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Under the Tuscan Sun by: Frances Mayes List Price: £7.99 City Travel Guides Price: £5.99 You Save: £2.00 (25%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 910 EAN: 9780553506679 ISBN: 0553506676 Label: Bantam Books Manufacturer: Bantam Books Number Of Pages: 287 Publication Date: May 01, 1998 Publisher: Bantam Books Studio: Bantam Books Sales Rank: 81933 Related Items:
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Editorial Review: Amazon.co.uk Review: In this memoir of her buying, renovating and living in an abandoned villa in Tuscany, Frances Mayes reveals the sensual pleasure she found living in rural Italy and the generous spirit she brought with her. She revels in the sunlight and the colour, the long view of her valley, the warm homey architecture, the languor of the slow paced days, the vigor of working her garden and the intimacy of her dealings with the locals. Cooking, gardening, tiling and painting are never chores, but skills to be learned, arts to be practiced and above all to be enjoyed. At the same time Mayes brings a literary and intellectual mind to bear on the experience, adding depth to this account of her enticing rural idyll. --Amazon.com Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Escape with Frances MayesFrances Mayes, an American professor in her late 40's, buys a derelict house near the Tuscan village of Cortona. She is recently divorced, and having spent many happy holidays in Italy before, decides to take a big risk in buying this small estate with 5 acres of land that is half way across the world. This book is about "what happens next" as she and her partner Ed begin the long process of renovating an old house that has not been lived in for over 30 years. Due to their teaching schedules, they are able to devote an entire summer every year, plus a Christmas break, to the renovations. In between removing eco-systems of spiders and scorpions, linseed oiling the cotto floors, cleaning windows, designing the new kitchen and ... Read More: Rating:  - A Good Start!I found this book quite funny at the beginning. As a foreigner living in Italy for these last 12 years I laughed out loud reading those everyday life incidents and lets call them diplomatic misunderstandings that different cultures bring with them. I could just simply relive the bizarre situations that the authors describes and in a way feeling a bit relieved I wasn't the only one having problems. Somewhere in between the book became a bit boring and I had to plod my way through the pages. The author seems to love a lot Italian cuisine because she's always describing what she's eating in the various restaurants she's been at, in different places in Italy, especially Tuscany. Rating:  - Very evocativeI can't imagine why anyone would not have liked this book, I found that it made me absolutely LONG to be in Italy, and was so very evocative and beautifully written. I am not a cook, so the recipes went over my head somewhat, but I must admit that they did titillate my tastebuds. It made me want to read so much more and I was sad to come to the end. Rating:  - Is there more to this than meets the eye?What a great subject... this has got to be a good read. But no I am afraid not. I tried really hard, Frances, but had to give up at about page 50 before my brain turned to mush. I found this so shallow and inconsequential that I felt offended at my time wasted on every turn of the page. It's like being stuck in a dentist's waiting room with back issues of House and Gardens magazines. The tone is conceited: she's clearly self absorbed. Shame I wasn't. What worries me is that this is an international best seller. Mmmmmm! Rating: - Constructing a dreamA classic in its genre, this calm and soothing read is a chamomile tonic for a stressed out life. Frances and her partner Ed live a dual life re-building a ruin in Tuscany with work in San Francisco. An enchanting,poetic, beautifully descriptive work written succinctly with intellectual fervour. At times the paragraphs run as richly as brandy butter on the tastiest christmas pudding ever, let the eyes skim and dream of blue skies , rolling hills and tranquilo Italia. As deeply moving as Eh? Is for ants, as inspiring as Driving over lemons, excellent. |
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