Not quite) mastering the art of french living : not quite mastering the art of french living

Twenty years after his spur-of-the-moment decision to buy a house in Brittany, Mark Greenside—writer, ex-New Yorker, and aspiring Frenchman—is still asking questions: Where on Earth do you pay for a parking ticket in a rural village? What do you do with a sick American friend on a Sunday morning? How do you cook for French people? What do you cook for French people? And why doesn't a literate, educated person manage to learn the language after twenty years visiting the country? Despite two decades spent in the Breton village he calls home for half the year, the vagaries of French life still manage to confound him. In spite of it all, Greenside's love and respect for the French people and the surprising kindnesses he experiences will make it clear why he keeps coming back. With quick wit and rich voice, Greenside narrates his trials and tribulations in answering these questions and more through the daily adventures in his adopted French home, where... WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER Every year upon arriving in Plobien, the small Breton town where he spends his summers, American writer Mark Greenside picks back up where he left off with his faux-pas–filled Francophile life. Mellowed and humbled, but not daunted (OK, slightly daunted), he faces imminent concerns: What does he cook for a French person? Who has the right-of-way when entering or exiting a roundabout? Where does he pay for a parking ticket? And most dauntingly of all, when can he touch the tomatoes? Despite the two decades that have passed since Greenside's snap decision to buy a house in Brittany and begin a bi-continental life, the quirks of French living still manage to confound him. Continuing the journey begun in his 2009 memoir about beginning life in France, (Not Quite) Mastering the Art of French Living details Greenside's daily adventures in his adopted French home, where the simplest tasks are never straightforward but always end in a great story. Through some hits and lots of misses, he learns the rules of engagement, how he gets what he needs—which is not necessarily what he thinks he wants—and how to be grateful and thankful when (especially when) he fails, which is more often than he can believe. Introducing the English-speaking world to the region of Brittany in the tradition of Peter Mayle's homage to Provence, Mark Greenside's first book, I'll Never Be French , continues to be among the bestselling books about the region today. Experienced Francophiles and armchair travelers alike will delight in this new chapter exploring the practical and philosophical questions of French life, vividly brought to life by Greenside's humor and affection for his community. "Every year upon arriving in Plobien, the small Breton town where he spends his summers, American writer Mark Greenside picks back up where he left off with his faux-pas-filled Francophile life. Mellowed and humbled, but not daunted (OK, slightly daunted), he faces imminent concerns: What does he cook for a French person? Who has the right-of-way when entering or exiting a roundabout? Where does he pay for a parking ticket? And most dauntingly of all, when can he touch the tomatoes? Despite the two decades that have passed since Greenside's snap decision to buy a house in Brittany and begin a bi-continental life, the quirks of French living still manage to confound him. Continuing the journey begun in his 2009 memoir about beginning life in France, (Not Quite) Mastering the Art of French Living details Greenside's daily adventures in his adopted French home, where the simplest tasks are never straightforward but always end in a great story. Through some hits and lots of misses, he learns the rules of engagement, how he gets what he needs--which is not necessarily what he thinks he wants--and how to be grateful and thankful when (especially when) he fails, which is more often than he can believe. Introducing the English-speaking world to the region of Brittany in the tradition of Peter Mayle's homage to Provence, Mark Greenside's first book, I'll Never Be French, continues to be among the bestselling books about the region today. Experienced Francophiles and armchair travelers alike will delight in this new chapter exploring the practical and philosophical questions of French life, vividly brought to life by Greenside's humor and affection for his community." -- Amazon.com. The author of I’ll Never Be French returns to his faux-pas-filled Francophile life in this “smart, delicious memoir of life off the beaten track in France” (Julie Barlow, author of The Bonjour Effect). Despite the two decades that have passed since Mark Greenside’s snap decision to buy a house in Brittany and begin a bi-continental life, the quirks of French living still manage to confound him. Returning once again to the small Breton town of Plobien, he finds himself humbled by imminent concerns: What does he cook for a French person? Who has the right-of-way when entering a roundabout? Where does he pay for a parking ticket? And most dauntingly of all, when can he touch the tomatoes? (Not Quite) Mastering the Art of French Living details Greenside’s daily adventures in his adopted French home, where the simplest tasks are never straightforward but always end in a great story. Greenside’s beloved 2009 memoir, I’ll Never Be French, introduced the English-speaking world to the region of Brittany in the tradition of Peter Mayle’s homage to Provence. Experienced Francophiles and armchair travelers alike will delight in this new chapter exploring the practical and philosophical questions of French life. A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER The hilarious follow-up to I'll Never Be French, about which the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Imagine Larry David ... spending a summer in a French village-against his will, of course-and you get some sense of what Mark Greenside goes through." Foreword -- Driving (me nuts) -- Shopping for... --- Money, money, money, money -- I'm eating what? -- I cooked this for you -- A hypochondriac's delight -- "Je voudrais une con avec deux boule..." -- Afterword -- Acknowledgements.