Rating: 
Summary: Loved it!
Review: A witty and entertaining biographical account of an English couple's assimilation into the life of the Andalusian countryside. Subtly sentimental, the author seems to have an endless supply of colorful acquaintances, including local farmers, livestock dealers, and a variety of eccentric refugees from northern Europe. An interesting theme, albeit perhaps not an explicit one, is that of the loss of an ancient way of life, and its replacement by an easier, more technology-driven lifestyle. Traditional Spanish farmers, living without electricity or running water, are selling their farms to foreigners, and moving to the city. Foreign farmers like the author are anxious to learn local techniques, yet they are not only more willing to experiment, but they also bring technology with them, such as electric sheep-shearing equipment. The description of the annual pig slaughter reminded me very much of the stories carefully preserved in the 'Foxfire' series of books about Appalachian America. Such rituals were once common and necessary throughout the rural world, but are not increasingly less significant in a time when agriculture is becoming increasingly more factory like. This was a perfect book to read alongside the pool during a relaxing week in Ronda. Often laugh-out-loud funny, it was an interesting and even educational read, that helped me understand the people and ecology of the mountainous southeastern region of Andalucia. Although the author has a highly-developed sense of observation and detachment, developed no doubt through years of experience writing for travel guides, at no time did he ever become unsympathetic to his subject or lose the ability to laugh at himself in his sometimes clumsy attempts to fit into a new culture. Its a marvelous book, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is travelling to southern Spain, who is interested in back-to-the-farm success stories, or who finally, anyone who enjoys a good story about real people.
Rating:
Summary: A fun read
Review: Am I the only person that was bored to tears by Driving over Lemons? I found this to be a mind-numbing yawn in which sheep-shearer Stewart uproots his family to southern Spain, fixes up his wreck of a farm (irrigation problems, etc.), meets his not particularly interesting neighbors and struggles to adapt to the local ways. Sound familiar? Well Peter Mayle started the trend and is still the gold standard... and Chris Stewart just can't measure up to Mayle in terms of wit, charm or humour. Sure the writing style has the sort of easy flow that one would expect and the fact that Stewart is there for the long haul- striving to re-establish himself as a sheep shearer- represents a new twist and seems to appeal to people (the glowing reviews on Amazon led me to buy this in the first place). But reading Driving over Lemons made me realize that not every move to southern Europe deserves a book or an audience. Strictly for fans of the "expat-lifestyle" genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Really quite boring
Review: Chris Stewart is a surprisingly good writer. He is also an engaging character, able to cope with the crisis of moving countries and careers with grace under pressure. This book is the diary of Stewart and his wife buying and running a small farm in Andalucia. They live in a rustuic farmhouse, get to know their neighbours, live through various natural and unnatural disasters and the birth of thier daughter. This is a unique view of Spain from an outsider but not a tourist, and an interesting meditation on consumerism, community, and lifestyle, all writter with humour and style. While not hiding the hardships, Stewart makes one want to abandon the city and strike out as a sheppard in a foreign country.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fun Read ...but better without the last chapter
Review: I enjoyed reading this account of life in Spain
....all the way thru the second to the last chapter.
The last chapter - after the baptism of his daughter - didn't add-up to much.
Rating:
Summary: Really quite boring
Review: I read this book about 1 year after i visited the same town that is depicted in this book. I stayed in a small house outside of town with a lemon orchard and olive trees that had been bought and was in the process of being fixed up by an English couple. So, i was excited when i saw this book. I expected to read wonderful descriptions of the surrounding mountains and the town... unfortunately, the couple in the story have such uninteresting observations about their surroundings, it made the entire book quite bland. I wish i hadn't read it, so that my own vibrant memories of that place could have remained untainted.
Rating: 
Summary: *ugh* nature!
Review: I'm no nature girl.. but this book made me consider traipsing off to some distant land to spend the rest of my days eating whatever I could kill with my bow and arrow and sleeping on the scorpion-ridden ground.. ok ..maybe not..but this book was truly wonderful! I couldn't put it down!
Rating:
Summary: A Good Lemon
Review: If you are looking for some easy, relaxing reading, then this is a good choice. This book works simply because it doesn't try to do any more than tell a simple story. The story of how the life of an average guy changes when he does what many of us would like to do from time to time. Sell up and move to a place like sunny Spain. The book follows Chris finding a place to live, a run down old farm. Moving his wife and possessions, and settling in and raising a family. All away from the Rat Race that most of us live in. This book was a pleasure to read. I wish I had his guts to break free.
Rating:
Summary: Moving to Andalusia: A fantasy Accomplished, by fermed
Review: The theme is an old one: A move from the more civilized (England, US) to the less civilized (Tuscany, Provence, Greek Islands, Spain). Escape from the onerous burdens of civilized life and go to some remote and forsaken corner of the world, were you suddenly find yourself unable to cope with the simplicities of life. The beauty of the people and their kindness; their amusement at your bumbling efforts to adapt to their world, and their common sense about all things, which seems to have abandoned you. It has all been done before, each time a little differently, each time creating a vicarious escape from the humdrum of everyday life that delights the arm chair dreamers. It is a genre, and when it is well done (like this one is) it means a few hours of exotic delights that leave a good taste in your mouth afterwards, and a new set of fantasies to explore. It is a book of that kind, friendly, humorous, easy to read. An English couple buy a ramshackle farm in the hinterlands of Southern Spain. No running water, practically no electricity (solar pannels, and not many of those), no telephone, no TV. Rugged, untidy land full of demands. They plant their gardens, they buy and raise sheep, they have a baby. Surrounded by memorable characters that bring warth and depth to the action. A simple, unpretentious book as satisfying as a meal of meat and potatoes. With a large glass of local wine.
Rating:
Summary: Provence, Tuscany ... try Andalucia!
Review: This book has been huge in the UK - top ten for the past six months -Â and no wonder. It is such a great tale: Chris Stewart, one time drummer of Genesis (he left at age 17) sinks his all (the grand sum of $35,000) into a peasant farm in Andalucia. It has no runing water, no electricity, and gets cut off altogether when the river is in flood. Oh, and it turns out that the man who sells him the farm has no plans to move out himself. But as the subtitle says, Chris is an optimist, big time, and that carries him through, along with a little realism from his wife Ana, and local wiles from Domingo, the best neighbor you could hope to find. The book gains its strength from the fact that Stewart has no money and needs to work (as a sheep shearer), bringing real and often very comic insights into the local life - something I found lacking in the Mayle/Mayes Provence/Tuscany bestsellers. But like those books, this is a perfect holiday read - and a book that makes you yearn to follow the Stewarts' lead, and head for a simpler life in the sun.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet with a few drops of lemon...
Review: This book truly captures some of the essence of Spanish culture, especially in Andalucia. However, if you are looking for a book with a plot, this does not contain it. It reads more like a journal, each chapter sharing some part of Chris and family's life. A great bed-time reader, give it a chapter or two a night and its a quick read.
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