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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
This was a fun quick read. Overall I enjoyed it. The characters were interesting and quirky. Some were a bit too wordy for me. I liked the small village setting, and the local restaurant. I honestly enjoyed a lot about this book, there just wasn't anything that really stood out. I would definitely read more of his books though.
2.5 but I‰ЫЄll round up because I needed a calm book. It was nice to be a village setting. Nothing much happens, yet there is a lot of talking. And I think the author is writing his feelings, using Paul as himself. Enjoyable because sometimes you think something is going to happen, and then absolutely nothing happens, or the most ridiculous thing will occur.
I enjoyed this, especially once the story actually got to France. It does meander, and there's no huge plot or dramatic resolution, but I wasn't expecting any of those things. I just liked the odd characters and seeing what they got up to.
I really loved “My Italian Bulldozer”. A year after reading it and knowing full well it’s humorous incidents, I sat a couple meters from AMcS at a book shop event, in rapt attention as he told part of the story as from a first person perspective and as though it were an entirely true event that happened to him. “Restaurant” has some charms to be sure, it it’s not quite the level of “Bulldozer”. I always love his philosophising, and I know often the plot is a means to that end, but this one just felt somehow incomplete. Still an enjoyable listen on a long drive and I certainly am glad I read it, and I’m thrilled to have a personalized autographed copy on my shelf. :)
Not quite the same fun as My Italian Bulldozer but still a cozy, happy read. And who doesn’t want to spend time in France - whether by reading or otherwise.
It's an Alexander McCall Smith book. You know what you're going to get. Wry observations, gentle undulations, eccentric characters. This one happens to focus on Paul Stuart (and appears to be part of yet another series), who is a cookbook author. He finds himself holed up in France, in a rental house with an eccentric cousin, working on his latest book and dining at what is known locally as "the second worst restaurant in France."
I think it’s official: I don’t like Alexander McCall Smith books.
DNF - Over half way through and could not get into the story. Very little plot to speak up. Not sure I'll even bother trying to pick this one up again.