Acquired Tastes

Peter Mayle

ISBN 10: 1504654536 ISBN 13: 9781504654531

Publisher: Escargot Books and Music and Blackstone Audio, 2015

Synopsis

From the internationally bestselling author of A Year in Provence comes the bestselling book about the true pleasure of fine living.

Acquired Tastes, originally published as Expensive Habits, is a celebration of life's extravagances. It explores an aspect of human nature that, although dormant in hard economic times, is capable of erupting with the hint of good fortune and the drop of a credit card. It samples the luxuries of Havana cigars, Parisian hotels, bespoke London tailoring, hand-made shoes, the proper color for a stretch limousine, and weighs the cost versus the pleasure of keeping a mistress. The proper way to eat true caviar is explained while providing the listener with hours of pure, unadulterated escapism.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Mayle is a British author famous for his series of books detailing life in Provence, France. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages and include Toujours Provence, Hotel Pastis, A Dog's Life, and Chasing Cezanne. A Year in Provence won the British Book Awards ''Best Travel Book of the Year.'' A recipient of the Legion of Honor from the French government for his cultural contributions, he lives in Provence, France, with his wife.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Consumer catalogue of the world's finest luxuries, entries first published in GQ and Esquire, by Mayle (Toujours Provence, 1991, etc.). Mayle decided to write a monthly column for GQ on luxuries and the most refined ways to spend money, with GQ's financial support of his investigations--rough work, alas. He delivers in a velvety style, telling: how to buy and eat caviar (skip chopped onion and crumbled egg yolk, don't spread it on toast like peanut butter-- just get in bed with a plastic spoon and lift the black pearls to your mouth, then burst them on your palate); how to distinguish a true cigar or a great single-malt scotch; how to hire a black stretch-limo; how to maximize the joys of a supremely exclusive hotel; where to buy a shirt or $1300 hand-stitched custom-made shoes; where to have a suit made, and so on. He is especially keen about the foie gras of Provence (best in the world). He takes us on a money trip through the upkeep of a mistress and all the ``daily jolts of intrigue and adrenaline [that] are meat and drink to the mistress addict''--and talks over the odd gift to the wife to soothe one's remorse. Then there's the indulgence of hiring lawyers (``In practice, it consists of handing over large sums of money to the kind of people you wouldn't want to meet in your neighborhood bar''). And how about hiring a private jet to get you from Avignon to Paris? ``The cost would be substantial--around 48,000 French francs, or $9,000, for fuel and landing fees.'' Or a genuine $l,000 folding hat--a Panama worth its weight in dollar bills? Hmm...well, we deserve it. Much, much fun--and best read with a magnum of Dom Perignon and a four-pound tin of Beluga caviar. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Escargot Books and Music and Blackstone Audio
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1504654536
• ISBN 13: 9781504654531
• Binding: Audio CD
• Number of pages: 1