Rating: 
Summary: Not a Lemon
Review: This is usual fare of local landscape, climate, customs, folklore and a series of big and small endeavors and adventures of various sorts, rendered with a lucid style of writing and the English humor. It was fun reading and you vicariously enjoy the charmed life in a peasant farm nestled in the hills of the Spanish Andalucia. I wish there had been a warning at the beginning of the chapter entitled "The Time of Matanzas" which contained a ghastly depiction of the killing of pigs that was a local custom. Although the description was but a few sentences, being of the faint of heart, I wish I had not read it. Another could-have-been-better is that the book has reproductions of some interesting photographs but in pitifully small formats - typically with a short side of only 3.5 cm. All in all, this is one of the best travel memoirs around. Despite my petty complaints, I recommend it highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Driving Pleasure
Review: This was a warm, spirited, pleasing book to read. Although, Driving Over Lemons will not indoctrinate the reader into all things Spanish, nonetheless we learn a good deal about Andulucia as seen through Chris Stewart's eyes. I picked up this book because I was intrigued by Stewart's life. I am glad he chose to share it with the public. The book details a rich "neighborhood" of "characters" that really belong in a good fiction book. Eccentric ex-pat English ladies, a Dutch farming-family, scheming sheep dealers and of course, the local hero, Domingo. While some people are only dealt with briefly, others beome the focal point for important events in the Stewart's life. Unlike some authors who spend a year somewhere, and then write an omninscient account of their time, Stewart is going nowhere. Having sunk his life savings into his Spanish farm, Stewart is forced to learn (but not always accept) local ways and customs as he carves out a life with his ever-capable wife Anna, and later, their baby Chloe. So, if you are looking for some good, escapist non-fiction, this book is for you. It is the perfect book to toss in your bag as you embark on vacation.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Necessarily Driving Over Spanish Lemons
Review: To be honest, what made me order this title was its very enticing cover design - it begged to be read. Though I enjoyed the book, I wasn't AS intrigued by it as I was by, let's say "The Hills of Tuscany" (F. Mate), or "Under the Tuscan Sun" (F. Mayes). In a way it seemed that "Driving Over Lemons" stayed one-dimensional. Sure, Chris Stewart describes the hardships he and his wife Ana encountered when starting their lives in this run-down farm house named El Valero, he also throws in a good sense of humor, but in my opinion the book lacks a certain local color - something both above-mentioned books on Tuscany offer in abundance... Mate and Mayes couldn't have written their books about France that way. With Chris Stewart's book I wouldn't be so sure... Not much uniquely Spanish in it. However, it is an entertaining read, if simply for the theme itself: Couple starts a whole new, different life in a foreign country - be it Spain, or another (Mediterranean) place... If you're not looking for something uniquely Spanish, go for it. You won't regret!
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