364 ratings | 322 reviews | avg rating:3.93

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Keith’s Year In Books

Keith’s 2024 Year in Books

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Grass monster

1,256 books | 460 friends

Steve

364 books | 19 friends

Val

193 books | 20 friends

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24 books | 2 friends

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Keith Van Sickle

Goodreads Author

Website

https://www.keithvansickle.com

Twitter

keith_vansickle

Genre

Travel, Memoir, Nonfiction

Influences

Marcel Pagnol, Peter Mayle, Bill Bryson, David Sedaris

Member Since

November 2016

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Keith Van Sickle grew up in Alameda, California, the son of public school teachers. He got his first taste of overseas life while spending a college term in England and later backpacked around the world for six months.

Grateful for the scholarships that helped him pay for college, in 1987 he started a foundation that helps students from Alameda pursue a college education.

Keith fell in love with Europe during a five-year expat assignment in Switzerland, where he and his wife Val lived in a village with more cows than people. After returning to the US, Keith helped start a company whose product was so geeky that he still doesn’t quite understand it.

Keith and Val dreamed of living abroad again but were unable to find another expat gig. So they ...more

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Combine Editions
Keith Van Sickle’s books

Average rating: 3.92 · 946 ratings · 141 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors

	One Sip at a Time: Learning to Live in Provence 3.76 avg rating — 565 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Are We French Yet? Keith & Val's Adventures in Provence 4.14 avg rating — 325 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Insider's Guide to Provence 4.28 avg rating — 43 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Insider's Guide to St-Rémy-de-Provence and the Surrounding Area 4.31 avg rating — 13 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

406 posts
Keith Van Sickle's Blog

Why I Love Provence

I was interviewed recently by The Connexion about my life in Provence. Every month it features an English-speaking expat in France, asking what they think about living there. The people interviewed are usually those who have moved to France full-time, but I guess they wanted to mix it up this month and talk to a part-timer like me.

If you guessed that I love it in Provence, you would be right!

Keith is Currently Reading

Keith Sickle is currently reading

Junil

by Joan-Lluís Lluís

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Dec 16, 2025 12:20PM

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Keith’s Recent Updates

Keith Sickle is currently reading Junil by Joan-Lluís Lluís	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 16, 2025 12:20PM · like
Keith Sickle rated a book liked it Mesopotamia by Olivier Guez	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The life of Gertrude Bell was fascinating, and I learned a lot about the construction of the modern Middle East and her role in it. At the same time, I found the jumping back and forth in time confusing, and
Dec 07, 2025 05:56PM · like · see review
Keith Sickle rated a book really liked it Alameda by Rail (Images of Rail: California) by Grant Ute	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is kind of the definition of a hyper-local book. But if you grew up on the island as I did, it's great. Lots of Alameda history, tons of great photos, I learned a lot and appreciate all the work that went into the making of this book. ...more
Nov 23, 2025 04:20PM · like · see review
Keith Sickle rated a book it was amazing Educated by Tara Westover (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Wow. Very well written, compelling, and thought provoking, this is an important book.
Nov 17, 2025 10:01AM · like · see review
Keith Sickle rated a book really liked it Attaquer la terre et le soleil by Mathieu Belezi	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
My reaction to the two narrators was very different. The colonist seemed very realistic in the way she described the (horrible) life of the early colonists--the disease, the fear, the hardships, the broken promises of the French government. By contra ...more
Nov 11, 2025 05:05PM · like · see review
Keith Sickle rated a book really liked it The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sweet
Nov 04, 2025 05:33PM · like · see review
Keith Sickle rated a book really liked it The Woman In Deed: Road to IPO, Bridge Tables, and Beyond by Vinita Gupta (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The interesting story of a woman who founds a successful Silicon Valley company and then moves on to become a bridge champion. The story of her company's founding in the 1980s is like opening a time capsule, as it describes a world that is in many wa ...more
Nov 02, 2025 04:11PM · like · see review
Keith Sickle rated a book really liked it Fuir l’Eden by Olivier Dorchamps	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Maybe this should be 5 stars. It's a little slow in the middle but then toward the end things pick up and wow, it's really good. ...more
Oct 30, 2025 06:08PM · like · see review
Keith Sickle rated a book it was amazing Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
An excellent book, really well written. How do live between two cultures? Can you ever succeed in a world that disdains blacks and women when you are both, no matter how hard you try? I appreciated the way the protagonist becomes slowly grows aware o ...more
Oct 15, 2025 05:41PM · like · see review
Keith Sickle rated a book liked it La vie meilleure by Étienne Kern	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The book started off well and I learned a lot about Coué and his method. The story eventually became somewhat repetitive and not that interesting.
Oct 12, 2025 05:08PM · like · see review