If you've longed to go to Provence, perhaps part of that longing is the writing of Peter Mayle, who bought property in the Luberon and set about scuttling the countryside for artifacts of a lost culture.
1. A year in Provence
This is where you start, Mayle takes his British sensibilities and moves them to sunny Provence, buying a 200 year-old farmhouse in the Luberon with all the stuff people dream about when thinking of a Mediterranean move--vines, wine cellar, shade trees, and a thick-walled sturdy building that has survived centuries. He describes a year in Provence, month by mouthwatering and funny month.
2. Toujours Provence
A continuation of the book above, a humorous look at the people and their lifestyles in the small villages of Provence and the challenges of a Brit trying to live well in rural France.3. Encore Provence
The third of the Provence books, Mayle takes his looking glass along this time, to take note of the little things that tourists miss when they fly through a country or three. But some folks think that the book is a little thin, perhaps the result of a little too much coverage of an area.4. A Dog's Life
Life in Provence told through the eyes of a dog adopted by Peter Mayle.5. Hotel Pastis: A novel of Provence
In this fictional account of a hotel in Provence, Mayle makes good use of the characters he's so good at observing. An advertising wonk is convinced by a beguiling French woman to take on construction of a half-built hotel in the town of "Brassiere-les-Deux-Eglises."6. A Good Year
This novel takes Max Skinner from a financial career in London to life on an inherited vineyard in France. It was also made into a movie.7. French Lessons (Adventures With Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew)
Are you into eating? Here's the book for you. Francophile Peter Mayle likes to eat, and here he searches for unusual gourmet feasts and fetes to esplore with his British wit and voracious appetite. Staring frogs legs, snails, black truffles and Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and more.8. Provence A-Z
Peter Mayle gives an amusing look at Provence in encyclopedia form with more than 200 entries.