It seems only proper that we're closing out the year with a Friday Book Blog. This one is a tip to Chris Stewart's Driving Over Lemons. What Peter Mayle did for Provence and Frances Mayes did for Tuscany, Chris Stewart does for Andalucia.
The characters (including the author and his wife) are carefully and lovingly painted. Their vulnerabilities are gently prodded and their strengths are celebrated.
Much like Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun, Stewart takes the romance out of the idea of a farm in the mountains of Spain, but in doing so, he imbues it with so much charm that the reader doesn't need the romance.
The subtitle is "An Optimist in Andalucia" and there are times when he's just a little too optimistic, but we'll forgive him since he seems to be living his dream.
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