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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. He was invited by his friend, Michel, ________________, to visit the famous wine caves of the region.

2. Mayle reminds his wife that he __________ picnics, based on his experiences in London.

3. Mayle is invited by a bookstore owner to hold a book signing in ______________ during the film festival.

4. One man is certain that toads cannot sing while the other man claims that a man in ________________ is training some songs to sing for the bicentennial celebration to take place on July 14th.

5. Inferior Italian________________ are often passed off as the superior French ones.

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Peter get involved in this world of truffles?

2. Describe the truffle business.

3. How does Peter feel about his toad findings? Why does he feel this way?

4. How does Peter end up in the small town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape? How might Peter feel about this trip?

5. What does Mayle say about the life of a writer?

6. How is Peter Mayle confused by the American visitor? How does this lead to a jab at Americans?

7. What is Peter's opinion of picnics? Why?

8. Describe the picnic area. How might this compare to Peter's experience in London?

9. What does Peter do about the toads story? What does this reveal about Peter's personality?

10. How does the book begin? What does this lead him to say about the French?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A large focus is put on truffles.

Part 1) What are truffles? What does the author have to say about truffles? Why are truffles important to the author and this story?

Part 2) What is learned about French culture, as well as other European cultures, from the truffle stories in this book?

Part 3) How can you relate to these truffle stories? How do these make sense in your own life? To what can these be compare in the U.S.?

Essay Topic 2

Mayle discusses the life of a writer.

Part 1) What is Mayle's description of a writer? Why does he give this description? Is this description surprising to you? Why or why not? What does this description reveal about Mayle?

Part 2) How is the life of a writer important to this story? What does this story reveal about the life of a writer? Based on this book, what do you think about the life of a writer?

Part 3) How does the life of a writer compare to the lives of those in other careers? In what career would you like to be? Why? How does working in this career field compare to working in the field of writing?

Essay Topic 3

The author evolves throughout this book.

Part 1) How does he act at the beginning of the book? What are his thoughts and opinions about France at the beginning of the book? Are these opinions and beliefs accurate? Why or why not?

Part 2) How do his beliefs and opinions change over the course of the book? What leads to these changes? How are these changes reflected in his own and his wife's behaviors? Are these good changes? Why or why not?

Part 3) What opinions have you had that changed? What caused these changes? How have these changes affected your life?

(see the answer keys)

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