Normally, I love "foodie" books. This is one that I didn't enjoy that much. The narrative seemed to be very disjointed. The descriptions of the foods seemed to be very brief. The author was an Australian who married a French woman and moved to France. I expected more of the story to focus on Christmas, but only the last few chapters were really seasonal. I enjoyed some of the illustrations much more than the book itself. ( )

John Baxter was entertaining with a conversational writing style, but you still manage to feel smarter after you finish reading it. If you are a connoisseur of food and wine, then this book is an excellent choice. He dissects the idea of a French family and weaves their similiarities with all families anywhere in the world into a delicious meal of literary genius.

The witty recounts of an Australian writer who follows his girl-friend to France and makes a Christmas dinner for his future in laws. Good explanations of the food, but the French family he described is not the average French family - most French families are a lot less religious than the one he describes, so do not take his story has a true French Christmas family dinner. Keep in mind that the insights he shows are with only one French family. ( )