Under the Tuscan Sun (Audio CD)

Rating:
Summary: Voluptuousness of Italian life
Review: "I thought I was strange to feel this way. Since I've met so many people who read Under the Tuscan Sun, I've found out that lots of people feel this way. It's complicated but feels so very easy. The warmth of the people, the human scale of the towns, the robust food, yes, but I've begun to think, too, that it's the natural connection with art, the natural exposure to beauty on a day-to-day basis." -Frances Mayes

Frances Mayes presents a sensual celebration of Tuscany with hypnotic descriptions of culinary bliss and everyday rituals on long days when she savors the sun. This is creative writing heaven! She is not only a best-selling author, widely published poet and gourmet cook; she is also a travel writer who can describe lands and culture in sensuous and evocative language.

Halfway into the book, I became heady with the desire to just run away to Tuscany. I want to write like her, I want to think like her, I am intoxicated by her creativity.

I first fell in love with creative writing when my teacher in Africa explained metaphors to me. It is no wonder I have just completely fallen in love with Frances Mayes writing style. I also discovered she is a creative writing professor at San Francisco State University and has directed The Poetry Center and chaired the Department of Creative Writing.

Frances first started visiting Tuscany when she was fresh out of college. In 1985, she rented a farmhouse for the first time and enjoyed going to the local markets to buy suntan lotion and culinary specialties. After this visit, she and Ed rented various farmhouses around Tuscany and finally decided to buy Bramasole.

Frances Mayes gives a vivid and compelling account of how she bought and started restoring this farmhouse in Tuscany. "Under the Tuscan Sun" is really an outgrowth of the diary she kept about her experiences when she first moved to Italy.

She sees homes as metaphors for the self and gives herself to decorating and renovating them with a certain passion. "The houses that are important to us," she writes, "are the ones that allow us to dream in peace."

In sumptuous detail, Frances Mayes describes her home and Italy like a delicate poem as she balances enjoyment of life with responsibility to finishing an extensive renovation. Her writing shows she is most at home in Italy and enjoys immersing herself in words that describe her private escape. She is living the fantasy and sharing every delicious bit of her joy in this fascinating memoir.

I love her observations about life. While they sometimes have little to do with Tuscany, they are enlightening. Through gorgeous descriptions, she says: "Life is beautiful, take deep breathes, enjoy food and pleasure." Through intimate reflection, she considers how life changes so we can go forward in our thinking.

She writes about tours of ancient churches and towns, fig-pollinating wasps, the ancient tile roof, books with blue leather binding, art, festivals, walks through the piazza, gardens and even gives us her precious recipes.

Then she continues to describe lush fruits, vegetables, and flowers, olive groves, orchards, and vineyards violet blue hazes, pelting rain, green landscapes, olive oil, hot waterfalls, olive wood fires, cool walks through chestnut forests, blood oranges, jars of plum jam, mascarpone custard, cherries, bees burrowing in pears, pecorino cheese, fertile earth rich as chocolate cake, wild strawberries, white peaches, fresh herbs and baskets for picking tomatoes.

Thankfully I had some fruit cobbler and pecorino in the refrigerator or I would have gone half mad not being able to taste fruit and cheese after listening to the completely delicious descriptions.

She also vividly captures a humorous moment when she has cement poured all over her head and gives a hilarious recounting of her first wall-building endeavor. She paints evocative descriptions of nearby Cortona, thinks about Elizabeth David's recipe for peach marmalade and considers passages from books by Henry James and D.H. Lawrance. Her knowledge of the world is impressive and fascinating. I even learned an interesting and amusing fact about James Joyce.

I'm going to admit that a few times while listening to the unabridged version narrated by Barbara Caruso, the writing was so beautiful I was at times overwhelmed. I believe many of us feel a deep need to live in an almost rural community where people actually care about their neighbors or at least talk to them. Frances is now an honorary citizen of the town.

At the end, she starts to talk about her life growing up in the South and focuses on religion and even makes a few observations about the sensual life and afternoon naps. There are moments throughout the book when she stops to compare her Californian and past Georgian existence with this Italian paradise.

While some may say this is domestic sensuality at its best, I think it is love. Love for the land, love of food and love of life. Frances Mayes sees beauty in life and this book will be equally loved by those who also share the desire to find beauty in the simplicity of existence. Many have read this book and have changed their lives. The descriptions of life that moves at a slower pace has the power to make you want to leave America fast and arrive in Tuscany early.

Read or listen and then plan your escape! I've just printed out information about a farmhouse in Tuscany. I shall continue to dream. I'm also going to go make some Biscotti!

A lyrical account of a love affair with Italy you will never forget.

Additional books you might want to possess: Ex Voto, Swan, The Best American Travel Writing 2002, Bella Tuscany and In Tuscany.

This review is for the book and the unabridged recorded book version narrated by Barbara Caruso.

