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Based on the popular blog (french-word-a-day.com) and newsletter with thousands of subscribers -- a heart-winning collection from an American woman raising two very French children with her French husband in Provence, carrying on a lifelong love affair with the language. Imagine a former French major getting vocabulary tips from her young children! That was the experience of Kristin Espinasse, an American who fell in love with a Frenchman and moved to his country to marry him and start a family. When her children began learning the language, she found herself falling in love with it all over again. To relate the stories of her sometimes bumpy, often comic, and always poignant assimilation, she created a blog in the tradition of books such as "A Year in Provence" and "Almost French," drawing more admirers than she ever could have imagined. With an approach that is as charming as it is practical, Espinasse shares her story through the everyday French words and phrases that never seem to make it to American classrooms. ""Comptoir"" ("counter") is a piece about the intricacies of grocery shopping in France, and ""Linge"" ("laundry") swoons over the wonderful scent the laundry has after being hung out in the French countryside, while ""Toquade"" ("crush") tells of Espinasse's young son, who begins piling gel onto his hair before school each morning when he becomes smitten with a girl in class. Steeped in French culture but experienced through American eyes, "Words in a French Life" will delight armchair travelers, Francophiles, and mothers everywhere.
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this is the first time i intentionally put down a book without finishing it - it feels good and makes sense, but also bothers the 'must finish all things' part of me.
the book was not baaaaaad, but just could not get through it. the book is full of 2-3 page chapters which intertwine french words. and describes the life of an american expat living in france. but the stories don't run together much at all, and it just felt kind of choppy to read it.
not saying i'll never read it again, but definitely don't wanna finish it at this point.