Summers In France


Kathryn Ireland - 2011
    Ireland who celebrates summer living and entertaining in the French countryside. Ireland introduces readers to the town of Montauban, which is near the farmhouse she renovated and remodeled in her classic shabby chic style. Kathryn shares inside details of her remodel along with tips and ideas about entertaining and how to make guests comforable.

L'Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home


David Lebovitz - 2017
    Includes dozens of new recipes.When David Lebovitz began the project of updating his apartment in his adopted home city, he never imagined he would encounter so much inexplicable red tape while contending with the famously inconsistent European work ethic and hours. Lebovitz maintains his distinctive sense of humor with the help of his partner Romain, peppering this renovation story with recipes from his Paris kitchen. In the midst of it all, he reveals the adventure that accompanies carving out a place for yourself in a foreign country--under baffling conditions--while never losing sight of the magic that inspired him to move to the City of Light many years ago, and to truly make his home there.

Confessions of a Paris Party Girl


Vicki Lesage - 2014
    It proved to be much more "difficile" than she'd imagined. In this laugh-out-loud memoir, this cheeky storyteller recounts the highs and lows of her life in the City of Light. Sassy and shamefully honest, Vicki makes you feel as if you're right there in Paris stumbling along the cobblestones with her.

A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France


Georgeanne Brennan - 2007
    Thirty years ago, James Beard Award-winning author Georgeanne Brennan set out to realize the dream of a peaceful, rural existence en Provence. She and her husband, with their young daughter in tow, bought a small farmhouse with a little land, and a few goats and pigs and so began a life-affirming journey. Filled with delicious recipes and local color, this evocative and passionate memoir describes her life cooking and living in the Provenal tradition. An entrancing tale that will whet the appetite and the spirit. Perfect for foodies, Francophiles, or anyone who's dreamed of packing their bags and buying a ticket to the good life.

I'll Always Have Paris


Art Buchwald - 1996
    . . . A GREAT READ."--Larry King, USA TodayIn 1948, an American innocent named Art Buchwald set sail for Paris, France, determined to crash Hemingway's moveable feast and make himself famous. What's more, he did it.Now he remembers those golden years--when he wrote for the Paris Herald Tribune, fell in love, spoofed Hemingway, dined with gangsters, and crashed costume balls in Venice. Everything that has made Buchwald one of the world's best-loved writers is in this funny, enchanting, poignant book. "HONEST AND MOVING . . . A CONSUMMATE STORYTELLER."--The New York Times Book Review"ROLLICKING . . . The book gallops and gambols along. . . . Buchwald is a master of the anecdote."--The Baltimore Sun

Hound of the Sea: Wild Man. Wild Waves. Wild Wisdom.


Garrett McNamara - 2016
    Propelled by the challenge and promise of bigger, more difficult waves, this adrenaline-fueled loner and polarizing figure travels the globe to ride the most dangerous swells the oceans have to offer, from calving glaciers to hurricane swells. But what motivates McNamara to go to such extremes—to risk everything for one thrilling ride? Is riding giant waves the ultimate exercise in control or surrender?Personal and emotional, readers will know GMac as never before, seeing for the first time the personal alongside the professional in an exciting, intimate look at what drives this inventive, iconoclastic man. Surfing awesome giants isn’t just thrill seeking, he explains—it’s about vanquishing fears and defeating obstacles past and present. Surfers and non-surfers alike will embrace McNamara’s story—as they have William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days—for an intimate look at the enigmatic pursuit of riding waves, big and small.Illustrated with sixteen pages of color photos, Hound of the Sea is a record of perseverance, passion, and healing. Thoughtful, suspenseful, and spiritually profound, McNamara reveals the beautiful soul of surfing through the eyes of one of its most daring and devoted disciples.

No Holding Back


Amanda Holden - 2013
    A British star and nationally treasured actress, she has appeared on our screens and stages for over 20 years. In the notoriously tricky world of show business, Amanda has carved out her own identity and enjoyed impressive longevity, not least as the longest running judge on hit ITV show Britain's Got Talent. She never fails to keep her audience engaged and entertained.Charming, funny and incredibly honest, her story is remarkable. For the first time, No Holding Back tells it in her own words, in her own way, and shows her fans the real woman behind the headlines.