Rating:
Summary: Richly written - a great escape
Review: As someone who is used to taking frequent Mediterranean vacations but was marooned stateside this past summer, I thanked my lucky stars for happening upon this book. It was just the escape I needed. As I got deeper into it, I felt myself becoming more and more enamored with Tuscany, Bramasole and its cast of characters. Mayes hits her stride with rich, textured detail of her environment after the first 50 pages or so. Before that, she gets a little too bogged down in renovation process. I really felt that I was there, right down to hearing the crickets singing in the hot summer sun. Unlike so many others who reviewed this book, I was not offended at all by her descriptions of the Tuscan locals or the lifestyle. She was very complimentary and respectful of everyone she wrote about. One thing that could have been left out - the references to Mayes childhood that screamed "I'm wealthy!" The recipe chapters were an added bonus and inspired me to get cooking. Try the mushroom lasagna with bechamel sauce in the later food chapter - it's divine. The bottom line - if you're looking for a wry, humorous account of life as an expatriate, a la Peter Mayle, this book won't do it for you. But if you want to immerse yourself in a richly written tribute to the rolling hills of a gorgeous, faraway land, Tuscan Sun is not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely, lovely Tuscany
Review: Even if you never plan to visit Tuscany, it is worthwhile to saturate yourself in Tuscan sunshine, inhale the aromas of Italian meals and feel the heartbeat of the countryside by reading this book. Mayes' words are so evocative that the scenes she describes transport you from your armchair to Tuscany immediately.
I put off reading this for quite a while thinking it must surely be overhyped. I'm glad I got past that and allowed myself the pleasure of seeing Tuscany through Frances Mayes' eyes.
I think some of the negative reviews on Amazon carry overtones of jealousy. Sure we would all love to have the funds to have a second home in a scenic spot on the planet. Wouldn't we enjoy having the summer off to indulge ourselves playing lord of the manor? I sure would, but reading her book gave me the chance to experience it vicariously and I thank her for that.

Rating:
Summary: Restoration of a house? No, restoration of the pieno, soul.
Review: Frances Mayes in Under The Tuscan Sun has beautifully captured her adventures on an extended journey in this old land. Frances has not merely detailed the trials and joys of the purchase and subsequent restoration of a house in a land not of her birth. But through the typed word made the reader a intimate companion on the journey of discovery and wonder. Frances descriptive style allows the images to effortlessly appear in to ones minds eye. Open the book commence reading and you are there.

Frances has shared her, to be envied, exploration across Tuscan landscape, language, food, wine, customs and life styles. Frances journey has touched on so many things of interest through the book that the reader is not stuck working their way through an extended 'house walk through' or a 280 page DIY guide.

What Frances has here is a receipe for passion, passion for life, adventure and those simple things.

A book to be read, shared and re-read. Oh yes, I am now off to further the experience.

Rating:
Summary: Lazy, hazy, yummy read
Review: Frances Mayes is a darn good writer. Darn good. Of course, as a professor of creative writing at a university, you would hope she would be. But, I've been disappointed in these matters before.

Through some genetic mishap, I was born with a dominant gene for traveling. However, my current circumstances allow only for short trips to unniteresting places, so I have to do my traveling via armchair. As a result, I am very strict, exigent if you will, about the travel books I read. I must feel like I am THERE.

"Under The Tuscan Sun" transported me nicely to Italy. . The heat, the smells, the textures, I was there, cooking in the kitchen, stomping scorpions, waxing floors, sipping olive oil, having dinner with ex-patriot writers, worrying over replacing the floor.. This book is almost (emphasis on the almost) as good as being there in person.

Admittedly, "Under The.." isn't a quick, gripping read. The pacing is languid and the structure is loose (but not sloppy) . Part travelogue,part recipe book, part diary, Mayes segues from one topic to another then back again. It works, though. It works very well.

Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Audio version comment
Review: The content of this is very good - but don't read it when you are travelling along empty stretches of highways and you are hungry! It's torture! I have read the first in this series -Under the Tuscan Sun and listened to the audio of In Tuscany, read by the author. I think another reviewer commented that F. Mayes obviously does not speak Italian. Well, I'm not sure whether she does or doesn't but I can certify that she has absolutely no Italian accent. Not a shred. I found that the audio was not as appealing as it might have been had it been read by someone else with a better acting voice and a facility for an Italian accent for the Italian phrases.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent diary of culture and life while restoring a home
Review: This is a spectacular work by a spectacular writer who not only understands the key to enjoying all life has to offer, but knows how to express that joy with unequalled passion and applomb. The author and her spouse have purchased a 17th century villa in the heart of elegant Tuscany, an area that has captured their own hearts and imaginations. Over several years of tender and frustrating restoration thay come to know the peoples, culture, foods, and energies of their new adopted home. Time shared between careers in San Francisco and holidays abroad create a deeply enviable lifestyle. But envy is not the correct word - admiration is more accurate, for this author sees the true joy and breadth of her world in all it's myriad aspects and revels in each new discovery. Her journey and storytelling capabilities are beyond exceptional, and this book is a rare peek into the web of honest happiness and contentment. The recipes, landscapes, personalities, friendships, and pure light of this book will bring tears to any reader's eyes, more so to the reader who knows the thrill and beauty of travel. My favorite of the past year without question.