I want to move to France now too! And find a charming village with a rustic house with grand views...and learn French and try to be a local.

This book is such a treat! It feels lighter and more relatable than Peter Mayle's Provence adventures. I can almost taste the wonderful food (love the recipes) and feel the ambiance of the place. I love how they took the plunge and bought that house in a non-English speaking country. La Reve. Now I think, it will be my dream as well.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book! I really enjoyed it!

A charming book! I really enjoyed this tale of a California couple who buy a house in rural France. Beautifully written, flows along with each chapter a self-contained story.

Beginning French is hilarious. It is especially hilarious if you live in France, have spent time in the southwest, dealt with French administration and have been the recipient of the kindness and generosity of the French. Sometimes I giggled and other times I laughed out loud. Towards the end, I found myself touched by the resulting difficulties that can arise in families when so much unfamiliar is going on.

Les Américains are Elaine and Marty, a California couple who, after visiting the Dordogne ,decide to purchase their own little piece of paradise. It's not clear when the initial purchase happened but at one point, Marty looks at a DVD player that "many years ago he had to exchange". The chapters probably jump back and forth in time but it doesn't matter. What comes across is that Elaine and Marty and, their chef daughter Sara, never question their decision. Though they can only come to France two months of the year, July and August, they plow forward even though everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Along the way, they make good friends, Brits, French and a few Americans. They live by the principle "when in France, do as the French". They attend day and night markets, learn how to purchase meat and fish the french way, learn to play Boules and in order to get the most out of their experience take dancing lessons in order to dance at the summer Night Markets that are held in even the smallest village each night of the week.

Marty is our guide and his use of dialogue brings us, the reader, right into the wonderfully lively scenes. I live in France and have spent summers in Le Gers not too far from the Dordogne. Marty never struck a false note. Happy, sad, powerless or miraculous, all the adventures have happened to all of us étrangers trying to make a place for ourselves in this amazing country. I remember thinking "so many memoir books tell of the travails of attempting to buy and then renovate to the house of our dreams in France". The only way they are digestible is to see the humour of it all. So there is a quality of "if they can do it, I can do it." I, for one, could not have made it past their first summer when the boiler exploded and almost everything in the house, including walls and tiles was destroyed. This is a foreign county where help comes in a different language.

Along for the ride is daughter Sara, a chef in New York. Not only we do we get descriptions of the buying, cooking and eating of her amazing meals but the reader can go to the website: beginningfrench.com for photos and recipes.

This is a fun book about a dream, Le Reve, and a house that took nerves of steel to live through. As Marty so eloquently put at the end of the book, what he, Elaine and Sara ended up with was a wealth beyond their wildest dreams: the wealth of wonderful friends, the wealth of learning about other cultures, the wealth of walking through a struggle to it's amazing conclusion.

Anyone will love this book. People like me who live in France, have attempted many of the things Marty and Elaine attempted, will thank them many times over. I say to them "Thank you. I am not alone and I love you for taking the time to put this all in print!"

I am obsessed with Paris so this book called to me the moment I laid eyes on that beautiful book cover. I wasn't really sure what to expect with this one and I was pleasantly surprised. This story is so charming and delivered so smoothly that next thing you know, you're halfway finished! I have never read a book like this before and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to read it (thanks, NetGalley!) This is the story of two Americans, living in California, who decide to buy a house in France. They wrote the book together - which is just darling. The tone of the story is so genuine that I felt like I had actually befriended them and their funny French neighbors. This is their story of how life happens and how they learned to handle each curve ball as it came their way. It's real and raw. It will make you laugh and it will make you long for the breathtaking views of the open French countryside. I have wanted to go to France for so long and this book was a sweet little taste of that part of the world. What else do I love about this book? They included the french language that they used and listed the English translations in the back. They also included French recipes their daughter, who is a chef, had prepared for them and for their new friends - literally giving you a TASTE of their world. This book was a wonderful read and I would look forward to reading it again, sharing it with friends, and looking for more books from Les Americains in the future. Merci!

I've often thought how nice it would be to live long-term in France. So I am not sure if this book encourages this dream or is a big reality check. Certainly many trials and tribulations!
This wasn't a book that I just couldn't put down .........I wasn't rivetted by it. It was easy to pick up and read a chapter at a time.
Including the recipes was a great touch but because all the measures were for an American audience I haven't actually made any of them.
The best thing about his book was building a list of places I must visit. Maybe moving there is a stretch.........

I loved the writing style of this book. It felt like you were sitting in a cosy, farmhouse kitchen nursing a hot coffee or ice-cold rosé listening to Marty sharing stories as if at a dinner party.
There were several 'laugh-out-loud-until-the-tears-flow' moments which make the people around you re-consider your sanity.
My favourite scene? It has to be the one with the tree frog in the printer and the subsequent recipe that said printer spewed out.
The food descriptions were wonderful. If you read them slowly you can almost taste them.
The addition of Sara's recipes was a lovely touch. They are also carried across to the reader by Sara in a chatty, friendly way - almost like one would do when passing on a beloved recipe to a close friend.
As a non-French speaker I LOVED the fact that simply by touching on a highlighted French phrase it takes you to a glossary of the phrases at the end of the book. This is very handy and helpful. I read a book years ago with many French phrases and NO glossary - it felt as if half of the story just went over one's head, meaningless.
But hidden, just beneath the words and descriptions of food and scenery, is another simple story: the story of a marriage and how this house taught Marty a few things about his marriage.
A superbly, wonderful read. I was rather sad when it ended.

This is a nice read, especially on a plane traveling to somewhere like France. It is a great story of moving to France and realizing your dreams, with stories along the way. Not everything is as planned, but everything finds a way to work out!

