A Good Year by Peter Mayle

Okay, book club, could we rethink this? This was delightful. It is almost irresistible to describe it in the sort of ridiculous terms that are used throughout in discussion of wines. Never mind, I won't go there. It is full of likeable characters and the plot is solid with just enough gentle twists to keep you awake.

A young Englishman, all in a day, is fired from the job he hates and inherits a large house and small vineyard in France - and off he goes. The house and vineyard are neglected, but not hopelessly so, the wine is putrid - described in French by a waiter as "cat piss" - but Max and his friend have concocted a dream (not really quite a plan) of turning out the wine equivalent of a microbrew for the discerning vinophile.

We meet a beautiful and seductive lawyer, the rough-hewn manager of the vineyard and winery and his amorous dog, the beautiful and charming restauranteur, the solidly built and very loud (both vocally and in costume) housekeeper, the blonde and unexpected Cali-girl cousin, his almost incredibly English best friend, Charlie, and a scoundrel or two as well.

The scene at the village fete is a delight. The chunky, middle-aged, flamboyant housekeeper turns out to be a most accomplished dancer and dance teacher. The manager and his wife are competition level dancers. All to the strains of the paso doble performed by a local accordion band.

Everybody, but everybody, ends up happy - even the scoundrels decamp satisfied with their winnings to date. What's not to like? Several at the book club meeting reported that this or that person had said that this was their favorite book. I'm not sure I would go quite that far - but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Our last two book club selections have been of the sort that we generally thought were significant and definitely worth reading, but not a lot of fun. This was fun!