2017 My copy will arrive in a day or two so I will read when I get some spare hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Sorry, but on a whim I decided that I would not be biting this week as I am carefully considering carefully considering something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 I think that I will dump down the sample to my Kindle and have a whimsical read [blink] Then if I like it it will splash out 2 beer tolens and buy it?Just as a matter of interest TP, you ain't getting rid of me that easily mate [6] I still intend to be here or near [:-))] I joined well before we moved to France and I intend staying.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 I think that I will dump down the sample to my Kindle and have a whimsical read [blink] Then if I like it it will splash out 2 beer tolens and buy it?Just as a matter of interest TP, you ain't getting rid of me that easily mate [6] I still intend to be here or near [:-))] I joined well before we moved to France and I intend staying.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted November 6, 2017 Author Share Posted November 6, 2017 Ok, OK, I got it the first time [:D] your not leaving us [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Yeah, got it! You mean like May saying we're not leaving Europe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 What does "at a whim" mean if anything at all? Is it not "on a whim" or have I lost yet more of my mother tongue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 [quote user="richard51"]I may be unduly cynical but what turns me off at the moment is that 1) I don't know may people who can just do things at a whim as the author suggests [/quote] One grey dismal day, Janine Marsh was on a trip to northern France to pick up some cheap wine. She returned to England a few hours later having put in an offer on a rundown old barn in the rural Seven Valleys area of Pas de Calais. This was not something she'd expected or planned for.Janine eventually gave up her job in London to move with her husband to live the good life in France. Or so she hoped. Nothing in the above suggests doing anything "on a whim", an impulse purchase perhaps but there can be very very few people alive that havn't done exactly that at some time or another, usually when something seems really cheap (I did exactly the same as her). The use of the word "eventually" should tell you that a considerable time (possibly several years) for consideration passed before making the decision to leave the life in the UK and move to France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted November 6, 2017 Author Share Posted November 6, 2017 [quote user="Chancer"]an impulse purchase perhaps but there can be very very few people alive that havn't done exactly that at some time or another, usually when something seems really cheap (I did exactly the same as her). [/quote]Us too, we were actually visiting with the relatives who were shopping for a house. Agent asked us if we would like to look a little cottage just taken on et voila in near darkness by the light of a mobile phone we went ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 We bought a decrepit house on a whim, on the last day of our summer holiday - 47 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Was there a decrepit old lady living in it at the time? What did you do with her? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomoss Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 The book is available on Amazon France as well as UK.If you "Look inside" (Feuilleter) you can get the flavour of the book.It seemed a bit stereotype "Urban Brit's adventures in Rural France" to me; a townie moving to the country in the UK might have the same experiences and revelations.I'll wait for Théière's opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTrash Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 I'm afraid the bit that's putting me off is: "she started to realize there was lot more to her new home than she could ever have imagined".Unless it's extremely well written I can't face yet another person's description of how moving to France opened their eyes and gave them a few surprises and some food for thought.But may be doing it an injustice, a preview is a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Sorry to sound cynical, but I tend to the same view as ET on this type of book.The first one I read, from Southend library, was A White House in Gascony by Rex Grizell. Then there was the TV series, name forgotten , about a couple who move to Provence. And of course, A Place in the Sun. And some other similar series and reads.At the same time we had the awful F&M disease in the UK and country walking was banned in Scotland, where we had a holiday home. So we came for a holiday here, near the Pyrenees, and fell in love with it. Who could resist? Pure Escapism.Sold the Scottish place and bought a cheap house here. Only 16 years later we're going to have to face reality [:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 If you want to read a superb book about an ex pat coupke then why not try what must be one of the originals?It's one of my favourit books and I have read it a few times now.Perhaps it was on a long whim Chancer [8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTrash Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 I remember that summer Patf. Was still living in the UK and we'd booked a three-week holiday in the Scottish islands, we couldn't afford many holidays in those days and we'd been looking forward to it for ages, planning all the walks we could do and the beautiful places we'd see. We were barely allowed off the tarmac and every time we were, we spent longer dipping our feet every time we came to a gate or a style than actually walking. Such a disappointment :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard51 Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 At a whim of myself and on a whim I truly apologize for my bad grammEr.I must admit that I am really looking forward to comments about this book by those on this forum who have experience of moving to France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 I still think that the Scottish Highlands and Islands are even more beautiful than rural France. But the climate and the short winter days change my mind. Plus the midgies.Just to compare with french prices - husband bought our holiday home there (a small stonebuilt bungalow) at an auction in the mid '90s for £21,000. We sold it in 2001 for £43,000. I saw it for sale again recently, much altered/improved?, for about £200,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard51 Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Sorry Chancer, but most people I am sure and from the quote that you give, will "get" that the author was implying that it was "on a whim" or " at the whim of herself" .Para is not grammatically correct but s*d it. Can somebody correct me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard51 Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Love the concept of a long whim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard51 Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Bu**er, it is "at THE whim of" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard51 Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 I wonder how long the word "butter" will survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTrash Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Well I read as much as Amazon allows you to, and to be brutally honest, in those few pages I wasn't told anything I didn't already know, I didn't see any new ground being broken, I didn't find the author and her dad very inspiring company and I didn't crack a single smile nor stifle a single giggle - although several of the reviews on Amazon do mention humour so maybe that comes later. But for me, the opening chapter just didn't sparkle. Then I looked at the first few pages of the one Jonzjob recommended, felt a giggle building up almost immediately and ended up with a big smile and wanting more, so I ordered that one.That said, the Good Life one gets lots of good reviews so it obviously strikes a chord with a lot of people. Maybe it appeals more to those who are dreaming of moving to France, and who will be excited to be told that moules frites are a favourite meal in Northern France, amused that you can't always find a bar open, etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.