This book is an interesting glimpse of first world problems - having two homes on two different continents, and insurance that will cover any damage, hard choice between a supermarket and three local stores in France, a chef wanting you to buy an entree at a decent establishment. "Oh-la-la"! Life is so hard! These horrible problems just drive you into drinking! I found it as a bad taste to make fun of the French people's accent in English. Why did not Les Americains transliterate their own accent in French? No, they cited their own remarks in perfect French. Did they expect French people in France to not have any accent in English? Yelling back at a chef is not customary, not saying hello, bringing your own breakfast to the hotel, when in Rome, do like the Romans do. Some of these arrogant behaviors give Americans a bad name abroad. And the mention of not being rich.. It is all relative. For some, it does not mean to be rich to have one home in California and one in Dordogne, plus have the means to fly back and forth, for others, it means to be rich if they can cover their bills and have food. I would have liked it a lot better if it were not so self centered and shared more about locals in Dordogne. However, it does have some funny bits and pieces for which I will give it two stars.

What a charming, lovely book! This gem is so nicely written and reminds me a lot of Peter Mayle’s writings about Provence. I also love the recipes.

I am a long-time fan of Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence" series -- have read each of the books several times! So I was excited to jump into "Beginning French," a book that is in a similar vein. This time, a U.S. couple and their daughter have purchased a home in the south of France, and although they think the home is in good shape, they soon learn differently. They deal with burst pipes (that flood the house), walls that are pulling away from the floors, a barn that looks like it might fall down at any moment, and more. Besides overcoming these challenges, they learn to understand French culture and some of the quirky customs of the community where they live. I especially enjoyed some of the French recipes included in the book, and hope to try making them myself soon. It's a fun, light read for anyone who dreams of buying (or even renting) a house in France and living like the locals!

This book was pretty much what I was expecting...the story of an American couple who buy a vacation home in the French countryside. It is filled with humorous stories about trying to make themselves understood with their limited French language skills (I loved the story about the defective DVD player: “marche, marche, marche...marche pas” “ooh, la la!”). It includes some lovely sounding recipes, and tales about their interesting neighbors.

If you have already read and enjoyed books like [book:A Year in Provence|40189] or [book:Under the Tuscan Sun|480479], you will enjoy this book. If they did not appeal to you, I would skip this one.

I personally enjoyed both of those books, and also enjoyed this one...I may never be able to buy my own farmhouse in the European countryside, but it is a nice summer ritual for me to read about some one else having such an experience.

I received an advanced reading copy from Les Americains via NetGalley. Thanks!

A stunning book, so beautifully written with such vivid characters and settings that you are left with a real desire to follow in the characters footsteps. A fabulous story line, so real and touching.

Enchanté by this charming memoir of life in rural France. The lush landscape, delectable cuisine, high misadventures .... solved with a philosophic "Have a setback, have a drink"! All lead to one conclusion: Encore!

Merci, NetGalley and publisher, for the early copy. Opinions are mine.

Are you ready to uproot your life and escape to the French countryside? If you can't manage to tear yourself away from your real life, this book is the next best thing.

The authors, Eileen and Marty, and their daughter purchase a small home in France. This book chronicles their experience trying to become French as they acclimate to their surroundings, with warmth, love, and humor.

I really enjoyed this peek into French provincial life.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable book about the author and his wife buying a 400 year old cottage in small town France. Their adventures with "the money pit ", their neighbours and surrounding communities are extremely well-written and humorous. They certainly seem to be enjoying their francophone experience - the rest of us can enjoy secondhand and dream!
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Have you ever had “le reve” of living or vacationing in France? This story of Les Americans is one of the most entertaining reads in the non-fiction travel genre. It’s perfect for armchair travelers like myself who want to experience the charm without personally going through all the problems. Les Americains, husband wife, daughter, keep their story of how they came to acquire a cottage in Dordogne light and witty. While there are house rehab problems and cultural difficulties, they enjoyed their neighbors and daily life when they visited each summer.

Each chapter is a vignette. I especially liked to hear about life in the villages. The night markets with the food trucks sounded amazing. There are plenty of recipes and descriptions of meals, again presented in a pleasing way, with just enough detail. Games of petanque in the village, and the attempt to take dance classes were delightful, too.
I agree with the authors that it’s the love of family and shared experiences that makes one’s life a rich one. And it’s probably also true that “No one ever said being French would be easy.” Highly recommend

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read and review Beginning French
Lessons from a Stone Farmhouse. I thought that this book was really interesting and enjoyable. 5/5

I wanted to like this so much because I love books about France and secretly dream of living there at some point but this was a meh book at best. I didn't connect with the authors or their story very much. I found the book off putting and lacking the charm of similar stories. What I did love about this book was the writing-I found the descriptions to be vivid and they made me feel as though I was there experiencing the moment. I also enjoyed the recipes! Maybe I was taking this book too seriously or didn't read it at the right time but most of it wasn't for me.

As a former foreign resident in France, there was a lot I could relate to in this book! Marty and Eileen dealt with a lot of the cultural quirks with more grace than I could often muster, however. I appreciated the addition of Sara's wonderful recipes throughout the books — I will try my best to test a few out, as their descriptions had me positively drooling as I read.
The smatterings of French throughout the text added an extra bit of depth to the story — again, especially as a former resident of France, it was fun to test out my skills in the language. They kept the story en France without becoming too intrusive or jarring, which I thought was excellent.
I truly hope there will be an "Intermediate" book to follow up.

A fresh story of the joys and struggles of owning a home in a small french village and commuting from the US to visit each summer. This is the dream life for many, and we would love to join them in their village for a glass of wine and food from the market. I enjoyed the personal style of the writer and the real life experiences instead of the over-engineered fictional tale that so many of these travelogues become. Well done!