God and Mr. Gomez


Jack Clifford Smith - 1974
    The joys and travails of building a home in Baja California.

Anquetil, Alone


Paul Fournel - 2012
    His womanising and frank admissions of doping appalled 1960s French society, even as his five Tour de France wins enthralled it. Paul Fournel was besotted with him from the start ("Too young to understand, I was nevertheless old enough to admire") and followed Anquetil's career with the passion of a fan and the eye of a poet. In this stunningly original biography of a complex and divisive character, Fournel - author of the seminal Vélo (or Need for the Bike) blends the story of Anquetil's life with scenes from his own, to create a classic of cycling literature.

A Family in Paris: Stories of Food, Life and Adventure


Jane Paech - 2011
    It introduces us to the Parisians and their eccentricities, explores the intricate rituals of daily life, and takes us beyond the well-trodden tourist sites to the best eating spots, boutiques, museums and markets that only a local could know about.Frank, intimate and beautifully photographed, A Family in Paris is about making a home in a strange land, finding a community, and discovering the joy of renewal.

In Search of Robert Millar: Unravelling the Mystery Surrounding Britain's Most Successful Tour De France Cyclist


Richard Moore - 2007
    Cyclist Robert Millar came from one of Europe's most industrialized cities, Glasgow, to excel in the most unlikely terrain—over the high mountain passes of the Pyrenees and the Alps. He was crowned King of the Mountains during the 1984 Tour de France and remains the only ever Briton to finish on the podium of the world's toughest race. Through interviews with Millar's friends, acquaintances, cycling colleagues and ex-classmates, the author seeks to unravel the mystery of this maverick Scotsman, arguably one of the greatest enigmas in a sport full of remarkable characters.

Iceland 101: Over 50 Tips & Things to Know Before Arriving in Iceland


Rúnar Þór Sigurbjörnsson - 2017
    The dos and don'ts of travelling and staying in Iceland. Five chapters with multiple tips in each one explain what is expected of you as a traveller - as well as some bonus tips on what you can do.

A Year in Provence


Peter Mayle - 1989
    He endures January's frosty mistral as it comes howling down the Rhône Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.

Uneasy Rider: Travels Through a Mid-Life Crisis


Mike Carter - 2008
    Never mind that he hadn't been on two wheels since an inglorious three-month teenage chapter involving a Lambretta, four crashes and an 18-month ban for drink-driving, a plan had begun to loosely form...And so, having completed a six day residential motorcycle course and hastily re-mortgaged his flat, Mike sets off alone, resolving to go wherever the road takes him and enjoy the adventure of heading off into the unknown. He ends up travelling almost 20,000 miles and reaching the four extremes of Europe: the Arctic Circle in the north, the Mediterranean coast in the south, the Portuguese Atlantic to the west and the Iraqi border of Turkey in the east.But really it's a journey inwards, as, on the way, Mike finds his post-divorce scars starting to heal and attempts to discover what he, as a man in his forties who hasn't quite found his place in the world, should be doing. Self-deprecating, poetic and utterly engaging, his is a heroic journey taken for the rest of us too scared to leave our 9 to 5 office-bound existence.

Serge Bastarde Ate My Baguette: On the Road in the Real Rural France


John Dummer - 2009
    If the truth be known, I secretly couldn’t resist the novelty of passing time with a bloke called Serge Bastarde. When ex-blues drummer John Dummer decamps to France to start up as an antiques dealer and live the simple life, he doesn’t count on meeting Serge Bastarde. The lovable (if improbably named) rogue and brocanteur offers to teach John the tricks of the trade in return for his help in a series of breathtakingly unscrupulous schemes. As the pair trawl through antiques markets and old farmhouses looking for hidden treasure, they get into more than their fair share of scrapes: whether they’re conning hearty lunches from unsuspecting old peasants, secretly manufacturing priceless collectibles or losing a Stradivarius to gypsies. Filled with eccentric characters, high jinks and unlikely adventures, this is a hilarious romp through the real rural France.