BARSETSHIRE AGAIN

GROWING UP - Angela Thirkell

Angela Thirkell with her usual wit makes even World War II Barsetshire seem like the place to be.Best to start earlier in the series, but if you find you like Thirkell, you are in for a treat as she, like the author who is a character in her books, wrote a book a year for many years.  Although full of humor, the novel also depicts the continuing changes in English society from one of landed aristocrats and servants to land-poor aristocrats with a few old retainers and most of the young unwilling to be servants.  The war in this case has moved the lord and lady into the servants quarters (which in fact they find more comfortable) as their manor house is turned into a convalescent hospital. Men and women, as is usual in Thirkell, manage to fall in love, but all the characters are touched by losses of loved ones in this war or the last.

Virtual catalogue. Amazon

AUSTRALIAN FINDS TRUE LOVE IN FRANCE

ALMOST FRENCH: LOVE AND A NEW LIFE IN PARIS --  Sarah Turnbull

Entertaining, nonfiction account of a young Australian who falls in love with a Frenchman and France, but not without some major adjustments. Her observations are interesting: French women don't want friendships with other women because they look upon women as rivals; Parisians in particular and the French in general take a long time to warm up to people even as acquaintances (they want to be sure you're here for good before going to the effort of talking to you at a dinner party); in France (or at least Paris) it is obligatory to dress up even when going to the bakery, you owe it others to present a good appearance; and you have to learn how to deal with the French bureaucracy. She loves Paris, however, from the start, and her lover, later husband, helps her through the difficulties of culture shock.  She even learns to love the north of France, his home country. Fun reading and helpful if you're planning a trip to France.

Rockport Library

TRUE LOVE AND MARRIAGE IN VENICE

A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE (AN UNEXPECTED ROMANCE)-Marlena de Blasi

Charming non-fiction account of a middle-aged American divorcee who receives a telephone call from a man at the next table in a Venetian restaurant asking her to coffee. She refuses four days in a row but finally on her last day in Venice agrees to meet him. He tells her he fell in love with her in December when he saw her at a distance on a previous visit of hers to Venice. Unlikely as all this sounds, it is true, and she takes the plunge, not into the canal, but into love. The book records the first year of their falling in love, her leaving St.Louis, Missouri, to live with him in Venice, their wedding, and subsequent new beginnings together. It is romantic but down-to-earth as they face the adjustment from fairy tale romance to actually living together. Venice is a major player in this story - the people, its history, the infuriating bureaucracy of state and church, the different life views of the Italian worker (Work long enough to buy the grappa but not so long as to miss out on drinking the grappa with co-workers during extended lunch hour. What's the rush?).   De Blasi is also a professional chef and includes recipes at book's end. Enchanting reading for all of us who have wished to be swept off our feet with good practical lessons as to how to then sustain and cherish love in marriage. She has also written two follow-up books, so if you like this one, you have two more to enjoy.

Non-Fiction. Rockport Public Library

Escape to Highlands

HIGHLAND FLING - KATIE FFORDE - A pleasant light romance set in the Scottish Highlands.  You'll also learn a bit about varieties of wool! Quick, diverting well-written escape reading.

Rockport library

Some Trips to France

SUZY GERSHMAN: C'EST LA VIE
Nonfiction

A fun and poignant book about a woman who decides upon her husband's death to go ahead with their plan to move to Paris for a year. A Francophile her dream had always been to retire to France although her husband had been less than enthusiastic about a stay of over a year. Unable to face living in their Connecticut home without him, she takes off for Paris, finds an apartment, and settles in not without ups and downs. Her task is made easier because her work as writer of a series Born to Shop had taken her to France many times, which meant she knew her way around to some extent and had friends and acquaintances there. Not surprisingly, she's more interested in shopping than I would be, but she managed to make me interested! Full of helpful hints for anyone going to France, as well as humor about the difference between French, Americans, and Brits. It's a delightful read. Also includes a love affair with a French count! She settles finally in the south of France, finding life in France more convivial than America.

Rockport Library. Amazon.com

MARK GREENSIDE: I'LL NEVER BE FRENCH (NO MATTER WHAT I DO) LIVING IN A SMALL VILLAGE IN BRITTANY
Nonfiction

Another delightful book about France this time by a man who buys a home in Brittany for summers while staying in California to earn a living. Greenside has a droll sense of humor and an affection for the French that explains perhaps why so many of his French neighbors take him under their wing. His accounts of the various differences between how life works in France and in America are funny, but also serious, as like Gershman, he presents France as a much friendlier place than America, a place where people will spend three hours eating, talking and drinking together rather than rushing from one appointment to another. I wonder if this is as true of small town America as big city, as I find Rockport and Cape Ann, a place where friendships can flourish, but it's true it takes work. Any thoughts on this?

Rockport Public library, Amazon.com

Yorkshire Smiles and Tears in the Schools

GERVASE PHINN: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DALE, OVER HILL AND DALE, HEAD OVER HEELS IN THE DALE, UP AND DOWN THE DALE, THE HEART OF THE DALES
Non-fiction

This series of books about a Yorkshire school inspector take you to the Yorkshire dales as he travel to schools reviewing their competence. He and his colleagues are not grim-faced critics but warm-hearted, sometimes quirky, intelligent educators concerned to bring out the best in teachers and students. Humor abounds as Phinn records his encounters with the down-to-earth Yorkshire adults and children. Particularly funny are his accounts of the numerous Nativity plays, including a Mary who said she'd prefer to name the baby Gavin. His romance with a teacher provides much interest. The system of school inspection, not practiced here in America,
is also fascinating. Don't know if we could ever do it here, but it certainly works as he portrays it.

(first and last book at Rockport, MA public library, others available from virtual catalogue.
or from Amazon.com)

JACK SHEFFIELD: TEACHER, TEACHER; MISTER TEACHER, DEAR TEACHER, VILLAGE TEACHER,
NonFiction

This series also set in Yorkshire about ten years before the Phinn series is the story of an elementary school headmaster in a small village and his off again, on again love affair with another teacher. Filled with humor, a heart-warming picture of both a school and a village, a mixture of lovable and unlovable people, but all interesting.

All four books should be in Rockport Public library or at Amazon.com