"Summers in France" - Kathryn M Ireland

Well, you know I love a good book about people buying a house in France and living the good life but this one got off side with me in about 5 minutes (did read it to the end though!!) - its like an indulgence book with an obviously wealthy woman buying a fabulous big rambling old farmhouse near Toulouse - from the apology at the front to her kids about forcing them to spend their holidays in France every summer to "how tos" for catering for 20 at a time, it was just a bit too obvious that Kathryn was not short of a penny and had the beautiful people staying with her. I think I like my books about France to be more about people that have really made a sacrifice to live their dream or taken a gamble. Kathryn did not appeal to me ("at the end of every summer my accountant told me how much I had spent on entertaining at my French house and I just did not care").
Its most unusual for me NOT to enjoy a picture book about this topic but sorry, it just did not appeal.

Paris, I love you but your bringing me down

Its a strange sounding title for this autobiographical book but the author has an even stranger sounding first name.... Rosecrans Baldwin... semi enjoying the ups and downs and ins and outs of this young couple as they attempt to live the dream in Paris.

French dreaming on a winters day

Its a cold, wet, windy day in Auckland and I am doing one of my favourite things....dreaming of France and and mulling over books and articles about it. It feels like I am surrounded by France some days. Today at lunch, a guest I don't know that well casually mentioned that she works for a French company (ahhh, bliss), then this afternoon on tellie (a perfect day for blobbing in front of the screen...) is "Monte Carlo or Bust" - a roadshow trip about a group of brits travelling around France.

Last night, out for a soup dinner at a friends house, she had got the DVD "Hugo' out for us to watch, you know the one, about the boy who lives in the clock tower in Paris... what other reminders am I going to see today???