This book ticked many of my boxes: Food-wine, France, memoir. But I didn't like it very much. There were some good bits, but not many. Memoirs do not have to reek of ego, but this one did -- at least for me. And I just didn't get the problem with his two boys not becoming bilingual and their having to return to the US to save English. Did they never speak to their children? Was the whole family so engrossed in becoming French that they couldn't speak English at home? Their situation was ideal for raising bilingual children. This seemed like an excuse for their return to the U.S. But it's not really important and not the point of the book, just one more thing that annoyed me. ( )

read 5/2024.

Fascinatingly delicious, surprisingly poignant. Recommend! โ™ฅ๏ธ ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but there are a few nit-picky things that keeps me from going all the way up to 5 stars.

First, the narrative seemed a bit disjointed in places, particularly in the last third of the book. Certainly not disjointed enough to put down, but there is a definite feeling of maybe the author being rushed there at the end.

The other problem is that there sometimes seems to be a bit of inconsistency in who the audience is. There is lots of untranslated French, and, while I have always wanted to learn to speak and read French, I just haven't gotten around to learning much yet (oh, how I envy his wife's talent with languages...or maybe just her time and opportunity to learn them!). Also, in some places he tosses around highly technical French cooking vocabulary without explaining it while in other places he finds it necessary to define things like what a pizza peel is.

Besides those things, this is a very interesting read. He never presents Lyon as overly romantic, but he tells us all the things that made him love the place and the people he met there. He also made me want to try to find some of that amazing flour! I would bake a loaf of bread with it in tribute to Bob, the most interesting and heartbreaking person in the entire book! ( )

ืกืคืจ ืขืœ ืœื™ื•ืŸ, ืขืœ ืฆืจืคืช ื•ืขืœ ืื•ื›ืœ ืžืกื•ืคืจ ืขืœ ื™ื“ื™ ืืžืจื™ืงื ื™. ืžื”ื ื” ื•ืžื—ื›ื™ื ื‘ืื•ืคืŸ ืžืคืชื™ืข, ื‘ืžื™ื•ื—ื“ ืขื‘ื•ืจื™ ืฉืื ื™ ืžื›ื™ืจ ืืช ืฉืœื•ืฉืช ื”ื ื•ืฉืื™ื ื”ื™ื˜ื‘. ืžื’ืจืขืช ื™ื—ื™ื“ื”, ื”ืžืกืคืจ ืœืคืขืžื™ื ืžืขืฆื‘ืŸ ื•ืชืžื™ื“ ืžืืจื™ืš ืžื“ื™, ืื‘ืœ ื›ื›ื” ื–ื” ืขื ืืžืจื™ืงื ื™ื. ื•ื‘ื›ืœ ื–ืืช ืืงืจื ื’ื ืืช ื”ืกืคืจ ื”ืจืืฉื•ืŸ ืฉืœื• ืฉื”ื•ื ืขืœ ืื•ื›ืœ ื‘ืื™ื˜ืœื™ื”. ( )