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Provence Books & DVDs Here are some of the best guidebooks, novels, biographies and films on DVD that were either created in the Luberon or Provence, or set there. These will whet your appetite for Provence, or help plan your trip. All are available online from the UK or US versions of Amazon. If you are in the UK, click on the pictures, if you are in the USA, you can click for the US version under the picture. |
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PETER
MAYLE
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LIFE
IN PROVENCE
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GARDENING
IN PROVENCE
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PROVENCE
GUIDEBOOKS
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| Published in April 2005, so should be bang up-to-date. Lonely Planet is aimed more at the budget/independent traveller end of the range. | I love these guides. Lots of illustrations and graphics, and it delves into the history, geography, food and wine, architecture, etc. Like a pictorial encyclopedia. | If you don't enjoy researching a destination you can cut to the chase with this guide, which just gives you the top 10 best things to see, buy, taste, find, do, etc. | Maps in guidebooks always tend to be too small, if you want to plan a trip you really need to spread out one of these and see the lie of the land. |
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| One of the better guidebook series. This was published in October 2003. | Pitched at a young-ish audience. Covers the arts scene, for example, in more depth than other guides. Published in 2004. | If you are American, Fodor's is probably the guide your parents used. Venerable, reliable, perhaps a little creaky? | Frommer's, like Fodor's, is aimed at the grey-haired traveller - it has been called the Walter Cronkite of guidebooks. |
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WALKS
AND MARKETS
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I
don't know this book, but it covers 43 walks in Provence, which is a
large area, going all the way across to the Alps.
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24
walks in the Luberon, in English and French, published by the French
hiking federation.
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PROVENCE
LITERATURE
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Provence
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Caesar's
Vast Ghost: |
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To Ford Madox Ford, Provence was "not a country nor the home of a race, but a frame of mind", and this is his whimsical exploration of the place and the idea of Provence, written in 1935. Part travel narrative, part memoir of what Provence means to people, artists and writers. |
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An exploration of the history and culture of Provence, in Durrell's unique style, mixing brilliant descriptive powers with bizarre escapades. This is Lawrence Durrell in the autumn of his years, the quality is variable, but he does get a real sense of the spirit of a place. |
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PROVENCE
IN THE MOVIES
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Jean
de Florette & Manon des Sources
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| Jean de Florette and Manon de Sources are superb films on every level: acting (the cream of French actors), storyline, cinematography (Provence at its best), emotion, even the music is outstanding. Adapted from the novels of Provencal legend Marcel Pagnol, they are really two halves of one film - you have to see Jean de Florette first. If you are haunted by the soundtrack, that is available too (see below right). |
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Jean
de Florette
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Manon
des Sources
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Soundtrack
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La
Gloire de mon Pere
(My Father's Glory) |
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Le
Chateau de ma Mere
(My Mother's Castle) |
| Two magical, moving films based on the memoirs of Marcel Pagnol (he wrote Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources). Lyrical and beautiful, and very moving, these films are heavily imbued with the atmosphere of summers in Provence and the wonder of growing up. |
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Cyrano
de Bergerac
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Le
Bossu (On
Guard)
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| These films are only partially set in Provence but they are just wonderfully French, sweeping, swashbuckling historical epics. Classic love stories with larger-than-life, charismatic male leads, who are France's best actors: Gerard Depardieu in Cyrano and Daniel Auteuil in Le Bossu (US title: On Guard). |
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