One Sip at a Time:
Learning to Live in Provence

(travel memoir)

Release date:
January 28, 2017
at Dresher Publishing

ISBN:
978-0998312002
192 pages

Author’s page
Goodreads

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

I have not taken you to France for a while. So let’s go and have fun. One Sip at a Time is definitely the book you want to read right now if you need a good laugh.

First, take a minute to admire that cool cover! Isn’t it gorgeous?
At the beginning, the author explains how he and his wife ended up changing their work life in order to be able to live in France, at least 3 months at a time, and they’ve done that a few times. This collection of over 60 vignettes is the fruit of their experience along several of their stays. Some recurrent themes are obviously wine and food, but also those crazy French drivers, political life, language, and friends.

There are a lot of really hilarious passages. I don’t often laugh aloud while reading, but I certainly did a lot with this book!
What was also really neat was how the effort of the couple in mastering the French language, however challenging it was, led them to thrilling moments of real conversation, and to developing very nice friendships.

Another tough one is the French “r” sound, which is made in the back of the throat. It’s a little like gargling. The American “r” is much different — we make it in the mouth. Trying to think about how sounds are made, and adjusting your tongue, lips and throat while you speak, is pretty much impossible.
page 60

page 157

I was just a bit surprised at one point when the author had the feeling French drivers were silent. Well, he then discovered that you can actually have quite noisy honking concerts!

VERDICT: Hilarious vignettes on adjusting to French living. Neat way of discovering real France!

SYNOPSIS

Can a two-career couple really pick up stakes and move to Provence?

Keith and Val had a dream – to live in Provence, the land of brilliant sunlight, charming hilltop villages and the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean. But there were two problems: they weren’t French speakers and they had full-time jobs. So they came up with a plan…

Follow their adventures (and misadventures) as they quit their jobs, become consultants and split their time between two countries. Laugh along as they build a life in Provence, slowly mastering a new language and making friends with the locals over long meals and just a bit too much wine.

If you’ve ever dreamed of changing gears and learning what joie de vivre is really all about, you won’t want to miss this delightful book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keith Van Sickle
is a technology industry veteran
and lifelong traveler
who got his first taste of overseas life
while studying in England during college.
But it was the expat assignment to Switzerland
that made him really fall in love with Europe.
After returning to California, he and his wife Val dreamed of living abroad again
but were unable to find another expat gig.
So they decided to invent their own.
Now they split their time between Silicon Valley and St-Rémy-de-Provence,
delving ever deeper into what makes France so endlessly fascinating.

Find the author on Facebook and Twitter
Visit his website

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Buy the book on  Amazon.com (only $2.99)

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