WRAPPING UP A DANGEROUS YEAR

Believe it or not, our Year of Reading Dangerously has drawn to an end. We've certainly covered a lot of territory, haven't we? We've traveled to Nantucket with Sarah Lee Chase, Tuscany with Ferenc Mate' and Frances Mayes, Provence with Peter Mayle, San Miguel de Allende with Tony Cohan, and Venice with Marlena de Blasi - to learn the importance of having a sense of place, and of rediscovering the taste of place. Then we joined Barbara Kingsolver in Appalachia to discuss the importance of knowing where our food comes from and how it was raised. We simplified our lives, then spent time with Tasha Tudor and Sarah ban Breathnach learning to mine our authentic selves, and time with Julia Cameron, learning to mine our inner artist.

For our final give-away, we will be returning to France. I saved this book for last, not because it was the best, but because it is about something that ties everything else together - attitude. It's about that one thing that most of us are striving for, but will probably never achieve, because it's not to be found on-line; at the mall or at the bottom of a glass; in a hefty bank account, a position of power, or an all-consuming career. It's an attitude that seems to be sorely lacking here in the U.S., but which many of the French have developed into an art. They call it Joie de Vivre. Joy for Life.

Could you use a little more joy in your life? All you have to do is leave a comment here, any time between now and Sunday night, and your name will be added to the hat for this, our final Year of Reading Dangerously give-away. Joy, Joy, Joy!